Meadowdale rolls over Nathan Hale, 47-14

Published 11:33 pm Saturday, November 8, 2008

EDMONDS — At some point in these football playoffs, Meadowdale likely will need its punter. But against Nathan Hale on Saturday, well, the Mavericks could have given that young man the night off.

Against the visiting Red Raiders, Meadowdale scored early and often. Later the Mavericks scored often, too, in rolling to a 47-17 victory in a Class 3A quad-district playoff game at Edmonds District Stadium.

Except for one play to run out the clock at the end of the first half, Meadowdale had nine offensive possessions. One ended with a fumble, another on downs, but the other seven times the Mavericks reached the end zone.

For Meadowdale, there were several offensive heroes. Quarterback Matt McDonagh completed nine of 12 passes for 185 yards and three touchdowns to lead the way. Running back Naji Moore-Taylor chipped in 171 rushing yards on just nine carries, highlighted by a 91-yard TD scamper in the second quarter and a 34-yard scoring run in the third.

End Connor Hamlett, meanwhile, added two touchdown catches, one for 15 yards in the game’s early minutes and another for 53 yards in the late moments of the first half.

Collectively, Meadowdale rolled up 481 yards of offense, with most of that coming in the first three quarters as the Mavericks surged to a 47-3 lead.

Playing mostly backups in the final period, Meadowdale went scoreless while Nathan Hale, which kept its starters in until the end, managed two late touchdowns, with the second coming in the final seconds after recovering an onside kick.

Meadowdale coach Mark Stewart, who has his team in the playoffs once again, was mostly pleased with Saturday’s outcome.

“It’s a good time to be peaking,” Stewart said. “There are still a few things that we need to clean up, but overall I thought we played pretty well.”

“We still have a couple of things to correct,” agreed Meadowdale offensive tackle Brian Cramer. “We’re playing a little softer than we’d like to. But we played a pretty good game. … We really just pretty much dominated them.”

Next up for Meadowdale is Capital, which hosts the Mavericks at 1 p.m. Saturday at Olympia’s Ingersoll Stadium.

Meadowdale struck first, driving 65 yards in just six plays for a touchdown after receiving the opening kickoff. The drive’s long play was a 31-yard dash around left end by running back Ben Shebly, and the final 15 yards came on a pass from McDonagh to Hamlett, who stretched his 6-foot-6 frame over the defensive back for the scoring reception.

Nathan Hale countered with a march of its own that resulted in a 35-yard field goal, but from there it was all Meadowdale. The Mavericks took the ensuing kickoff and this time needed seven plays to cover 60 yards. McDonagh had a 37-yard pass to end Cameron Bayer, with the receiver picking up extra yards with nifty jitterbug moves. The final 3 yards came on a burst by Shebly through the right side that took him into the end zone standing.

Moore-Taylor’s 91-yard dash was Meadowdale’s third touchdown, and the 53-yard TD pass to Hamlett gave the Mavericks a 27-3 lead at halftime.

Meadowdale blew the game open in the third quarter with three more touchdowns. Moore-Taylor led off with his 34-yarder, McDonagh linked with Bayer for a 34-yard TD pass and Kyle Gage followed with a scoring run of 54 yards.

The win improved Meadowdale’s record to 6-3 this season. Nathan Hall finished its season with a 4-6 record.

At Edmonds District Stadium

Nathan Hale30014—17

Meadowdale1413200—47

M—Hamlett 15 pass from McDonagh (Henao kick)

NH—Vega-Garcia 35 FG

M — Shebly 3 run (Henao kick)

M—Moore-Taylor 91 run (Henao kick)

M—Hamlett 53 pass from McDonagh (kick failed)

M—Moore-Taylor 34 run (Henao kick)

M—Bayer 34 pass from McDonagh (Henao kick)

M—Gage 54 run (kick failed)

NH—Henry 3 run (pass failed)

Nathan Hale — McKinney 10 pass from Sullivan (McKinney pass from Sullivan)