Mariner faces big test against No. 2 Lake Stevens

Published 6:48 pm Thursday, October 15, 2015

After dropping its first two non-conference games of the season, the Mariner football team responded with four consecutive wins that have propelled the Marauders into a first-place tie with Lake Stevens in the Wesco 4A.

The Marauders (4-2) face the No. 2-ranked Vikings (6-0) Friday night at Goddard Stadium.

“We’ve built some confidence, now it’s a bigger test,” first-year Mariner coach Mark Stewart said. “Obviously, (Lake Stevens) does things well. We know a lot about them. They’re going to challenge us to see if we can do what we do and establish what we do against them. It’s going to be a fun Friday night.”

The Marauders dropped their season opener to Mountlake Terrace 34-31 and fell to O’Dea the following week 49-22. Since then, they have been perfect. Stewart, who took over this season for longtime coach John Ondriezek, said the turnaround has been a matter of improving week to week.

“Each week we just got a little bit better and kind of figured out how we want to do things,” Stewart said. “I thought we were building confidence — even though we lost those first two —in what we had to do to be successful. I think it took us a little while to put that together.”

Mariner beat Kamiak (4-2), Cascade (0-6), Mount Vernon (0-6) and Jackson (2-4) to open its conference schedule. With the undefeated Vikings, Monroe (4-2) and Snohomish (2-4) remaining on the Marauders’ schedule, the toughest challenges are yet to come.

“I thought we would have a chance (to be 4-0 at this point),” Stewart said. “I thought we had good talent on the team. As a coach, you don’t really look at the schedule, you just look at the process and who you have next week.”

This week it happens to be Lake Stevens.

With one of the top quarterbacks in the country in senior Jacob Eason, a bevy of receivers for him to throw the ball to, and a running back tandem of seniors Andrew Grimes and Asi Tupou, the Vikings are loaded on offense.

And they are just as impressive on defense, having allowed just 49 points in six games.

“They’re going to certainly make their plays, but you have to stay focused on the things that we need to do to be successful to slow them down,” Stewart said. “I’m not sure that you’re ever going to completely stop them, but if you can get some stops and slow them down, that’s where you are going to get in the game.”

The Marauders will try to counter the potent Lake Stevens attack with a running game that has been outstanding so far this season, led by junior Darius Brown, who has rushed for 598 yards and eight touchdowns in Mariner’s four-game win streak.

“Darius is, right now, kind of the featured guy for us,” Stewart said. “He’s done a great job of just being real steady.”

Aaron Lommers covers prep sports for The Herald. Follow him on Twitter at @aaronlommers and contact him at alommers@heraldnet.com.