Total Effort Leads King's to Big Upset of Lakewood

Zach Evans rushed for 265 yards, Billy Green threw for four touchdowns and King's used a total team effort to notch its biggest upset in recent memory with a 51-25 win over 2A Lakewood on Friday night at King's High School in Shoreline.

The Knights entered the game as big underdogs to the fifth-ranked 2A team in the state - according to the most recent Associated Press poll - but found a groove in the second half to turn a close contest into a blowout.

“I’ve been coaching here 18 years and this has got to be a big one for us," King's head coach Jim Shapiro said. "Probably top five in our history, really, and the kids really realized how big this game was.”

Trailing 18-14 early in the third quarter, King's outscored Lakewood 18-0 over the next 9:27 of the game to take control. The Knights held the ball for 8:09 of that stretch, thanks to a recovered onside kick by Caleb Taylor, and benefitted from three touchdown passes from Billy Green, two to Taylor. After Lakewood closed the score to 32-25 with 9:14 left in the game, King's scored 19 unanswered points to turn the game into a route. Green threw for 284 yards on 20 of 25 passing and four touchdowns in the game.

“That’s Billy," Shapiro said. "He’s been throwing about twenty completions a game, he’s only thrown, I think, two interceptions all season so far, he’s a heck of a pocket passer.”

While Green was putting together what has become his typical game, running back Zach Evans put on a clinic, rushing for 265 yards on 28 carries in just his third game back from injury. The senior also scored two touchdowns in helping King's rack of 587 yards of total offense.

“He’s an all-state caliber kid," Shapiro said of Evans. "He’s had a hamstring [injury] since summer practice that’s been bugging him. He’s had a couple 100-yard nights, tonight was a big night for him, he was healthy for really the first time tonight.”

The biggest reason for the King's upset may have been the defensive and offensive lines of the Knights. While Lakewood still gained over 350 offensive yards (239 passing by quarterback Justin Peterson), King's held the Cougars to their second lowest point total of the season and gouged a Lakewood defense that was giving up an average of only 14 points per game.

“I give it to our line of scrimmage," Shapiro said. "We did not have a good first half on the line of scrimmage and our line coach (Kevin Peterson) got on those boys in that second half and if you watch that film, they were moving bodies.”

For a King's team that faced a measure of uncertainty with Green replacing Thomas Vincent at quarterback and a slew of young players filling key positions, the win was a confidence-booster and an announcement to the rest of the state that this Knights team is for real.

“It’s huge for the team," Green said of the win. "Lakewood is ranked, like, fifth or sixth in 2A and to go out and beat them as a 1A team, it’s huge for us. It should bring us up big in the rankings and it should boost our morale big team.”

Notes: After the game, Shapiro invited the Lakewood team to join King's in prayer. Most of the Lakewood team did...Taylor, who caught two touchdown passes, also intercepted Peterson twice, including one late in the game that he returned 69 yards...Green now has 21 touchdown passes against two interceptions on the season...King's attempted a two-point conversion nearly every time it scored in an attempt to counter the Lakewood two-point scheme...The King's defense allowed just seven points in the final 21 minutes of the game.