SNOHOMISH — After starting the season 0-4, the Snohomish football team appeared to be left for dead, but as it turns out, the Panthers had plenty of life left in them.
Snohomish completed the regular season on Friday with its fifth straight victory, a 27-14 win over Mariner, to improve to 5-2 in the Wesco 4A and 5-4 overall. More importantly, the Panthers secured a berth in the postseason for the first time under third-year head coach Kai Smalley.
“That’s where we wanted to be,” Smalley said. “Now we’re here, so we’ve got to make something of it.”
Snohomish will be the No. 3 seed from Wesco 4A going into the postseason, while Mariner will take the fourth and final playoff spot.
Snohomish opened the season with losses to Glacier Peak, Arlington, Lake Stevens and Monroe, all teams ranked in the Associated Press top 10 at one point or another this season, before righting the ship.
“The biggest thing for us was to stay focused on the fact that it’s not a four-game season,” Smalley said. “Luckily it’s a longer season than that.”
Snohomish was kept out of the postseason a year ago with a heartbreaking 41-40 loss to Mariner in the final game of the regular season. The Panthers jumped on Mariner early this time around, building a 13-0 lead in the first quarter that they never relinquished.
“I always tell my guys that I don’t like to dwell on the past, but that one point has haunted me for a year,” Smalley said. “We didn’t talk about it a lot, but it was definitely in the back of our minds. I brought it up once in a while and made sure that they understood that we couldn’t let it be decided by one point.”
The Panthers took control on the third play of the game when junior Ty Roth intercepted Mariner junior quarterback JJ Walker and returned the ball 51 yards to the Mariner 1-yard line. With the Marauders expecting a run play, Snohomish elected to pass. The call worked to perfection as senior quarterback Kobe McDaniel found junior wide receiver Kole Bride wide open in the end zone for a Snohomish touchdown and a 7-0 lead after the extra point.
The Marauders answered the touchdown with a long drive of their own, but eventually stalled deep in Snohomish territory.
It didn’t take the Panthers long to find the end zone again once they had the ball back. On the fourth play of their second offensive possession of the game, McDaniel found senior Reilly Responte for a 43-yard touchdown to give the Panthers a 13-0 lead after the missed extra point.
“Just like with any game, you can’t come out slow,” Smalley said. “We had to come out firing. Defensively, I think, a lot of times this year, especially early on (in the season), our defense didn’t finish when we could have or get ourselves off the field. It’s been a real focus for us for our defense to make those kind of plays and for our offense to capitalize on turnovers.”
Mariner scored a touchdown in the second quarter to cut the Snohomish lead to six points, but the Marauders would never get any closer.
Roth finished with three interceptions to lead the Snohomish defense. He also batted a ball away from a Mariner wide receiver in the end zone in the fourth quarter when the Marauders were at the Snohomish 2-yard line with a chance to cut the deficit to seven points.
“Against a team like this that is obviously a run-first team, you don’t expect your cornerback to come out and be the star of the game,” Smalley said. “He was always in a position to make a play. Even probably bigger than his three picks was probably that tip on the end zone on that fourth down. He’s one of those players that quietly does it. He takes care of business when he needs to.”
McDaniel paced the Panthers’ offense, completing 16 of 25 passes for 191 yards and three touchdowns.
“Kobe has done a great job,” Smalley said. “He’s a leader on and off the field for our kids. He gets the guys calmed down when he needs to and I’m never worried about him in the pocket.”
At Veterans Memorial Stadium
Mariner 0 7 0 7 —14
Snohomish 13 8 0 6 —27
S—Kole Bride 1 pass from Kobe McDaniel (Taylor DeVries kick)
S—Reilly Responte 43 pass from McDaniel (kick failed)
M—Tyler Keele 22 pass from JJ Walker (Edward Katynskiy kick)
S—Josh Johnston 33 pass from McDaniel (Keegan Stich run)
S—Stich 1 run (kick blocked)
M—Darius Brown 65 pass from Walker (Katynskiy kick)
Records—–Mariner 4-3 league, 4-5 overall. Snohomish 5-2, 5-4.
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