Dempsy James’ late TD run seals Spanaway Lake win over Lakes in 3A PCL

Just minutes earlier, Spanaway Lake found themselves at the goal line against Lakes in Monday night’s 3A Pierce County League high school football game at Harry Lang Stadium. The Spanaway Lake center snapped it over the head of quarterback Dempsy James and Lakes’ linebacker Matai Sarte jumped on the ball.

So when Spanaway Lake had another play at the 1-yard line with a chance to win the game with 15 seconds left on the clock, Sentinels’ coach Cameron Robak wasn’t going to get cute with the play call. James lined up under center and took the ball in on a quarterback sneak to put Spanaway Lake ahead for good in a 16-15 win.

“We had high snaps all night, so we didn’t even wanna mess with it,” Robak said. “We know we’ve got some big guys up front. They do as well, obviously, but at that point, it’s just who wants it more? We were hungry.”

That was just fine with James, who marched Spanaway Lake down the field for a seven-play, 50-yard scoring drive in just over a minute, after Spanaway Lake made a defensive stop to force a Lakes punt. James hit Darius Thomas for a 15-yard gain and additional yardage was tacked on after a targeting penalty, putting Spanaway Lake in the red zone and setting up the James score.

“I just knew I had to finish this game,” James said. “Made some mistakes down the stretch, I just had to fight back and get in there. I had confidence in my guys, even through the ups and downs. I knew that we were going to keep fighting and just keep fighting to the end. My guys stuck through it. That’s a great team over there. I’m proud of my guys for fighting.”

Coming into the game, Lakes was averaging 52 points per game through five games. That production slowed down against the Sentinels on Monday night. The game was originally scheduled for Saturday but was postponed until Monday due to air quality issues.

“Just taking a day off, not practicing and then going into a game is just something you don’t do in high school,” Robak said. “It was just kind of weird getting them re-focused. It felt like a Friday all day at school for a gameday.”

Senior corner Zion Jones, an Eastern Washington commit, fared well in his matchup against Lakes receiver David Wells, an Oregon State commit. Wells was held in check with two receptions for 50 yards. Jones also had an interception in the second quarter.

“I loved it,” Jones said. “I knew this was probably going to be my best matchup this season. I knew coming into it what I had to do. I held him to two catches. I made plays. I knew I had to do it and I got it done.”

Spanaway Lake was paced by sophomore D’Aryhian Clemons’ 135 rushing yards and James’ 94 rushing yards and two touchdowns. Lakes freshman quarterback Legend Galeai threw for 132 yards and a touchdown and Ki’Marree Wasington led the Lancers with 58 yards on the ground. BYU commit Leo Pulalasi had a receiving touchdown for Lakes. In addition to the fumble recovery Sarte had on the high snap, he also had another fumble recovery, scooping up a James fumble and taking in 31 yards for the go-ahead score in the fourth quarter.

For Spanaway Lake, Clemons was physical running in between the tackles in the win.

“The coaches know if you put the ball in my hand, I promise you I’m gonna give you the outcome you want,” Clemons said. “Everybody knows that.”

The effort didn’t come as a surprise to Robak, who’s getting used to seeing these types of games from his sophomore.

“He’s a workhorse,” Robak said. “We’ve talked about him all year. He just runs really hard and it’s hard to not just give him the ball every play.”