A reason to celebrate

EVERETT — A few Mariner players have some paying up to do.

After securing their first trip to the quad-districts since 2007, they’ll do it happily.

Led by its offensive line, Mariner gashed Jackson for 466 rushing yards in a 54-28 win Friday night to lock up second place in the Wesco

South and an automatic berth in the quad-district playoffs in two weeks.

“None of us have been there,” Mariner running back KeiVarae Russell said. “We all wanted to experience that, so we could all say later, ‘Remember when we went to (the playoffs)?’

“We plan on doing some damage.”

The loss drops Jackson to third place and means the Timberwolves must win a crossover game against the Wesco North’s No. 3 seed to advance to the quad-districts.

Friday night Russell led the charge, rushing for 204 yards on 28 carries with two touchdowns. But he wasn’t alone. Mariner sophomore Joshua Williamson carried the ball nine times for 134 yards and two touchdowns and Dominique Law gashed Jackson for 71 yards and a score.

After the game Russell, Law, Williamson and quarterback Gabe Dye — who ran for 36 yards himself — all credited the play of Mariner’s offensive line for giving them gigantic holes to run through. In fact, because of a challenge they made with their linemen before the game, Dye has to dye his hair red, Law has to shave his face and Kiante Ahmad-Woods has to shave a clown into his hair.

“It was execution at the line,” Dye said of the key to his team’s success. “Our offensive line worked really hard. It starts at our line and we got to give them props. They did a great job tonight.”

Preparing for Friday night’s game Mariner watched film of Jackson’s defense, focusing in particular on film from Edmonds-Woodway’s 63-42 win over the Timberwolves on Sept. 30. The Warriors rushed for 396 yards in the game and Mariner noticed a few things it used in its win.

“We studied some other teams that ran the ball well on them, stole some plays and ran right at them,” Mariner head coach John Ondriezek said. “Sometimes things work the way you plan, sometimes they don’t, but they did tonight.”

Russell was less diplomatic. “We saw that they had a lot of holes,” the Marauders running back said. “We watched that Edmonds-Woodway game and (the Warriors) executed every run they had in their playbook.”

Mariner’s defense was equally good, shutting Jackson out in the first half and holding a listless Timberwolves team to 31 total yards in the first two quarters to build a 28-0 halftime lead. For the game, Mariner held Jackson to minus-25 rushing yards and kept Sam Brown, who is averaging nearly 270 yards passing per game, to just 45 yards passing in the first half.

“To hold their quarterback, who is one of the most accurate quarterbacks I’ve seen in a long time, to what we did … I’m real proud of our defense,” Ondriezek said.

Mariner took the opening kickoff and drove right down the field, getting inside the red zone when Dye hit Ahmad-Woods for a 33-yard pass play. But Mariner’s drive stalled and the Marauders were forced to try a field goal, which they missed. That was their only taste of failure in the first half. Mariner’s next four drives ended in the end zone.

Jackson, meanwhile, couldn’t do anything right. Four Timberwolves possessions in the first half ended in punts, and the only one that didn’t, was finished off by an Ahmad-Woods interception.

“I thought we played real uninspired football in the first half,” Jackson head coach Joel Vincent said.

Injuries continued to play a role for Jackson, which was without star running back Trai Patrick. (Patrick suffered a high ankle sprain on the first play from scrimmage against Skyline last Friday.) After breaking some big plays in the second half, Jackson’s Trevante Robinson injured his foot and he’s questionable for next Friday’s crossover game. Patrick’s status is also up in the air, Vincent said.

Jackson’s offense showed life in the second half, scoring on its first three possessions of the third quarter, and doing it on six total plays. Brown finished 19-for-29 for 311 yards and four touchdowns and Andrew Dodd caught seven passes for 123 yards and a touchdown to lead Jackson.

At Everett Memorial Stadium

Mariner 15 13 14 12 — 54

Jackson 0 0 21 7 — 28

Mar–Williamson 6 run (Dye run)

Mar–Russell 1 run (Manson kick)

Mar–Dye 8 run (Manson kick)

Mar–Law 19 run (kick failed)

Jack–Soderquist 27 pass from Brown (Hodge kick)

Mar–Dye 1 run (Manson kick)

Jack–Dodd 42 pass from Brown (Hodge kick)

Mar–Russell 6 pass from Dye (Manson kick)

Jack–Robinson 65 pass from Brown (Hodge kick)