The Edmonds-Woodway football team is not afraid.
After a week of preparation, the Warriors are ready and eager to face the Eastside Catholic Crusaders — the top-ranked 3A team in the state — in a quad-district playoff game at 7 p.m. at Eastside Catholic High School.
“We’re excited,” Edmonds-Woodway head coach John Gradwohl said. “We’re glad that we’re still playing. You want to get yourself in a position to play games that matter at the end of the season. … The playoff brings a certain level of excitement and electricity. We get to go play in a different stadium that we’ve never played in before.”
Rather than focus on its daunting opponent, Edmonds-Woodway is looking inward. The Warriors are concentrating on what they can do better leading up to their playoff showdown.
“We’re going to work on ourselves,” Gradwohl said. “Whoever it is we’re playing, they are who they are. We can only control ourselves, our own execution, our own effort, our own attitude.”
Edmonds-Woodway (6-3) is coming off a 26-25 come-from-behind victory over Marysville Pilchuck in a Wesco 3A crossover game last Thursday. Warriors quarterback Issac Jackson, who completed 12 of 19 passes for 268 yards and three touchdowns against the Tomahawks, found fellow senior David Woodard for a 28-yard touchdown pass with 1:05 remaining to clinch the victory.
The Warriors also got a strong performance from junior running back Greyson Fisher. Fisher made his first start in place of injured senior Tyler Rheinford, who suffered a concussion in a car accident on Oct. 24.
Rheinford’s status is still up in the air, but Gradwohl liked what he saw from Fisher.
“I thought he played really well, especially for his first start,” Gradwohl said. “The more he plays, he’ll get more comfortable. He played great. He stays low to the ground, uses his body and runs hard. I was really proud of him. He stepped up.”
The win helped Edmonds-Woodway bounce back from a 41-22 loss to Glacier Peak, the No. 5 team in the latest Associated Press 3A rankings. The loss to the Grizzlies is Edmonds-Woodway’s only defeat in its past six games.
“Any time you win, that’s a good thing,” Gradwohl said. “Practices are a little easier. I think we came off a disappointing game against Glacier Peak. Not that we should have won, but I think we all thought we should have put up a better battle than we did.
“It was nice that we bounced back, especially in that second half (against Marysville Pilchuck). You try to carry some of that momentum into this week. There’s still several things we can improve upon.”
Gradwohl said he hopes the Warriors can continue that momentum into Friday’s contest against Eastside Catholic (8-0).
“For us, I feel like we’ve got a pretty good team,” Gradwohl said. “I think we’re a better team than we’ve been to this point and we could cut out the mistakes and keep getting better. I just want to play a better game. I just hope Friday we can get better and play at a higher level. If we can do that, the chips will fall where they’re supposed to.”
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