Lake Stevens earns playoff berth in football with victory

Published 11:19 pm Friday, October 29, 2010

LAKE STEVENS — It took a while to get it going, but once it got untracked the Dolphin-Nelson express looked impossible to stop Friday night.

The Lake Stevens running back and quarterback combination were held scoreless in the first half, but exploded in the second to lead the Vikings to a 35-14 win over Mariner.

The victory sends Lake Stevens (7-2) to the playoffs, while Mariner (5-4) — alone atop the Wesco South standings two weeks ago — has just a consolation game remaining before the end of its season.

Duke Dolphin was the second-highest-billed running back heading into the game, next to Mariner’s KeiVarae Russell, who ran roughshod over Marauder opponents all season, but the Lake Stevens captain lit up the marquee Friday and outshined Russell.

“He’s been great all year,” Lake Stevens coach Tom Tri said. “Duke is a senior captain. He played his butt off tonight. He’s dinged up, but you wouldn’t really know it based on his play out there on the field.”

Dolphin carried the ball 17 times for 114 yards and scored twice on the ground. He also opened the scoring in the third quarter, dancing into the end zone on a 25-yard screen pass.

That scoring pass ignited quarterback Jake Nelson, who threw for just 41 yards in the first half but finished the game 10-of-12 for 218 yards and three scores.

After being shut out in the first half, Nelson’s passing gave the Vikings the balance they needed to overwhelm the Marauder defense in the second half.

“Our goal was to be as balanced as possible tonight,” Tri said. “We threw a lot of screens at them to keep the chains moving.”

Nelson added 57 yards on the ground on 12 carries.

The Vikings advance to take on Curtis High School in the first round of the playoffs.

“Curtis is going to be very good,” Tri said. “We are going to have to play our best game of the year. Nobody’s stopped them all year long. It’s going to be a huge challenge for us.”

It will be especially challenging if the Vikings have to face Curtis without Korey Young. The junior linebacker is No. 1 on the team with 132 tackles this season, having recorded 17 more through two-and-a-half quarters Friday.

After Mariner pulled to within 14-7 when Alex Coffman hit Chris Knowles with a touchdown pass, Young’s knee got hit by a helmet during Herculez Ramirez’s successful PAT and Young was done for the night.

“It was really unfortunate,” Tri said. “Just kind of a freak deal.”

While Lake Stevens thinks playoff dreams, Mariner will have to struggle with consolation-game nightmares. The Marauders’ 28-20 loss to Jackson last week ruined the team’s playoff hopes.

“It is disappointing because I know we could have done better,” Russell said.

Russell injured his ankle against Jackson and said he was about 90 percent going into this game. He gave a mighty effort against a stout Lake Stevens defense led by Gunnar Eklund, who was a beast on the defensive line, recording three sacks.

Russell carried the ball 20 times for just 81 yards. He missed part of the third quarter after reinjuring his ankle and getting it retaped.

“You could tell my step wasn’t the same as it used to be,” Russell said. “It (the injury) slowed me down. I was scared because I couldn’t do my cuts like usual. I can’t make excuses. They played well… I couldn’t believe how well they played together.”

Russell noted that unity was the difference for the Marauders this week. He said his team played like a bunch of individuals trying to win alone rather than one unit.

“We weren’t really playing our game,” he said. “Our composure was low. Our poise was so low. People were trying to win the game by themselves, instead of just as a team coming together.”

Russell especially referenced turnovers, which were key for the second straight week. The most hurtful came with the Marauders driving for what looked like the tying score in the third quarter.

Mariner drove to the Lake Stevens 21 yard line and Coffman dropped back on third and seven only to put the ball right between the numbers of the Vikings’ Christian Gasca, missing a wide-open receiver. Gasca returned the pick 46-yards and four plays later Dolphin was in the endzone again.

Despite the tough loss, Russell was positive at the end of the night.

“We’ll give you a show next year,” he said

At Lake Stevens H.S.

Mariner0000—14

Lake Stevens002114—35

Lake Stevens — Dolphin 25 pass from J. Nelson (Morgan kick)

Lake Stevens — Dolphin 11 run (Morgan kick)

Mariner — Knowles 33 pass from Coffman (Ramirez kick)

Lake Stevens — Gasca 44 pass from J. Nelson (Morgan kick)

Mariner — Coffman 1 run (Ramirez kick)

Lake Stevens — Preslar 52 pass from J. Nelson (Morgan kick)

Lake Stevens — Dolphin 17 run (Morgan kick)

Records—Mariner 5-4. Lake Stevens—7-2.