Mountlake Terrace wins thriller — takes down Mariner

Published 10:59 pm Thursday, September 16, 2010

Mountlake Terrace opened league play with a bang.

Senior running back Casey Ellersick scored on a 26-yard touchdown run with 32 seconds left in the fourth quarter to lift the Hawks to a 28-21 upset victory over Mariner in a Western Conference South Division football opener Sept. 11 at Edmonds Stadium.

Mountlake Terrace (1-0 in the league, 2-0 overall) had some crucial breaks go its ways, including a roughing-the-passer penalty that negated an interception on what turned out to be the winning drive.

“Casey just made a nice run,” Mountlake Terrace coach Tony Umayam said of the winning touchdown. “Our offensive line, they did a nice job all game long.”

After Mariner (0-1, 0-2) jumped to a 7-0 lead, Mountlake Terrace running back Max Wicklander tied the score with a 7-yard touchdown run and the teams were deadlocked at halftime. The Marauders then took a 14-7 lead on the first play from scrimmage in the third quarter and were set to add to the lead when fortune smiled on the Hawks.

“They’re marching down in our red zone,” Umayam said. “We were fortunately able to pop the ball out and it took a nice bounce right into one of our faster guys and he was able to take it 99 yards the other way to score.”

Jahlen Brown was the player who was in the right position at the right time.

“They’re going in to score and we turn it into a scoring play for ourselves,” Umayam said.

Mountlake Terrace then took 21-14 lead on a 1-yard run by Ellersick, who finished with 121 yards on 24 carries. Mariner responded with a scoring drive of its own to tie the score at 21. The drive was set up by a breakdown by the Hawks’ punting squad that allowed the Marauders to start their drive inside the Mountlake Terrace 10.

“The thing I was most proud of about our team is that we were able to weather the ups and downs of the big plays and the momentum swings. We were able to continue playing hard even when the momentum had totally swung the other way and it was looking like we were going to lose control of the game.”

The defensive standout of the game was linebacker Mitch Haldane, who recorded 11 solo tackles, four assists, a sack and a forced fumble. Haldane was named the U.S. Army/Seattle Seahawks player of the week for his performance.

This week the Hawks take on district rival Meadowdale (2-0) at 8 p.m., Friday, Sept. 18 at Edmonds Stadium. The Mavericks are looking for payback for last year’s overtime loss.

“It really is a game that I’m sure both schools have been pointing to,” Umayam said.