The Stilly Cup rivalry has been one-sided in recent years. Arlington has gotten the better of Stanwood in each of the past four games, three of them shutouts.
At 2-0 in conference play and 4-1 overall, the Eagles are once again the favorites, but Arlington head coach Greg Dailer expects a battle on Friday.
“It’s a pretty even league this year,” Dailer said. “Every game is going to be really tough and we expect the same from Stanwood.”
Arlington is coming off a comeback victory over Oak Harbor, while Stanwood’s comeback attempt against Marysville Pilchuck fell just short last Friday. The Spartans lost 36-29 after rallying for three touchdowns in the fourth quarter.
Though the Spartans lost to the Tomahawks to fall to 0-2 in conference play and 1-4 overall, their effort got Dailer’s attention.
“Kind of like us and what we did against Oak Harbor, it tells me that they’ve got a lot of character,” Dailer said. “It tells us that we can never take this team for granted or let up on them if we do get a lead. They aren’t going to quit. It shows a lot about their character and we know we’re going to be in for a four-quarter football game on Friday night.”
Last week, the Eagles fell behind Oak Harbor 21-3 then responded with 35 unanswered points in a 38-21 victory.
“It was definitely a big test for us,” Dailer said. “We knew that they were one of the top teams to beat. We were really excited about it. Now we’re really trying to forget about it, to be honest. We don’t want to get hung up on one big win. We want to keep playing well and get better. We’re trying to put it behind us and move on to our next game.”
Oak Harbor and Marysville Pilchuck were predicted to finish atop the Wesco 3A North in the preseason coaches’ poll, but Arlington’s win last week has the Eagles in position to claim the conference championship should they win their remaining league games.
“I don’t think there is a clear-cut No. 1 in the league,” Dailer said. “I definitely wouldn’t say it’s us. We’re just trying to take it week by week.”
The Eagles’ lone loss this season came at the hands of defending 3A state champion and No. 1-ranked Eastside Catholic. The Crusaders rolled over the Eagles 61-6, but Dailer and his players learned from the experience.
“When you play a team like Eastside Catholic, it really exposes your weaknesses for what they are,” Dailer said. “Some other teams that we played before Eastside Catholic, we could get away with doing some things and it would still work out for us. The littlest mistakes become very obvious when you play a team that good, so that really helped us kind of clean some things up.”
Aaron Lommers covers prep sports for The Herald. Follow him on Twitter at @aaronlommers and contact him at alommers@heraldnet.com.
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