Defending State Champ Yelm Set to Battle 12x Champ Bellevue

On December 1st, Yelm will seek their 2nd state championship in school history, as a win this week would make them back-to-back state champions. Standing in their way is a historical powerhouse and a team with a storied history in the Washington 3A Football landscape.

Two years ago Bellevue found themselves at the top of the Washington football mountain, and this year they’ve ascended the mountain once again as they have many times throughout the program’s history. Bellevue has notable NFL alumni such as multi-time All-Pros Budda Baker and David DeCastro, and are titular twelve-time State Champions which reflects their excellence extending through multiple decades.

Yelm? They knocked off Bellevue last year en route to claiming their first-ever state title, and have won twenty-seven straight games but are not as historically prevalent, with no previous championships or NFL alumni.

Geographically, the schools could not be more different, with Bellevue High School located just off Lake Washington in Bellevue, a sub city of Seattle with a significant size in its own right with an estimated 150,000 people calling it home. A 75-minute I-5 drive from Bellevue and you’ll reach Yelm High School, the beating heart of Yelm, a far smaller town in which a little over 10,000 people call home. So the question becomes clear: Can Yelm, the small town high school looking to become the next Washington football powerhouse, knock off perhaps the most decorated high school in Washington football history, Bellevue?

Yelm Looks to Rinse & Repeat, Bellevue Seeking Revenge

After a stunning last-minute touchdown by Kyler Ronquillo, who stole an interception away from Eastside Catholic’s Tyson Weaver, Yelm made headlines nationwide with their first state championship win last year. More overlooked, however, was another last-minute touchdown win that allowed Yelm to edge ahead of Bellevue and advance to that pivotal state championship. Brayden Platt, a four-star Oregon recruit, scored a goal-line rushing touchdown to take a 28-27 lead with a minute remaining over Bellevue in the 2022 semi-finals that they could hold onto. Bellevue will seek to avenge this near loss on Friday, with the first matchup between the two teams since then.

Credit: Sports Illustrated

Bellevue & Yelm Rolled Through Regular Season

Both teams have had dominant undefeated runs across the Washington 3A Football circuit this year, as Yelm finished 10-0 while Bellevue finished 9-2 in the regular season, with the Wolverines’ only losses coming against Central Catholic in Oregon and Washington 4A powerhouse Lake Stevens.

Overall, Yelm beat their in-season opponents by an average of 43.8 points, with astounding offensive (52.9 PPG) and defensive (9.1 PPG) dominance throughout their district and league play. While there may have been concerns about their strength of schedule (their best opponent was 10-2 Camas which Yelm beat 8 to 7), Yelm has dampened those beliefs by winning their Round of 32 and 16 games comfortably as well as once again defeating a perennial powerhouse Eastside Catholic 7-0 last Saturday.

Bellevue was not quite as overwhelmingly dominant against their regular season play, but as previously mentioned they held their own against two top programs outside of WIAA 3A play and they have a winning pedigree. So what may set the two programs apart outside of their regular season play and their strikingly different histories will be the players that lead the way…

Players to Watch

Brayden Platt

Who else should be mentioned first in the conversation of the most pivotal players to watch in this game? The #1 ranked player in Washington and an Oregon commit, Platt is a difference-maker on both sides of the ball. Playing both sides as a tenacious off-ball linebacker as well as a bell-cow running back, his performance has been key to Yelm’s success this season as well as last year’s state championship run. He had a monster game in Yelm’s win against Eastside Catholic in the semifinals, with 219 rushing yards, 1 TD, and 10 tackles. No one else will have more eyes on him Friday, and rightfully so.

Hogan Hansen

Right behind Platt as Washington’s #2 ranked recruit in the state, Hansen has been a consistent target by Bellevue quarterback Lucas Razore. He additionally leads the team with three receiving touchdowns, and a potential matchup with him at Tight End covered by Platt at LB would pit the best of the best in the state against one another. We’ll see if coach Jason Ronquillo elects to make this matchup happen.

Now or Never

The stakes for these teams cannot be understated. Yelm and Bellevue represent opposite sides of the spectrum with Bellevue being an established powerhouse in Washington football and seeking revenge for last year’s late semifinals loss while Yelm hopes they are birthing a new chapter in their history with the start of a potential Coach Ronquillo-led dynasty. With the losses of nine highly touted starting seniors all inside of 247 Sports’ Top 125 Washington HS football Class of 2024 rankings set to leave, Yelm seeks to make the most of some of their best talent playing their final game for the high school. Will they make the most of having perhaps their best roster in school history, or will one of the best schools in Washington high school history return to glory?

Prediction: Yelm Tornadoes 28 – 21 Bellevue Wolverines

Yelm hasn’t lost a high school football game in over two years, I don’t see that changing Friday night, but Bellevue has come arguably the closest. If Bellevue has a chance, they will need to control time of possession and keep 7-8 guys in the “box” on defense on nearly every play, in order to slow down Brayden Platt and force Yelm to put the ball in quarterback Damian Aalona‘s hands. Offensively, Bellevue will have a challenge finding ways to get the ball in the hands of their playmakers despite Yelm having the undisputed best linebacker group in all of Washington high school football with the aforementioned Platt alongside Isaiah Patterson and Kenji Scanlan. Yelm is an astounding 43-1 since 2020, and we may be witnessing the start of a tremendous run by the Tornadoes. We’ll find out at 7 P.M. PST on Friday, December 1st, as Yelm (13-0) takes on Bellevue (10-2) in the 2023 WIAA 3A Football State Championship Game played for the first time at Husky Stadium.

Featured Image Credit: Tacoma News Tribune