The Titans consider themselves NPSL champions after beating Auburn Mountainview 26-7 in a battle of division winners.
Ar’Tavious Magee provided a much-needed spark on senior night when the Beamer High School football really needed it.
Magee jump-started a slumbering offense and followed it up with two interceptions as the Titans turned back Auburn Mountainview 26-7 to claim the No. 1 seed from NPSL on Friday night at Federal Way Stadium.
With the Beamer offense going nowhere, the 5-foot-9, 170-pound Magee got open in space for a 56-yard catch-and-run touchdown down the right sideline from quarterback Brandon Niksich late in the first quarter and the 7-0 lead was all the Titans needed.
“We wanted to come and not let everyone get big-headed because we were the No. 1 seed,” said Magee, one of 20 seniors for the Mountain Division champion Titans, who had his second two-interception game of the season. “We had come out knowing we weren’t going to get the game handed to us. We had to come out hard and fight.
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“We were in the game after my touchdown. We clocked in. We never took our foot off the gas after that.”
Beamer (7-2) takes that top seed into next week’s Class 4A state preliminary round game against KingCo 4A Skyline (5-4).
The Titans used workhorse senior running back Billy Vann, who entered No. 2 in NPSL scoring, to put the game away as he ran for 145 yards and two TDs on 30 carries. The team’s defense did the rest, squelching the Lions’ running game to minus-16 yards and giving up just 165 yards overall.
“We definitely wanted that 1 seed,” Beamer coach Darren McKay said after avenging last season’s loss to Auburn Mountainview. “We were division champs, but now when you win this one, you are pretty much North Puget Sound League champs. That’s always the goal.”
Auburn Mountainview (3-6), which has lost two quarterbacks to injury this season, gets the No. 3 spot from NPSL 4A and faces the No. 3 seed from WesCo 4A, Mount Vernon (7-2), next week.
Magee woke up the Titans’ sputtering offense by hauling in a 56-yard touchdown pass down the right sideline from quarterback Brandon Niksich for a 7-0 lead with 9.5 seconds left in the first.
The Lions turned to their third and fourth QBs of the season — Berkley Alfrey for a series and then Jacob Bouillon — after No. 2 QB Carson Klemetsen exited with a concussion at the 3:54 mark of the first quarter.
The Lions cut the lead to 17-7 when Cooper White made a sliding TD grab from Bouillon with 5:20 left in the first half.
The lead grew to 26-7 on Vann’s spirited 22-yard TD run around right end with 5:20 left in the third quarter. The run came two plays after Magee returned an interception 52 yards.