B-E back’s 4th-quarter TDs oust Meadowdale

EDMONDS — Sheer effort came up just a little short in the face of Shearer effort.

Burlington-Edison’s Saxton Shearer scored four touchdowns, including a pivotal pair in the fourth quarter, to lead the Tigers to a 34-21 victory over Meadowdale in a 3A Northwest District playoff football game at Edmonds Stadium Tuesday night.

"Sometimes the best defense is a good offense," Shearer said after boosting the Tigers to a berth in the state playoffs.

Burlington-Edison (6-5) will meet Issaquah (10-0) at 7 p.m. Saturday at Issaquah High School.

Meadowdale (6-5) saw its season end.

With the score tied 14-14, Shearer caught a 77-yard touchdown pass from B-E quarterback Peter Voorhees with nine minutes remaining in the game.

Minutes later he intercepted an Eric Marty pass and returned the ball 39 yards to the Maverick 4-yard line. On the next play he scored his third rushing touchdown to up the margin to 34-21 with 4:31 left.

"It was a game of big plays and they made more of them," Meadowdale coach Mark Stewart said. "Just two or three big plays and that’s playoff football."

Shearer’s antics sandwiched scoring tallies by each team in a final quarter that featured four touchdowns.

Behind 21-14, Justin Lucero hauled in a 64-yard touchdown pass from Marty to knot the score with 7:23 on the clock. It was the speedy Lucero’s third touchdown in the game.

The Tigers wasted little time in answering quickly.

Voorhees, who had three of his four completions in the fourth quarter, connected with a wide-open Rey Gonzalez for a 55-yard gain on a flea flicker pass. Three plays later Voorhees found the leaping Gonzalez at the back of the end zone to push B-E ahead 28-21 with 5:30 remaining.

Shearer finished with 120 yards on 29 carries. He picked up 105 of his rushing yards in a first half in which he scored two touchdowns.

B-E broke out to a 7-0 lead on an opening series which featured Shearer’s 42-yard touchdown run.

Lucero brought Meadowdale back with a 28-yard second quarter touchdown run. The junior all-purpose back rushed for 64 yards and caught three passes for 78 more.

"It’s good he’s coming back," Stewart said. "A lot of young players played this season and got good opportunities."

Marty completed 14 of 20 passes for 148 yards.

"Eric Marty is one of the best and gutsiest quarterbacks I have coached," Stewart said. "He and Jake Williky and those guys will definitely be missed."

One of them will most certainly be Yorman Diaz, who rallied the Maverick defense with a third-quarter sack after Marty had pinned B-E deep with a 70-yard punt.

"We came out and played as a team," Diaz said with a tear on his cheek at the end. "It was do or die, them or us."