Meadowdale football wins ‘ugly’
Published 10:26 pm Saturday, November 12, 2011
EDMONDS — Meadowdale football coach Mark Stewart described it as ugly, and he wasn’t referring to the weather. His Mavericks struggled on offense and committed too many penalties. But in the end, it didn’t really matter.
On a cold and windy Saturday night, Meadowdale struck first and fast and then held on to defeat Mercer Island 20-17 in a Class 3A state first-round playoff game at Edmonds Stadium.
The Mavericks (11-0) next travel to Camas for a state quarterfinal game, either Friday or Saturday. Mercer Island’s season ends at 8-3.
“We gave up some plays,” Stewart said. “Our offense was inconsistent. But an ugly win in the playoffs, we’ll take it.”
Things went so well for Meadowdale early on that some in the stadium may have smelled blowout. And when Mercer Island star quarterback Jeff Lindquist, a University of Washington recruit, went down late in the second quarter with a leg injury, the game seemed over. But instead, a combination of turnovers, near-turnovers and penalties allowed the Islanders to stay in the game. But Mercer Island was never quite able to complete the comeback.
Alex Wood hit the left upright on a 26-yard field goal attempt. Jacob Hughes picked off a pass from backup quarterback Brian Higgins. And after Higgins connected on an 11-yard touchdown pass to Nicky Sinclair with 22 seconds left to make it 20-17, Meadowdale bobbled the onside kick but it went out of bounds, giving the Mavericks possession and allowing them to run out the clock.
“We knew that they were a good team and we’d have to play strong defense, not just against (Lindquist) but against their whole team,” Meadowdale senior Kyler Larsen said.
Meadowdale won despite running 30 fewer plays than Mercer Island and getting outgained 396-285. The Mavericks managed just 74 yards in the second half to 267 by Mercer Island.
Stewart said he didn’t think his team let up when Lindquist went down. The quarterback missed most of the second half, coming on late in the fourth quarter to try to rally his team before leaving again.
“We just didn’t make plays,” Stewart said. “That’s a good team and they’ll make plays if you give them too many opportunities.”
The game couldn’t have started better for Meadowdale. On just its second play, quarterback Brian Marty ran play-action and found Larsen wide open on the right sideline, and the senior running back ran 73 yards for a touchdown less than four minutes into the game.
“I thought I was going to drop it,” Larsen said. “I bobbled it a little but then I got it and just ran.”
After the Maverick defense forced a three-and-out, Giavani Shepard took the first play of the ensuing possession up the middle, bounced off a tackler and burst through for a 45-yard TD and a 14-0 lead.
“I ran through the hole, followed my blockers and broke through,” said Shepard, who had 143 yards rushing on 19 carries.
Wood managed a 27-yard field goal to open the second quarter and the Islanders had a chance to get closer when Higgins ran towards the end zone but fumbled at the goal line it and it was recovered by Meadowdale midway through the third quarter. The Mavericks made it 20-3 on a Kyle Newsom 2-yard run but then went completely cold on offense.
Higgins, a junior, tried to get Mercer Island back in it, finding Connor Bernal for a 6-yard score just before the end of the third quarter, but the Maverick defense held strong in the fourth.
Higgins finished 9-for-22 for 183 yards while Lindquist was 11-for-18 for 71 yards and added 69 rushing yards on 18 carries. Marty countered by going 5-for-8 for 128 yards for Meadowdale.
“At this point in the season a win is a win,” Stewart said. “We didn’t play perfect but we did enough to get through and that’s all we want to do now.”
“We showed them that we’re here to get through,” Shepard added. “we want to keep going on and we’re going to do what we have to to do that.”
Meadowdale 20, Mercer Island 17
Mercer Island0377—17
Meadowdale14060—20
MD—Kyler Larsen 73 pass from Brian Marty (Nils Odegaard kick)
MD—Giavani Shepard 45 run (Odegaard kick)
MI—Alex Wood 27 FG
MD—Kyle Newsom 2 run (kick failed)
MI—Connor Bernal 6 pass from Brian Higgins (Wood kick)
MI—Nicky Sinclair 11 pass from Higgins (Wood kick)
At Edmonds District Stadium
Mercer Island 0 0 0 0 — 0
Meadowdale 0 0 0 0 — 0
School—scoring player’s last name yardage type of play (extra point outcome)
School—scoring player’s last name yardage type of play (extra point outcome)
School—scoring player’s last name yardage type of play (extra point outcome)
Records—Mercer Island x-x overall. Meadowdale x-x.
