Game Recap: Skyline Takes Down Bellarmine Prep 49-24 for 4A Football Title

Max Browne and the Skyline Spartans re-wrote the state record book Saturday night in the 4A title game against Bellarmine Prep, winning 49-24.

Browne who entered the game just nine yards short of the career passing record, broke it with a 13-yard pass to Cedric Cooper. He would finish with 384 yards passing and a new state record of 12,950 (previous record was Brian Lindgren of DeSales 12,575 yards from 1996-1998).

“To go out with this senior class, one of the best Skyline has had, this all I can ask for going out this way,” said Browne.  “It’s crazy to play 8 games here in the dome; my freshman year has a back-up (to Jake Heaps).

Another surprise was to see USC head football coach Lane Kiffin near the end zone after completing a pass to the corner end zone. “I knew the quarterbacks coach Clay Helton was coming, it was a pleasant surprise to see Coach Kiffin. I will be down there in a few months, but it was about Skyline tonight it was a great win for us.”

Browne wasn’t the only Spartan to break records; kicker Sean McDonald booted a 49 yard field goal as time expired just before half time to put the Spartans up 32-10. The previous record was 45 from South Kitsap’s Ryan Laureau in 1994.

Skyline Head Coach Mat Taylor was all smiles after his team won its second straight title. “This was a great night for Max, and it will be very emotional when he leaves early to go to USC,” said Taylor. “Tonight was about team 16, next year will be about team 17,” said Taylor about the future of Skyline football after Browne leaves. “We haven’t seen what team 17 can do yet but each team continues to strive to be better and better.”

One team several players and coaches want to play is the 3A champion Bellevue, who won their fifth straight title Friday night. “It would have been a lot of fun. I know people get excited about what-if’s,” said Taylor. “Coach Goncharoff and I had talked about a game this year, but we both had a great opportunity with out of state games to play. It just couldn’t happen.”

“To be the top, you have to play the best,” said Taylor. “We didn’t know Cottonwood (UT) would go 3-9 this year.” Playing out of state teams has enabled Skyline to be the best among the 4A schools for another year.

Records broken or tied last night

Individual (championship game only)

Total offense – 384 Max Browne, previous 374 by Bill Hobert (Puyallup) 1987

Most yards passing – 384 Max Browne, previous 374 by Bill Hobert (Puyallup) 1987

Most touchdown receptions – 2 tied Trevor Barney and Matthew Sinatro, 9 others with same record

Longest field goal – Sean McDonald 49 yards, previous 45 by Ryan Laureau (South Kitsap) 1994.

Team (championship game only)

Total offense – 475 tied by Skyline; Central Valley vs. South Kitsap in 1997.

Most yards passing – 403, previous 374 by Puyallup in 1987

Most points scored (by 2 teams) – 73, previous 49 Central Valley vs. South Kitsap in 1997.

Career

Passing – 12,950 Max Browne (2009-2012), previous record Brian Lindgren of DeSales 12,575 yards from 1996-1998.

Score by Quarters     1  2  3  4   Score

-----------------    -- -- -- --   -----

Skyline............. 14 18 10  7  - 49      

Bellarmine Prep.....  3  7  7  7  - 24 

Scoring Summary

First Quarter

Skyline – Matt Sinatro 23 yd pass from Max Browne (Sean McDonald kick)

BPrep – Matthew Philichi 24 yd field goal

Skyline – Trevor Barney 34 yd pass from Browne (McDonald kick)

Second quarter

Skyline – Cedric Cooper 3 yd run (Nate Gibson pass failed)

Skyline – Safety

Skyline – Barney 36 yd pass from Browne (McDonald kick)

Bprep – Calvin Chandler 22 yd pass from Sefo Liufau (Philichi kick)Skyline – McDonald 49 yd field goal   

Third quarter

Skyline – McDonald 35 yd field goal

BPrep – Garrett McKay 6 yd pass from Liufau (Philichi kick)

Skyline – Sinatro 55 yd pass from Browne (McDonald kick) 

Fourth quarter

Skyline – Cooper 1 yd run (McDonald kick)

BPrep – Drew Griffin 24 yd pass from Liufau (Philichi kick)

SKYLINE    BPREP

FIRST DOWNS...................       21       21

RUSHES-YARDS (NET)............    25-72    22-30

PASSING YDS (NET).............      403      376

Passes Att-Comp-Int...........  31-23-1  45-33-2

TOTAL OFFENSE PLAYS-YARDS.....   56-475   67-406

Fumble Returns-Yards..........      0-0      0-0

Punt Returns-Yards............      1-12      0-0

Kickoff Returns-Yards.........      3-90      0-0

Interception Returns-Yards....    2-64      1-0

Punts (Number-Avg)............    0-0.0   3-10.0

Fumbles-Lost..................           0-0      1-0

Penalties-Yards...............          5-40     5-30

Possession Time...............        21:46    26:14

Third-Down Conversions........  9 of 11  7 of 14

Fourth-Down Conversions.......   0 of 0   2 of 2

Red-Zone Scores-Chances.......     3-4      2-2

Sacks By: Number-Yards........      1-9     2-14

RUSHING: Skyline-C. Cooper 12-60; M. Browne 4-19; N. Gibson 1-3; J.

Valencia 1-2; N. Sblendorio 1-1; J. Mach 5-minus 3; T. Barney 1-minus 10.

Bellarmine Prep-L. Millie 12-15; S. Liufau 9-14; B. Thompson 1-1.

PASSING: Skyline-M. Browne 21-28-1-384; N. Gibson 2-3-0-19. Bellarmine

Prep-S. Liufau 33-45-2-376.

RECEIVING: Skyline-T. Barney 10-182; M. Sinatro 4-116; N. Sblendorio

3-27; C. Cooper 2-35; A. Bui 2-11; D. Lunde 1-18; T. Miller 1-14. Bellarmine

Prep-G. McKay 11-128; D. Griffin 10-117; C. Chandler 10-95; M. Ogard 1-32; L.

Millie 1-4.

INTERCEPTIONS: Skyline-M. Sinatro 1-49; N. Sblendorio 1-15. Bellarmine

Prep-D. Griffin 1-0.

FUMBLES: Skyline-None. Bellarmine Prep-S. Liufau 1-0.

SACKS (UA-A): Skyline-E. Wagner 1-0. Bellarmine Prep-J. Salazar 0-1; D.

Quiocho 1-0; N. Dionas 0-1.

TACKLES (UA-A): Skyline-T. Barney 8-0; B. Young 7-1; J. Valencia 5-1; S.

McAlhaney 5-1; P. Stromgren 4-1; B. Crandall 3-1; M. Sinatro 3-1; N. Sblendorio 3-0; J. Wright 2-2; P. Pelluer 2-2; C. Premone 1-0; N. Gibson 1-0; C. Cooper 1-0; E. Wagner 1-0. Bellarmine Prep-D. Griffin 6-3; N. Dionas 6-1; G. McKay 5-2; C. Chandler 2-4; W. O'Brien 2-3; J. Salazar 1-5; B. Thompson 3-0; M. Ota 2-2; M. McDougal 2-1; L. Millie 1-2; D. Quiocho 1-1; K. Kors 1-0; M. White 1-0; A. Moore 1-0.

Complete game breakdown provided by the WIAA

Check out and replay our live coverage here on Patch.