The Marysville Pilchuck football team is always looking to make a big play.
And, usually, the Tomahawks get it.
Marysville Pilchuck has had 18 touchdowns of 40 yards or more this season and is 9-0 in games where it has a long score. Senior running backs Austin Joyner and Killian Page help ensure that it’s not really a question of if, but when, the Tomahawks will find the end zone.
“It’s really important how explosive we are,” Page said. “It’s really nice that we can score at any time. We have a really good variety of plays that we can run. We’re always trying to make big plays. It’s pretty important. If you score every time you get the ball you can’t really lose.”
Brandon Carson, the Marysville Pilchuck head coach, said that the big plays are a result of the athletes the Tomahawks have on the field.
“A lot of it has to do with the athletes,” Carson said. “It’s not something you count on. You can’t say, ‘OK, get me that 50-yard play. We don’t have that. … It’s our athleticism and how well our guys up front block. Those (running backs) get huge lanes to run through and they’re elusive in open space. Austin is incredibly fast and shifty and Killian’s a lot faster than people think and he’s just as shifty, too. And both of them run hard. They run through a lot of tackles in the secondary.
“I think they’re huge. When you get a big play I think it takes the wind out of the defenses’ sails a little bit. It’s like, ‘Well, wait a minute. What just happened here?’”
Page has had six touchdown runs of over 40 yards while Joyner has had eight rushes, three punt returns and a touchdown pass that went for more than 40 yards.
“We expect it, because it happens every game,” Joyner said. “There hasn’t been a game this year that I’ve played in, that Killian and I haven’t made big plays.”
The lone loss for Marysville Pilchuck (9-1), ranked No. 4 in the final Associated Press 3A poll of the season, came in Week 3 to No. 3-ranked O’Dea. Joyner missed that game with a hip injury and the Tomahawks were unable to get a big play against the Irish, who defeated Marysville Pilchuck 34-10.
“(Joyner) opens up the outside and I can run up the middle,” Page said. “Or it’s the other way around. I run up the middle and it opens up the outside.”
Added Joyner: “It’s important to have both of us in the system.”
When both are on the field it’s tough for opposing defenses to contain Marysville Pilchuck.
“We’re really disciplined and we execute really well,” Page said. “It’s not necessarily easy, but (the offensive line) creates big holes. … It really shifts momentum a lot. It kind of feels like it crushes (the other team) in a way whenever we go out and make a big play.”
Even when he’s on the sideline getting a breather Joyner listens in for the next play and watches to see if his partner in the backfield will break a long touchdown run.
“It’s great because sometimes I’ll be really tired and I’ll hear the play called and I know Killian’s going to get the ball and it’s a play that we score off of a lot,” Joyner said. “I kind of hope that he scores so I can get a little bit of a rest. It’s nice to have that ability to break a big one at any time.”
Both hope to continue the big plays in Saturday’s state quarterfinal game against Columbia River (9-2) as the Tomahawks try to make it to the state semifinals for just the second time in school history.
Columbia River head coach John O’Rourke said stopping the big play is something the Chieftains hope to accomplish against Marysville Pilchuck.
“They’re a very good team and whenever you have a Division 1 running back on your team that puts you in a position where the explosive play can make you look real good, real quick,” O’Rourke said. “That’s one of the biggest challenges is to try to contain (Joyner). But 10 schools before us tried and everybody else that has played them has had difficulty doing that.”
Talk to us
> Give us your news tips.
> Send us a letter to the editor.
> More Herald contact information.
