Sumner wins 4A state championship with nervy call and dramatic last-second field goal
Keith Ross tried to call off the fake punt. Tied 24-24 against the top-seeded Camas Papermakers in the Class 4A state high school football championship game at Husky Stadium on Saturday night, Sumner’s longtime coach was having second thoughts.
It was fourth down at Sumner’s own 37-yard line. If the fake backfired, Camas had a good shot to win the game. But when Ross called out to call off the play, no one heard him, so Aaron Black took the direct snap and ran it up the gut. First down.
Sumner took the momentum and ran with it, marching down the field until a few plays later, Austin Ferencz lined up for a 21-yard field goal to win the game.
The kick sailed through the uprights as time expired and Sumner won, 27-24. The Spartans are 4A state champions.
“I thought, ‘I’m either gonna be a hero or a goat and I’ll take it,’” Ross said after the game about the fake punt call. “It was a big call.”
This year, Ross was destined to be a hero. The longtime Sumner coach had knocked on the door of deep state tournament runs on numerous occasions but had never lifted the trophy. In his 23rd year, he finally won the big one.
“It feels really good,” Ross said. “I’m really proud of these guys. … These kids thought they were the team to get us here. We talked about it in August and we went our runs. We had ups and downs and this team never quit. This is the state championship team.”
Ross had a feeling before the season this team could be the one to do it. Loaded all over the field with a defense that flies around to the football, it had to be.
Senior tight end Carter Cocke knew it, too. A Montana State commit, Cocke told The News Tribune during preseason practice he was planning to get Ross a ring this year. He made good on it on Saturday.
“This team is just incredible,” he said. “We all bought in. … There were ups and downs during the game. Camas is a hell of a team. We’re more of a team.”
The game was tied 7-7 at half. Then the fireworks started. The teams traded blows in the second half:
- Sumner: Steele Isaacs 16-yard touchdown run
- Camas: Chase McGee 39-yard pass from Jake Davidson
- Sumner: Austin Ferencz 28-yard field goal
- Camas: Chase McGee 61-yard pass from Jake Davidson
- Sumner: Carter Cocke 13-yard pass from Nate Donovan
- Camas: Jackson Tyler 34-yard field goal
- Sumner: Austin Ferencz game-winning 21-yard field goal as time expired
It felt like whoever had the ball last might win the game. Fortunately for the folks in the valley, that was Sumner on Saturday night. Ferencz missed a pair of field goals in the first half — granted, they were long attempts — but Sumner’s coaches and his teammates told him to stay confident during the halftime break.
“I flushed (all the nerves),” Ferencz said. “I wasn’t really thinking of it in the second half. The first half, I was in my head. I just remembered, this is what I do, this is what I’m good at. … (My teammates) believed in me and reassured me.”
Isaacs rushed for 170 yards and two touchdowns, leading the Spartans. Quarterback Nate Donovan pushed the ball downfield at critical moments, completing 18-of-29 passes for 254 yards and a touchdown. Receiver Kainoa Grounds came up big time and time again, racking up 148 yards on four receptions.
Donovan, who transferred from Mount Si, gets a state championship ring in his first season at Sumner.
“It was super special,” he said. “It’s been a really long year, we’ve had a lot of hard work, but I feel like it’s all worth it.”
And now Ross — the long-haired, Sumner icon who operates on coffee, adrenaline and football — has his ring.
“Just to bring it home for coach Ross, it’s the best feeling ever,” Cocke said.
This story was originally published December 7, 2024 at 10:36 PM with the headline "Sumner wins 4A state championship with nervy call and dramatic last-second field goal."
