WIAA 4A football state championship: Lake Stevens defends title in convincing fashion

SEATTLE - Lake Stevens High School had to wait a few decades to get its first WIAA football championship last fall.

It wasn't nearly as long for a second Class 4A title.

The second-seeded Vikings broke away in the second half for a 31-6 victory Saturday night over No. 1 seed Graham-Kapowsin at Husky Stadium.

With the win, Lake Stevens became the first program to win back-to-back Class 4A titles since Skyline in 2012.

But it took a while for the Vikings to get warmed up.

Clinging to a 10-6 lead late in the first half, Lake Stevens cashed in on the game's first big play - Kolton Matson's 45-yard touchdown pass to Paul Varela in the middle of the field with 19 seconds remaining.

Graham-Kapowsin put together a promising drive deep in Vikings' territory to begin the second half. But on fourth and 4, Jabez Woods was stopped just short of the first down at the Lake Stevens' 6-yard line on a reverse run at the 7:12 mark.

Lake Stevens covered the 94 yards on its next drive, converting a third-and-long on Matson's 61-yard scoring strike to Jesse Lewis along the right sideline, and the Vikings were up, 24-6 with 4:16 remaining in the third quarter.

Nearly four minutes later, after a quick Graham-Kapowsin drive, Matson side-armed a 3-yard touchdown pass to David Brown for a 31-6 lead with 31 seconds to go in the quarter.

Matson finished 13-for-25 for 231 yards and four touchdowns in the victory.