LACEY - The best back in the nation? Best in state history? Timberline's Jonathan Stewart may be all these things, but without a doubt he was the best football player the Prosser Mustangs faced this season.Stewart, the state's career rushing leader, bulldozed the second-ranked Mustangs for 293 yards and four touchdowns on 20 carries as No. 6 Timberline held on for a 42-35 victory in Saturday's 3A state playoffs at South Sound Stadium. "We had guys there doing the best they could, but (Stewart) just bounced off them and made big plays," Prosser coach Tom Moore said. "We had a hard time stopping him. There are not many people like him in the nation."

Stewart now has 7,637 yards for his career and 25 rushing touchdowns this season. The Blazers (10-1) will host a quarterfinal matchup next weekend against Bellevue. Timberline is eager to avenge a 21-14 loss to Bellevue in last year's playoffs, in fact, there is nobody else Stewart says he would rather play. "I don't like it, but our kids have been looking forward to a rematch with Bellevue," Timberline coach Kevin Young said. "To see if we have gotten better like they have."

So as Prosser (11-1) rallied to erase a 14-point deficit less than a minute into the third quarter, Young had to ask his team how bad they wanted that rematch. "It was a heck of a game last year and they didn't want to let the rematch slip away," he said. "It kind of fired them up again." And Stewart, who battled a stiff lower back since the second quarter, went to work, capping an 11-play, 54-yard drive with a 1-yard run to put the Blazers back in front on the first play of the fourth quarter. "I just ran my hardest," he said. "I feel somebody has to step up and I might as well be that person." Timberline pushed its lead to 42-28 with a little over six minutes remaining on a 25-yard touchdown pass from Nick Maxwell to tight end Nic Emory. But Prosser would not go away. "Sometimes you play teams in your league who get behind and give up, but we knew Prosser would not quit," said Young, who played and coached at Prosser. "We had to play four quarters and needed some breaks in the end to pull it out."

Sophomore quarterback Kellen Moore fired his third touchdown pass of the game, connecting with Cody Bruns for a 23-yard touchdown with 2:31 to play to close the gap to seven points. Moore finished 15 of 38 for 214 yards and an interception. But Timberline recovered the onside kick and ran out the clock. Both squads combined to pile up 671 yards of total offense in an electrifying first half that ended with the Blazers clinging to a 28-21 lead. Prosser's Ivan Merino returned a kickoff 89 yards for the Mustangs' first score. Stewart, who eclipsed 200 yards in the first half, scored on his first two carries of the second quarter on runs of 67 and 73 yards. But for each of Timberline's big plays, the Mustangs answered with long time-consuming drives, which seemed to wear on Timberline's defense. Prosser went 75 yards in 11 plays, to tie the game 14-14 on a goal-line dive by Jared Hancock. Hancock led the Mustangs with 82 yards rushing on 14 carries.

Following the first of Stewart's long touchdowns, the Mustangs responded with a 10-play series that ended deep in Timberline territory on fourth down. Then the Mustangs closed the gap to seven points with 38 seconds remaining on Moore's 16-yard touchdown pass to Bruns, capping a five-play 50-yard drive. "We have an explosive offense and our kids are in good shape," said Tom Moore. "We knew we always had a shot to come back."

Prosser 7 14 7 7 - 35

Timberline 14 14 0 14 - 42

Timb - Jonathan Stewart 21 run (Kramer Cross kick) P

ros - Ivan Merino 89 kick return (Bud Sexton kick)

Timb - Jaron Taylor 72 run (Cross kick)

Pros - Jared Hancock 1 run (Sexton kick)

Timb - Stewart 67 run (Cross kick)

Timb - Stewart 73 run (Cross kick)

Pros - Cody Bruns 16 pass from Kellen Moore (Sexton kick)

Pros - Sexton 21 pass from Moore (Sexton kick)

Timb - Stewart 1 run (Cross kick)

Timb - Nic Emory 25 pass from Nick Maxwell (Cross kick)