The Foster Bulldogs and the Tyee Totems went at it on the gridiron Friday night on Neudorf Memorial Field and it was a rumble in the neighborhood of good positive things that kids do to fight hard to get ahead and come back from behind.

And, in the end, in the very end, the visiting Totems held on for a 14-13 win.

The Totems improved to 2-0 on the season, which includes last week's 20-6 win over Chief Sealth. Foster dropped to 0-2.

The Totems have been doing it with mirrors it looks like on paper, at least they sure have not been doing it with players. Foster's first-year head coach, Jim Goode, had a cast of 40-something purple and white uniformed players while the Totems black and reds, and white, were in the neighborhood of a low 20-something.

But the Totems first-year coach, Marshall Jones' reflection on what happened said that his team did it with something other than shiny see-yourself, illusionary objects.

"Heart," said Jones, who spent the last seven years-six with Thomas Jefferson, one with Decatur in Federal Way 4A school districts as an assistant coach. "All heart. It had to be because it was 300 against a thousand. We had only 21."

That was figurative speech by Jones but the heart and the 21 was the truth and those guys came to play.

First it was a scoreless first quarter and then in the last few minutes of the second the Totems scored on an 80-yard interception return by Kasper Myers, a captain on the team, who was the skill-player difference for the Totems in this one. He had 17 carries for 120 yards and two TDs. The latter stat leads us to score two for Myers, where he made a 12-yard run, following an interception, into the end zone that made it 14-0 after a successful two-point conversion.

"Last year we won one game, two I think it was the year before that," said Kasper, a senior, reflecting on how the years prior to this one for the four-year player have been. "The year before that (his sophomore year), I think we won one."

So two wins already. And why's that?

"Our coach. I've had three coaches in three years and he (Jones) is the best coach I have had," said Myers. "He has taught us technique and he knows how to keep us pumped up and he treats us as a family."

The game came down to the very end, after at first the Totems had led at one point, 14-0, going into the latter stages of the game. It was then when the Bulldogs made it 14-7 with 5:43 to go on a Utu Utu pass to Kenny Cramer from five yards out. It was a drive that took seven minutes, went 17 plays, and covered three-quarters of a 100-yard football field.

The final score for the Bulldogs came in the closing second, on the eighth play of a drive, of a 1:01 quick, drive. It had to be. There was not much time left. There was only 1:20 to go in the game when the Bulldogs started that final drive.

So, with 1:20 to go, starting from their own 45-yard-line, it was Utu passing to Swayze Guerroro for 37 yards to get the ball down to the 19-yard line quickly for the Bulldogs in this, more or less, one minute drill. Then an incomplete pass, thanks to Myers and company in the secondary all over the receivers, was rewarded unfortunately for the visitor with a mistake roughing the passer penalty by them. So, a big penalty put the ball at the 9-yard line.

So, for the Bulldogs, first and 10 from the 9-yard line with 50.5 seconds left went to second and five with 45 seconds left at the 5-yard line when Utu passed to Cramer for five yards. Then it was third and four and an illegal procedure penalty on the Foster offensive line backed them up to make it third and nine. Then an incomplete pass made it fourth and nine with 19.9 seconds to go.

Utu passed to Adam Chisholm at the 2-yard line and Chisholm spun around and dove forward into the end zone for the score, reaching the football over the endline as he fell.

Foster coach Goode then decided to go for the win instead of the tie.

Utu rolled around right and was tackled by a gaggle of players from Tyee and the game was over.

Utu, a senior and captain on the Bulldogs, put things in perspective.

"It's hard," said Utu. "Knowing they are our rivals, our neighborhood rivals."

What now?

"Just go to practice, day by day, we get better," he said.

Coach Goode is new like Jones and Utu likes his new coach, now.

"At first I didn't like him, knowing I had a new coach, but he started showing me respect at the end of last year (last school year). And he started showing me stuff that I needed to know. So I started showing him respect."

What's best about Goode?

"He makes us pick up the intensity every day," said Utu.

And Goode was telling them as they came off the field that this was not going to be a time to cry and mope even though one anonymous high school girl fan summed up what many likely wanted to do after this heartbreaking loss, "Aww, they are gonna cry now," she said.

But Goode was right there ushering them off the field and letting them know what was next.

"Keep your heads up, keep your heads up and go over there against the fence," he said, and kept saying. "Keep your heads up..."

Foster goes to Woodland this week before returning for back to back home games against North Mason and Eatonville.

Tyee plays Mount Rainier this Friday at Highline Stadium. Game times are 7 p.m.