MARYSVILLE — With Washington State University head coach Mike Leach watching, Marysville Pilchuck running back Austin Joyner put on a show against Arlington on Friday night.
The senior running back, who has verbally committed to play defense for WSU, scored five touchdowns — all in the first half — to lead the Tomahawks to a 54-27 victory over the Eagles.
“It was a pleasure to perform that good when he’s out here,” Joyner said after the game.
Marysville Pilchuck’s victory sets up a showdown at Oak Harbor next Friday that will decide the Wesco 3A North championship.
“I’m so excited for the game next week,” Joyner said. “It’s going to be a great game. I love playing Oak Harbor. I’m not too excited about the bus ride over because it’s a little bit of a trip, but I’m excited for the game.”
Joyner set the tone of the game on the opening kickoff, with a 38-yard return. He and fellow senior running back Killian Page did all the damage on the game’s first offensive drive. Page rushed for 29 yards and Joyner rushed for 18 and capped off the five-play drive with a 1-yard touchdown run.
Arlington answered the touchdown by driving the ball into Marysville Pilchuck territory, but a turnover derailed the drive. Marysville Pilchuck’s Dylen Boomer recovered a fumble and returned it 43 yards to deep into Arlington territory. Two plays later, Joyner was in the end zone again, scoring on a 19-yard run.
The Tomahawks led 14-0, but again the Arlington offense marched down the field. This time the Eagles capitalized when Chase Marx caught a 7-yard touchdown from running back Tristan Trotter. Trotter took a handoff from quarterback Andrew Kalahar, but before he crossed the line of scrimmage he jumped and threw the ball over the lineman to an open Marx in the end zone.
“They got us with a couple of trick plays and they screened us a couple of times,” Marysville Pilchuck head coach Brandon Carson said. “They’re good offensively and they do things well. We knew it wasn’t going to be easy going in.”
The Eagles scored again moments before halftime, but 14 points was all they could muster in the first two quarters despite 228 yards of total offense.
Marysville Pilchuck, on the hand, spent a lot of time in the end zone.
Joyner followed his first two rushing touchdowns with a 24-yard touchdown catch to give the Tomahawks a 20-7 lead after a missed extra point.
“He’s an explosive player,” Carson said of Joyner. “He’s got tons of explosive plays and he puts the ball in the end zone quite a bit.”
After Joyner’s third touchdown, Arlington fumbled the kick return. Killian Page scored two plays later on a 5-yard run.
“We couldn’t stop them,” Arlington head coach Greg Dailer said. “We had two big turnovers and we punted twice. Between those four possessions they scored on all of (their possessions).
“I was proud of the way we were moving the football. We didn’t have any troubles moving the ball, we just stopped ourselves a couple of times.”
Joyner added touchdown runs of 30 and six yards in the second quarter to give the Tomahawks a 41-14 lead at halftime. He finished the first half with 154 yards on 13 carries and four rushing touchdowns. He also caught the only pass thrown his way for a 24-yard touchdown.
Joyner, Page and JJ Valencia combined for 271 rushing yards in the first half.
“We thought we had a good game plan, especially for stopping Page up the middle, and we thought we would rally to the edge and try to set the edge,” Dailer said. “We didn’t get any of it done. We didn’t get the middle done and we didn’t get the edge done. We’re going to have to take a good look at the film. It’s the two Wing-T teams we had a lot of trouble with this year — Oak Harbor and Marysville Pilchuck. Marysville Pilchuck does it really well. Not many people stop them, but we really didn’t even slow them down.”
The Tomahawks, who haven’t won a game by less than 30 points since a week three loss to O’Dea, left their starters in for the majority of the third quarter to stay sharp for next week’s game.
“When we were up at halftime, we wanted to try to make sure that we got our starters through the third quarter and it’s because our starters haven’t played very much in the last few weeks. We’ve got to get them ready because next week is going to be a 48 minute battle.”
By the end of the third quarter, Marysville Pilchuck’s lead had grown to 54-14 creating a running clock situation.
Sophomore Devon Nutter rushed for 66 yards on five carries and scored two touchdowns in the final quarter for the Eagles, whose other two losses this season are to Oak Harbor and Eastside Catholic.
“The kids have rebounded well after our two other losses this year,” Dailer said. “We’ve always responded well, so I expect them to respond well again.”
The Oak-Harbor-Marysville Pilchuck game will decide the league champion for a third consecutive season. Two years ago, the Tomahawks won a 47-39 thriller the last time the game was played on the Wildcats’ turf.
“It’s a tough place to play up there and they’re really good,” Carson said. “We’re going to have our hands full. We’ve got to play really well.”
Aaron Lommers covers prep sports for The Herald. Follow him on Twitter at @aaronlommers and contact him at alommers@heraldnet.com.
At Quil Ceda Stadium
Arlington 7 7 0 13 — 27
Marysville Pilchuck 27 14 13 0 — 54
MP—Austin Joyner 1 run (Sebastian Navarro kick)
MP—Joyner 29 run (Navarro kick)
A—Chase Marx 7 pass from Tristan Trotter (Anthony Parra kick)
MP—Joyner 24 pass from Erik Lind (kick failed)
MP—Killian Page 5 run (Navarro kick)
MP—Joyner 30 run (kick failed)
MP—Joyner 6 run (Hunter Trueax pass from Lind)
A—Cameron Scrimgeour 6 pass from Andrew Kalahar (Parra kick)
MP—Garrett Anderson 6 run (Navarro kick)
MP—Page 54 run (kick blocked)
A—Devon Nutter 3 run (Seigo Hall kick)
A—Nutter 9 run (kick failed)
Records—Arlington 2-2 league, 4-3 overall. Marysville Pilchuck 4-0, 6-1.
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