Tacoma Baptist ready for state football title crusade

Mark Smith just wanted to give his son a place to play football in the proper environment.

He wound up giving Tacoma one of its most powerful programs.

Tacoma Baptist, one of the city's smallest schools, plays some big-time football. After finishing 3-6 in their first season in 1991, the Crusaders have made nine consecutive playoff appearances and are in the state-championship game for the second time in the past five years.

Fourth-ranked Tacoma Baptist (12-0), which lost the 1995 B-11 title to Davenport, 24-21, faces No. 5 Royal (12-0) in the Class 1A final at 10 a.m. Saturday in the Tacoma Dome.

Smith's son, Kyle, graduated from Tacoma Baptist in 1998. But, year after year, he treats all of his players like sons. And this year's group wants to win the state championship especially for him.

"Coach Smith is the smartest coach--he could coach at any level," senior quarterback Ira Potter said. "He does things that are just amazing ... We really want to win this for coach because of everything he does. He wants it so bad, we can tell."

Before starting the Tacoma Baptist program, Smith was an assistant at Washington High in Parkland, where he still teaches and is the boys track coach. His son, Kyle, wanted to attend Washington so he could play. But Smith and his wife, Susan, wanted to keep him in private school.

So, instead of bringing Kyle to Washington, they helped bring football to Tacoma Baptist, where Susan is a secretary and their daughter, Morgan, is a senior.

Smith coached Washington to back-to-back state boys track titles in 1989 and '90 and said he never really wanted to be a head football coach. But it seemed natural once Tacoma Baptist was ready to play. Now his players want to reward him with a state title.