EVERETT — In a game that seemingly didn’t mean much to them in the big picture, the Glacier Peak Grizzlies played with as much passion and intensity as they’ve had all season.
The result: Team history.
Having already clinched their league’s championship and top seed for next week’s Class 3A quad-district playoffs, the Glacier Peak High School football team didn’t ease off the pedal a bit. Fueled by strong defense and yet another stellar performance by senior quarterback Kevin Campbell (244 yards passing, five total touchdowns), Glacier Peak roared to a 35-0 lead by halftime and routed the Everett Seagulls 42-7.
“I can’t tell you how proud I am. That’s the best game you’ve played all year,” Glacier Peak coach Rory Rosenbach told his team afterward.
With the impressive Western Conference 3A win Thursday at Everett Memorial Stadium, Glacier Peak (7-0 Wesco 3A, 8-1) completed the regular season with an undefeated record in league games. It’s a first-time achievement for the third-year program, ranked 3A No. 9 by the Tacoma News Tribune.
“That was our big motivation: Being league champs and being undefeated,” said Glacier Peak’s Sean Elledge, who made six receptions for 93 yards and two touchdowns in the first half. He also had two interceptions, one in each quarter.
Next up for Glacier Peak is a quad-district playoff game against Mount Si, the KingCo No. 4 seed. Coach Rosenbach expects a major challenge from Mount Si (4-4), which lost close games against powerful foes 3A foes like No. 1 Bellevue and No. 4 Juanita and 4A No. 4 Bothell.
“I’m hoping this (victory) is kind of a catapult and a spring board for us going into next week because Mount Si is the real deal,” said Rosenbach. “They want to run the football and they’re good at it. They’re big up front and they’ve got some good backs.”
Glacier Peak will play Mount Si at 7:30 p.m. Nov. 5 at Veterans Memorial Stadium in Snohomish.
Meanwhile, Everett’s playoff hopes are still alive. Meadowdale (5-2 in division) earned the Wesco 3A No. 2 seed by beating Oak Harbor on Thursday, so now three teams that finished 4-3 in league play — Everett, Mountlake Terrace (beat Lynnwood on Thursday) and Shorecrest — will fight for two postseason spots.
In a Kansas City tiebreaker set to start at 5 p.m. Saturday at Shoreline Stadium, Mountlake Terrace will play Everett in Game 1. The winner plays Shorecrest in Game 2 for the Wesco 3A No. 3 quad-district seed. Then the Game 2 loser will play the Game 1 loser for the league’s final playoff berth, and advance to a Tuesday play-in matchup with the Northwest Conference’s No. 2 3A finisher.
To extend its season, Everett must take better care of the ball on Saturday than it did versus Glacier Peak. The Seagulls had four turnovers — all interceptions, including three in the first half.
Through the first two quarters, the Grizzlies’ relentless defense limited Everett to 75 yards (45 rushing, 30 passing). During one Everett possession in the second quarter, pesky Glacier Peak nose tackle Nick Sage (5-foot-7, 153 pounds) had a 7-yard sack and a tackle for a 2-yard loss on consecutive plays.
When it had the ball, Glacier Peak mostly chewed up yards like a fine-tuned machine.
On the first offensive play of the game, Everett’s Luke Frauenholtz tackled Elledge for a 5-yard loss and the Grizzlies went three-and-out. But after that Glacier Peak heated up and scored five first-half TDs.
Glacier Peak’s Campbell-to-Elledge aerial combo was lethal. Campbell completed 14 of 21 passes in the first two quarters for 236 yards and four TDs, including scoring tosses of 21 yards and 23 yards to Elledge. Campbell has 34 TD passes this season.
Grizzlies receiver Tanner Southard also had a giant first half with 98 yards on four catches. His 24-yard TD grab over the middle in the final minute of the second quarter made it 34-0.
In the third quarter, Campbell ran through two would-be tacklers for a 13-yard TD run.
Everett finally scored when — after mostly backups for both teams were on the field — Seagulls QB Riley Ayers connected with Lucas Henry for a 66-yard catch-and-run TD play late in the fourth quarter.
At Everett Memorial Stadium
At Everett Memorial Stadium
Glacier Peak211470—42
Everett0007—0
Glacier Peak-Moiseyev 4 run (Linney kick)
Glacier Peak-Elledge 21 pass from Campbell (Linney kick)
Glacier Peak- Elledge 23 pass from Campbell (Linney kick)
Glacier Peak-Dunbar 16 pass from Campbell (Linney kick)
Glacier Peak-Southard 24 pass from Campbell (Linney kick)
Glacier Peak-Campbell 13 run (Linney kick)
Everett-Henry 66 pass from Ayers (Robinson kick)
Records-Glacier Peak 7-0 in division, 8-1 overall. Everett 4-3, 5-3.
Mike Cane: mcane@heraldnet.com. Check out the prep sports blog Double Team at www.heraldnet.com/doubleteam and follow Cane on Twitter at MikeCaneHerald.
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