Kentridge Bedevils Kentwood To Win Title -- Cabiles Scores 1 Td, Sets Up Another In Win

KENT - The devil made him do it.

The Tasmanian Devil, that is.

Ron Cabiles, who has the cartoon character tattooed on his arm, gave Kentwood High School a devil of a time last night to spark fourth-ranked Kentridge to a 28-14 victory and the South Puget Sound League's North Division football championship. The pint-sized scat back, just 5 feet 5 and 160 pounds, scored one touchdown on a 73-yard reverse and set up another with a diving, 30-yard catch at the 1.

Cabiles touched the ball only one other time on offense, a 2-yard run.

"When I get my hands on the ball, I try to do the most I can with it," he said.

The division championship is the second straight for Kentridge (7-0, 8-1), which meets the No. 4 team from the South Division in an SPSL playoff game Tuesday at 8 p.m. in the second half of a doubleheader at French Field. Kentwood (5-2, 6-3) advances as North No. 2 and plays South No. 3 Tuesday at 5 p.m. at French Field.

A draw was scheduled this morning to determine the 2-3-4 seeds from the South Division. Bethel, Curtis and Rogers finished in a three-way tie for second at 5-2.

The Chargers led 14-0 at halftime and were looking to make something happen quickly after the second-half kickoff. Kentwood was keying on running back Keegan Dougherty, who got the first handoff of the third quarter and gained 7 yards. Then came the misdirection play to Cabiles, who weaved through an open field and got a sensational block from Ryan Woo at the Kentwood 30. Still, Cabiles had to dodge two more defenders and spun into the end zone.

Very Tasmanian Devil-ish.

"I can relate to him," Cabiles said of the cartoon character. "We're both little with big hearts and strong mentally. I just run around like he does, basically."

Kentwood Coach Tom Ingles called the touchdown run the biggest play of the game.

"That play really hurt," he said.

Just 60 seconds into the half, the Conquerors were down 21-0. They finally got on the board on a 1-yard run by Mike Karney with 1:52 left in the third quarter. Early in the fourth, however, Kentridge responded with a 56-yard drive highlighted by Cabiles' diving catch of Dougherty's halfback pass on fourth-and-14 at the 31. Mike Phillips scored on the next play and the Chargers were back up by three touchdowns, 28-7, with just 5:01 left.

Kentwood's Matt Alvis tossed a 13-yard touchdown pass to Russell Dokken with 11 seconds to play to finish the scoring. Alvis completed five of six passes for 112 yards on the drive, which included three sacks and a holding penalty. Otherwise, he hit just one of five for 10 yards. Running back Darvel Hanson had a tough second half, losing 8 yards on six carries to finish with 46 yards for the night.

Dougherty wound up with 83 yards on 12 tries.