E-W stops late 2-point try, hangs on to beat Snohomish 28-26

SNOHOMISH — It all came down to one play, and when the Edmonds-Woodway Warriors needed it most their defense came up with the stop.

Edmonds-Woodway held Snohomish on a potential game-tying two-point conversion with just over a minute remaining in the game, and the Warriors stayed perfect in the Wesco 3A South by edging the Panthers 28-26 Friday night at Snohomish High School.

In a game in which the teams traded touchdowns throughout, Snohomish found the end zone last when Josh Johnston caught a 17-yard touchdown pass from Brandon Jodock with 1:08 remaining. However, the Panthers needed to convert the two-point conversion in order to tie it, and Edmonds-Woodway’s Jayme Murphy came up with the big stop on Jodock’s quarterback keeper to clinch the victory for the Warriors.

Cappassio Cherry ran for 137 yards on 32 carries and scored two touchdowns, while quarterback Reilly Chappell came off the bench to lead the Warriors on two second-half touchdown drives as Edmonds-Woodway (4-0 league, 4-2 overall) remained tied with Meadowdale for first in the Wesco 3A South.

Keegan Stich rushed 22 times for 123 yards and two touchdowns, while Johnston caught a pair of TD passes to pace the Panthers (2-2, 3-3), who fell two games behind in the Wesco 3A South race.

The game was deadlocked at 14-14 and neither team had managed to get anything going offensively in the second half when Chappell was summoned to relieve Kameron Krall as Edmonds-Woodway’s quarterback late in the third quarter. From that moment the Warriors’ offensive fortunes changed.

In his first drive at the helm Chappell guided Edmonds-Woodway 56 yards on 11 plays, with Cherry finishing it off by diving in from 1 yard out to give the Warriors a 21-14 lead.

Snohomish fell behind twice in the first half, only to tie it back up, and the Panthers again matched Edmonds-Woodway touchdown for touchdown, scoring on their next possession. Stich did the bulk of the work on the drive, and he finished it off with a determined 8-yard touchdown run in which he broke several tackles. However, the ensuing extra-point kick went wide, and that miss would prove costly.

Edmonds-Woodway got the ball back with 7:14 remaining, and the Warriors turned to Cherry, who chewed up yards on the ground and time off the clock. But when faced with fourth-and-4 from the 11, the Warriors decided to go for it and dialed up a screen pass — a play they tortured the Panthers with throughout the game — and the 10-yard completion from Chappell to Kosta Cooper set up Chappell’s 1-yard touchdown sneak which made it 28-20 and seemed to secure the victory for Edmonds-Woodway.

But Snohomish refused to give up, and the Panthers were the picture of efficiency as they marched 60 yards in less than a minute. On second-and-10 from the 17 Jodock feathered a pass to the right corner of the end zone, and Johnston made a great sprawling catch to give the Panthers a chance.

But on the ensuing two-point conversion the Warriors sniffed out the sweep to the right, and Edmonds-Woodway held firm to emerge victorious.

An evenly-played first half saw the teams trade touchdowns and finish the half knotted at 14-14.

Edmonds-Woodway struck first, taking over deep in Panthers territory following a Snohomish fumble on the first play from scrimmage. Three plays later Jalen Nash got behind the defense to catch a 26-yard touchdown pass from Krall to give the Warriors an early 7-0 lead.

Snohomish responded later in the quarter with a run-heavy drive that traveled 57 yards in 12 plays, culminating in Stich’s 1-yard plunge that tied it at 7-7.

The Warriors regained the lead midway through the second quarter. Again working on a short field thanks to a short punt, Cherry took a toss sweep to the left and walked into the end zone from 3 yards out to make it 14-7.

But again the Panthers answered. Jodock lofted a pass into the right corner of the end zone, and Johnston leaped over his defender to pull the ball down for a 17-yard touchdown as the game went into halftime tied.