Mariner grinds out 14-0 win over rival Cascade
Published 12:01 am Saturday, September 20, 2008
EVERETT — Many fans attending Friday night’s contest betweeen Wesco South co-leaders Mariner and Cascade might have expected to see a high-scoring affair.
And that might have been warranted considering Mariner entered play averaging 41.5 points per game and Cascade 21. But this game was more of a grind-it-out battle of attrition as the Marauders used a 25-yard touchdown pass and a 1-yard touchdown run from quarterback AJ VanWieringen to prevail 14-0 Friday at Everett Memorial Stadium.
The victory was the latest in an old rivalry renewed this season with Cascade moving to the Wesco South.
“It means a lot to us — this is an intense rivalry,” VanWieringen said. “It’s so important. Coaches (said) it every single day at practice: Beat Cascade. This is a big rivalry and we did it.”
With the win, Mariner improves to 2-0 in league play and takes over sole ownership of first place in the Wesco South.
“This is an important win because Cascade is one of the better teams in Wesco,” said Mariner coach John Ondriezek said. “We needed this one.”
Adrien Black carried 15 times for 94 yards and VanWieringen passed for 65 yards and a score, but the real story was the Mariner defense that held Cascade star quarterback Aaron Frye and his Cascade teammates to just 78 rushing yards and 108 yards of total offense.
“Our defensive kids performed well,” Ondriezek said. “They read their keys and they adjusted to the different alignments. Everybody on that defense carried out their assignments, which is exactly what you ask the kids to do. Not one guy broke down.”
Mariner’s defense made it tough for Cascade “to get anything going” according to Bruins coach Jake Huizinga.
“Mariner played really tough, aggressive defense and we didn’t exploit some of the things we thought we could,” Huizinga said. “It was poor execution on our part and my hat’s off to Mariner — they did a nice job.”
The Marauders opened the scoring on their final possession of the first half. Black had a key 9-yard run and VanWieringen completed a 9-yard pass to Tevin Dillon to bring the Marauders to the Cascade 25-yard line. On the next play, VanWieringen scrambled right and found Dillon in the back of the end zone for a 25-yard touchdown that gave Mariner a 7-0 lead with 46 seconds to play in the half. Dillon just managed to get a foot down before being shoved out of bounds.
“My quarterback put it right where I needed it,” Dillon said. “I was able to reach out and grab it and drag my right foot, and I barely got it.”
VanWieringen added the Marauders’ second touchdown on a 1-yard run with 10:20 to play in the game — something he and Ondriezek attributed to the play of the Mariner offensive line.
“Our offensive line was just phenomenal tonight,” Ondriezek said. “They moved the ball when they needed to. They made some mistakes early but they never got down, they just kept coming back.”
After finding themselves down 14-0 with under 10 minutes remaining, the Cascade offense put together its only sustained drive of the night.
Frye completed a pair of passes and picked up 23 yards on a run to bring the Bruins to the Marauders’ 28-yard line. But Dillon intercepted Frye’s fourth pass attempt of the drive at the 1-yard line with 5:36 to go, effectively ending Cascade’s chances.
“We did a nice job (on that drive),” Huizinga said.
At Everett Memorial Stadium
Mariner0707—14
Cascade0000—0
M—Dillon 25 pass from VanWieringen (Rynkiewicz kick)
M—VanWieringen 1 run (Rynkiewicz kick)
Records—Mariner 2-0 league, 2-1 overall. Cascade 1-1 league, 2-1 overall.
