Only for special occasions does Levi Crum take out his two football state championship rings from their keepsake boxes.
Those boxes remind Crum, Hockinson High’s senior quarterback and defensive back, why he ranks those title-game victories as his top-two moments of high school football.
But close behind in third is last week’s state quarterfinal win over Lakewood, “because of the team we have, and the way we’ve all had to step up,” Crum said.
A game in which the Hawks rallied back from trailing by two scores to win in the final 3 minutes with a go-ahead touchdown then a game-sealing interception.
“That’s what makes us the team we are,” he added. “The belief we have in each other.”
Last Saturday’s win sent Hockinson (11-1) into the Class 2A state semifinals Saturday for a third consecutive year. It faces the same opponent — Tumwater (12-0) — that it beat 35-22 for its first state championship two years ago.
Saturday’s kickoff is at 4 p.m. at Tumwater District Stadium.
Hockinson faces Tumwater’s long-storied Wing-T offense that dates back to the 1980s and led to five state championships since 1987. But the T-Birds may see a new-look Hawks offense powered by the run game that’s helped Hockinson reach this stage.
Surprised? Not these Hawks. But special because of how they got here.
“I knew we’d have the heart to make it this far,” sophomore Cody Wheeler said.
The Hawks are the two-time defending state champions, but admit they’ve felt the underdog role all season. As the season has progressed, though, they’ve re-tooled their offense and re-shaped personnel from subtle, week-to-week injuries to season-enders. Knee injuries wiped out Washington commit Sawyer Racanelli in June and fellow senior Peyton Brammer, the team’s leading receiver and cornerback, last month.
“We have no other choice but to adapt and adjust to whatever is working,” Crum said. “We have to do what works.”
The run game is what’s working.
During Hockinson’s undefeated 2018 season, Crum threw 50 touchdown passes with Racanelli, the 2A state player of the year, and Brammer, also an all-state receiver, as the primary targets.
This season, Crum’s rushed for 13 touchdowns and has four straight triple-digit rushing games.
Offensive coordinator Josh Racanelli put the ball in Crum’s hands in a power-run package in the team’s first-round state win over Ellensburg. At one point, Crum ran the ball 12 consecutive times in what became Hockinson’s game-winning drive by converting a third-and-9 and fourth-and-2 plays. The Hawks won 21-15 after trailing 15-7 at halftime.
Then came last Saturday’s win over Lakewood when Hockinson trailed 21-7 and 28-14.
Crum went 5 for 14 passing, and converted a fourth-and-10 pass to tight end Jeremiah Faulstick and another fourth-and-2 play to keep the drive alive.
As a team, Hockinson rushed 46 times.
Said Wheeler: “We need to run the ball, or we don’t get anywhere.”
Wheeler has a point. In three playoff games, Hockinson is averaging 276 rushing yards on 33 run plays. In 2014, the Hawks reached their first state quarterfinal with split backs Austen Johnson and Tommy Harshaw each as 1,000-yard rushers.
Hockinson’s current Thunder-Lightning duo of Wheeler and junior Daniel Thompson, a transfer from Battle Ground, had their best game in last week’s quarterfinal. Thompson’s 124 yards rushing is a season-high and Wheeler’s 10 carries is a career-best. They combined for 26 of Hockinson’s 46 carries.
“I’ve never seen anything like it,” Thompson said of the team’s rushing performance. “It finally clicked for everyone.”
Hockinson is now 67-6 since 2014 with a .833 winning percentage in the state playoffs.
Like last Saturday, a win over Tumwater would mean something greater for Crum and the Hawks on their list of accomplishments because of how they got here.
And the way they did it.
“To be here is pretty special,” Crum said, “and something you can’t take for granted.
“That’s what makes this run so much fun and so much different than the previous ones.”
