By BRAD VICTOR
Herald Writer
LAKE STEVENS – The Lake Stevens Vikings tuned up for the state playoffs Friday night by defeating Monroe 44-7 in a Western Conference 3A matchup at Lake Stevens High School.
Lake Stevens scored early and often to bury the Bearcats. Matt Williams scored three touchdowns and had 182 yards rushing to lead the Viking offensive attack.
Viking quarterback Nolan Perkl showed his senior leadership with clutch passing hitting 9-out-of-13 third down conversions, and marching his team down the field compiling 411 total yards of offense for the game.
With the score 14-7 in favor of Lake Stevens late in the second quarter and the momentum shifting slightly towards Monroe because of Carswell’s 55 yard touchdown reception, Pirkl led his team on a 10 point scoring spree, hitting Nik Williams on a 50 yard reception to set up his brother Matt Williams for a 3-yard skamper up the gut and leaving Monroe way behind taking a comfortable lead at halftime 24-7.
With the Wesco title already in hand, this game could have very easily been a let down for the Vikings, but they showed no vulnerability and cruised to the victory.
“We had a great season and didn’t want to sell it short by not playing hard tonight, and we are looking forward to extending our season for a few more weeks,” said Lake Stevens coach Ken Collins.
Monroe (2-5, 2-7) ended its season on a sour note, but senior Josh Carswell played his heart out and left everything on the field. Carswell saved the best for last, gaining 257 all-purpose yards and scoring the Bearcats only touchdown on a 55-yard reception late in the second quarter. He also had 15 solo tackles on defense.
The Vikings had a total team effort and their defense was dominant, led by senior defensive end Jeff Jacobs. Jacobs was awesome recording two sacks, four tackles for loss and a total of 10 tackles.
Jacobs, who has college football ability and said, “A couple of schools have talked to me and I would love to play at the next level, but Mercer Island is all I want right now.”
Lake Stevens will face Mercer Island at 7:30 p.m. next Friday at Edmonds Stadium in the first round of the state playoffs.
Lake Stevens finished the regular season perfect in league at 7-0. The Vikings are 8-1 overall.
LS-Andrews 20 pass from Perkl (Balunsat kick)
M-Carswell 55 pass from Armstrong (Carswell kick)
LS-M. Williams 3 run (Balunsat kick)
LS-Balunsat 34 field goal
LS-M. Williams 34 run (Balunsat kick)
LS-M. Williams 15 run (kick failed)
LS-Henderson 4 run (Balunsat kick)
Records-Lake Stevens 7-0 in league, 8-1 overall. Monroe 2-5, 2-7.
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LS-N. Williams 1 run (Balunsat kick)
