E-W too much for Snohomish

SEATTLE — Here’s the dilemma in playing Edmonds-Woodway:

Defend them honestly and 225-pound junior battering ram Tony Heard runs forever.

Key on Heard and senior quarterback Kyle McCartney uses a play fake to him, draws the defense to Heard, and throws deep to fleet senior wideout Antoinne Wafer.

Go ahead. Try to stop it. Snohomish couldn’t. The result was a 37-13 Warriors victory in a first-round 4A state tournament game Friday night at Seattle High School Memorial Stadium.

Edmonds-Woodway sprinted to a 37-0 lead at halftime. Heard ran for 185 yards on 14 carries and a touchdown, all before intermission. McCartney was 10-for-14 passing for 200 yards and four touchdowns. Three TD passes came to Wafer, who finished with six catches for 130 yards. He also set up a TD with a wild, 39-yard punt return in which he may have run 139 yards, blazing from sideline to sideline with Panthers in pursuit.

All in all, it was a tough day at the office for Snohomish.

“Sometimes, the stock market goes up, sometimes it goes down,” Snohomish coach Mark Perry said. “Today, it went down.”

The Warriors (11-0) set their sights on Eastlake in the quarterfinals, a game set for either Friday or Saturday at Seattle High School Memorial Stadium. The Panthers, who could never get anything on track when it mattered, finished their season at 9-2.

It was over early, as the Warriors struck in resounding fashion.

Edmonds-Woodway, champion of the 4A Wesco South, scored on two of their first three plays from scrimmage. Heard opened the Warriors’ first possession with a 42-yard run and finished off the drive with a 23-yard TD run.

“They’ve got a good defense,” said Heard, who reached 100 yards on six carries in the first quarter alone. “I think we came out there and surprised them.”

Meanwhile, the Warriors defense bottled up top Wesco North rusher Derek Jones, who managed just 43 yards on 11 carries. He managed just 14 first-half yards.

After the Edmonds-Woodway defense stopped the Panthers on three plays, Wafer danced and juked his way to the Panthers 35-yard line for a 39-yard punt return. One play later, McCartney faked a handoff to Heard and hit Wafer perfectly in stride for a 35-yard TD pass.

“They’ve got to respect Tony,” McCartney said. “When he gets the ball, he’s going to run all over them. When you fake it to him, the linebackers set up and we have one-on-one coverage on our receivers.”

So before the crowd settled in their seats, the Warriors were up, 13-0.

It would get worse.

The warriors scored on their next two possessions. McCartney hit Banks again on virtually the same play for a 34-yard score to make it 20-0, still in the first quarter. After forcing the Panthers to punt, the Warriors went on another long drive, but were stopped at the Snohomish 15. But Justin Milone banged in a field goal from 32 yards out to up the score to 23-0 with 8:39 left in the half.

Before intermission, Edmonds-Woodway would score twice more, once on another TD pass from McCartney to Wafer, this time on a 28-yard slant. After Wafer picked off a pass, McCartney hit Nic Arnold with a 23-yard lob to make it 37-0 at the half.

Make no mistake; this is a confident Edmonds-Woodway bunch.

“It’s not that much of a surprise,” Wafer said. “We know we can turn it on when we have to turn it on. We just played a great game.”

Snohomish scored the only second-half points. Miles Semanskee, who ran for 79 yards on 16 carries, scored on runs of 1 and 3 yards.

At Seattle High School Memorial Stadium

Snohomish00013—13

Edmonds-Woodway201700—37

E-W — Heard 23 run (kick blocked)

E-W — Wafer 35 pass from McCartney (Milone kick)

E-W — Wafer 34 pass from McCartney (Milone kick)

E-W — Milone 32 FG

E-W — Wafer 28 pass from McCartney (Milone kick)

E-W — Arnold 23 pass from McCartney (Milone kick)