WIAA football roots: Razore father-son duo's journey at Bellevue coming to an end in Class 3A title game

Lucas Razore has been core quarterback all the way back to Junior Wolverines' flag-football days - with father, Joe, as primary play-caller

A week after his Bellevue team was ousted in the 2022 state playoffs, quarterback Lucas Razore sat in the grandstands at Sparks Stadium and watched the Class 3A title game in person.

He not only witnessed one of the greatest plays in WIAA championship history - Kyler Ronquillo's grab-and-run, turning an interception into a game-winning touchdown for Yelm - but he paid close attention to the warm celebration.

Particularly after "The Play" came "The Embrace" between son (Kyler) and father/coach (Jason Ronquillo) in their final game together.

"That has definitely given me motivation for this year to get the same things they experienced," said Razore, now a senior. "That is the ultimate goal - the hug after the game, win or lose.

"Coming after a win would be a lot better."

The irony is that Razore and his father - Joe Razore, the offensive coordinator at Bellevue - will face Yelm in the Class 3A title game Friday night at Husky Stadium in Seattle.

Bellevue lost to Yelm in the 2022 WIAA semifinals, setting up all the week-later, final-minute drama.

"I do a bad job of stopping and smelling the roses," said Joe Razore, in his second stint as a Wolverines' offensive assistant. "I am guilty of being too laser-focused. A year from now, five years from now ... I might see that (Friday night) was a special time in our lives. But right now, I am focused on the mission."

A long-running mission, indeed.

A former Bellevue quarterback himself, Joe Razore was an assistant under former Wolverines coach Butch Goncharoff from 2000-07 during the beginning of the program's championship heyday.

In 2012, Razore returned to coach (along with ex-Bellevue assistant and current Kennedy Catholic coach Pat Jones) his son's Junior Wolverines flag-football squad in the Greater Eastside Junior Football Association (GEJFA).

"We were running the Wing-T, but obviously the plays were a little different because you threw," Joe Razore said. 'But many of these same kids now as seniors at Bellevue were in their same positions in flag football."

Lucas Razore was the quarterback for the team - and also played defensive end.

"I do very clearly remember a bunch of plays we ran," Lucas Razore said. "Our two-point (conversion) play was always right formation out of the Wing-T, and it was a pass to the center since he was always eligible to catch it. We'd do a slip screen to him."

And that started the Razore duo's journey through GEJFA junior football and into the high school ranks.

In 2021, Lucas Razore split time as the starting quarterback for the first three games before taking over full-time - and guiding the Wing-T-based Wolverines to the Class 3A championship over Kennewick.

Despite not putting up all-state caliber statistics, what the teenager has done has racked up wins. The Wolverines are 33-5 with him under center.

"(Expectations for big passing numbers) have been pretty moderate, because I've done it my whole life in the Wing-T, so I've gotten used to it," Lucas Razore said. "I know every chance I get to make a play, I've got to go do it."

Bellevue has a large group of seniors - 13 - from the GEJFA days who are playing for a state title Friday in their final game together.

And for the Razores, this is it - win or lose.

"I've definitely thought about that," Lucas Razore said. "In fact, I wrote it in his birthday letter a couple of weeks ago, saying, 'This is our last playoff run!'

"But after Cal Poly, I can see myself coming back in 10 years and coaching with him, too. Football is one of the things we always talk about, and that will never change."