ARLINGTON — They were drastically outnumbered, but sometimes strength in numbers is overrated.
Despite dressing just 29 players — less than half the amount of its opponent — the Arlington High School football team pounded the Glacier Peak Grizzlies on Friday in a season-opening non-league game at Larson Stadium. Fueled on offense by multi-talented junior quarterback Jake Parduhn, Arlington blasted first-year Glacier Peak 37-7.
Parduhn rushed for three touchdowns and passed for two more, spoiling the first game in Glacier Peak history. He tallied 273 yards of total offense (153 rushing, 120 passing).
“Jake is a good athlete and he’s a great leader and he’s a perfectionist. So he just works and works until he has it exactly right,” said Greg Dailer, Arlington’s first-year head coach.
Running Dailer’s well-rounded spread offense, Parduhn often worked from the shotgun formation and had massive success passing and running.
“He did an amazing job running (the offense) tonight — took what the defense gave us, did a great job reading the zone option, ran the ball real well on the counter obviously. For his first game as a starting quarterback in a new system, it was the best I could have hoped for,” Dailer said.
Glacier Peak, the new high school in Snohomish, had 60 players on its varsity roster but no seniors. It also had no answer for Parduhn, who rushed 11 times for his 153 yards and completed 11 of 17 passes.
The 6-foot-1, 180-pound QB hurt the Grizzlies with both his arm and his legs in the first half. He passed for two touchdowns and ran for two, helping Arlington surge to a 27-0 advantage.
Arlington also got an outstanding effort from its defense, which was led by bruisers Jerod Baker and Peter Ludwig, and persistent linebacker Chris Myers. The Eagles intercepted three passes and recovered a fumble on a botched Glacier Peak punt return.
“They did a great job of just putting pressure on the quarterback and just sitting back. We were able to pick off some passes and give the offense more opportunities,” Parduhn said.
Parduhn, who tallied 231 total yards of total offense in the first half, capped Arlington’s first possession with a 3-yard run to the left corner of the end zone. Sandwiched between two medium-range TD passes to Conner Varnell was a 60-yard TD burst in which Parduhn blew by defenders along the left sideline.
“It was a momentum change, definitely,” Parduhn said of Arlington’s strong start. “We got the first score in the game and then we came back and got another one. We just kind of got the snowball rolling and it didn’t stop from there.”
Glacier Peak head coach Rory Rosenbach liked the intensity and competitiveness his team showed in the second half but said his players were awestruck early on. “That first half our kids were playing like a bunch of juniors in their first varsity football game,” Rosenbach said.
Although he was intercepted three times, Glacier Peak quarterback Zach Richter eventually warmed up. Using Rosenbach’s no-huddle, shotgun attack, Richter was 22-for-37 for 204 yards. His favorite target was 6-foot-3 sophomore Jack Bonner (nine receptions, 101 yards).
Tommy Rollins scored the first TD in Glacier Peak history. He plowed in from 5 yards late in the fourth quarter.
At long last, it gave Glacier Peak a reason to celebrate.
“It’s nice to not get shut out,” Rosenbach said. “We finally finished it up. We finally did all the things we talked about all game long: We didn’t have a penalty, we didn’t drop a pass (and) we didn’t miss blocks. You do those three things and you’re going to be all right.”
At Larson Stadium
Glacier Peak0007— 7
Arlington1314010—37
Arlington—Parduhn 3 run (Pierce kick blocked)
Arlington—Varnell 22 pass from Parduhn (Pierce kick)
Arlington—Parduhn 60 run (Pierce kick)
Arlington—Varnell 19 pass from Parduhn (Pierce kick)
Arlington—Parduhn 47 run (Pierce kick)
Arlington—Larson FG 23
Glacier Peak—Rollins 5 run (Miller kick)
Records—Glacier Peak 0-1 overall. Arlington 1-0.
Writer Mike Cane: mcane@heraldnet.com. Check out the prep sports blog Double Team at www.heraldnet.com/doubleteam.
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