EVERETT — The Arlington football team proved it might be just fine at the Class 4A level with a resounding 49-21 victory over Jackson on Friday night at Everett Memorial Stadium.
It really wasn’t as close as the score might indicate.
Arlington, which lost to eventual Class 3A-champion Bellevue in the second round of the state playoffs last season, moved to the 4A division for 2024.
So far, so good.
The Eagles won two non-league games before taking it to the Timberwolves in the Wesco 4A opener for both teams.
Jackson (2-1 overall, 0-1 league) suffered its first loss of the season.
“We’re just getting everyone involved,” said Arlington quarterback Leyton Martin, who completed 10 of 14 passes for 263 yards and two touchdowns in the first half alone. “We have a lot of playmakers, so when we’re getting everyone the ball — it’s so hard to stop.”
“There are so many weapons.”
Martin, a senior who also stars on the basketball court, finished 12-of-17 for 275 yards and also rushed for 21 yards and a TD before departing in the third quarter.
Offensively, it seems this is simply what Arlington (3-0, 1-0) does against opponents. The Eagles set the bar high by scoring 47 points in Week 1. They’ve cleared it twice since then with 50-49 win over Bothell in the second game and the 49 on Friday.
Last season, the Eagles scored 42 or more points in nine of 12 games, plus two games of 35 points. They’ve taken that up a notch by averaging 48.7 so far this year.
“Our o-line is playing really well, Leyton Martin is special, and we’ve got receivers all over the place,” Arlington coach Greg Dailer said. “It’s a lot of fun.”
“I thought in the first half, our tackling was much better than last week.”
Early on, it looked like the anticipated battle between two undefeated teams might deliver a thriller.
In the first quarter, the Timberwolves hit Martin as he released a pass, and Jackson’s Seamus Williams intercepted the ball and returned it to the Arlington 4-yard line. After a running play lost five yards, Timberwolves quarterback Colby Bossert, who completed 23-of-38 passes for 265 yards, found Haseeb Rassulli for a 9-yard TD and a 7-7 tie with 4:43 to go in the first quarter.
It was all Eagles for a long time after that.
Arlington scored on five straight possessions — including an 87-yard TD reception by Chase Deberry — while holding the Timberwolves scoreless for a 42-7 halftime lead.
Deberry finished with four catches for 122 yards. Kaid Hunter, who was one of eight Arlington players to record a reception, added two catches for 62 yards.
“We put a lot of focus on our defense this week,” said Hunter, a senior who also intercepted a Jackson pass. “That was a big factor last week that didn’t go so well.”
“I like our linebackers a lot — they were stopping the run. Last week we struggled with that, but this week we did a lot better.”
The Timberwolves scuffled to get past the Arlington linebackers. They finished the first half with 12 yards on 11 carries — which included a 10-yard scamper from Bossert.
Arlington wasted no time scoring the game’s first points. Martin hit Hunter for a 50-yard gain to set up Dirci Ngondo’s 15-yard TD run with 28 seconds into the contest.
Jackson followed with a 12-play drive, but came up empty when Arlington’s junior linebacker Jace Graham and senior defensive lineman Dylan Scott stuffed the Timberwolves on fourth-and-3 from the the Eagles 2-yard line.
The Timberwolves showed signs of life in the second half with a 14-yard TD run from Cole Truant and Tre Austin’s 98-yard kickoff return, but the halftime deficit proved too much to overcome.
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