By Aaron Coe
Herald Writer
LAKE STEVENS — Justin Balunsat always seems to save his best for Lake Stevens’ biggest rival.
For the third straight year, the little guy that makes big plays had a career game against Arlington as the Vikings clobbered the Eagles 38-14 Friday night at Lake Stevens High School.
As a sophomore, it was a kickoff return for a touchdown.
In his junior year, the 5-foot-7, 150 pound running back/cornerback returned an interception for a score to give the Vikings a lead they never relinquished.
This year, it was 202 yards on only 14 carries and a 58-yard punt return for a touchdown to complete his trifecta of happy returns against Arlington, which struggled on offense for its second consecutive game.
"I always seem to have good games against Arlington," Balunsat said. "I don’t know why."
Lake Stevens, which had a rare bye last week, improved its record to 3-0 in the Western Conference North Division and overall. Arlington, 28-7 losers to Snohomish a week earlier, dropped to 2-2, 2-2.
Much of the reason why Balunsat ran wild on Friday was Lake Stevens’ solid offensive line, which pushed back a smaller Eagles defensive front all evening.
Same deal the other way, too. Lake Stevens’ defensive line prevented any surge from Arlington’s offense as they pitched a first half shutout while the Vikings offense posted 25 points.
"You gotta give it to the offensive line," Balunsat said. "They picked up Arlington’s blitzes. We knew they were going to blitz us all night long. I found the holes behind lead blocker (fullback Joey Daube)."
Lake Stevens’ line dominated from the outset while Balunsat and fellow tailback Nate Thomason took advantage with an assortment of nifty open-field moves.
Lake Stevens took the opening kickoff and eased down the field on seven-play, 68-yard drive, culminated with a leaping catch by David Johnson of a 14-yard TD pass from Mitch Canham. Balunsat carried three times for 38 yards behind the line’s push on the drive.
After the Vikings’ defense forced Arlington’s offense to stall into a three-and-out series, Balunsat quickly gave his team a 12-0 lead.
Balunsat fielded the Eagles’ punt and seemed to be headed for only a short return as he ran straight into a sea of Eagles and Vikings. But a hole suddenly opened up and Balunsat skipped through it, speeding the rest of the way to the end zone for his 58-yard punt return for a touchdown with 6:45 left in the first quarter.
Lake Stevens took advantage of a fumble to score its third TD of the first quarter.
After a rare defensive stop, the Eagles couldn’t hang on to the Vikings’ punt and the loose ball was recovered by Lake Stevens’ Brandon Pa. Two plays later, Balunsat scored from 18 yards out for an 18-0 lead with 1:30 remaining in the first quarter.
Thomason gave the Vikings a 25-0 lead with a shifty 26-yard run with five minutes left in the half.
That drive began after Arlington punter Ryan Nielsen pinned the Vikings at their own 3-yard line. The big play of the drive was a 50-yard scamper by Balunsat. Quarterback Mitch Canham nearly took a loss on the play, but pitched to Balunsat as Canham was wrapped up by a would-be Arlington tackler. He managed to fling the ball back to Balunsat to set up Thomason’s score.
After rushing for 16 yards on 15 carries in the first half, the Eagles resurrected their running game to begin the second half.
Arlington used seven running plays to move 80 yards, including Joseph Boitano’s 23-yard TD run with 5:28 remaining in the third. After Balunsat’s third touchdown of the game — a five-yard bolt up the middle — increased Lake Stevens’ 38-7, Boitano scored from 57 yard out with 8:38 left in the game.
Boitano finished with 143 yards (132 in the second half) on 28 carries. Canham completed seven of 10 passes for 57 yards.
Arlington |
0 |
0 |
7 |
7 |
— |
14 |
Lake Stevens |
18 |
7 |
7 |
6 |
— |
38 |
Lake Stevens—Johnson 13 pass from Canham (kick failed)
Lake Stevens—Balunsat 58 punt return (run failed)
Lake Stevens—Balunsat 18 run (kick failed)
Lake Stevens—Phomason 26 run (Canham kick)
Arlington—Boitano 23 run (Nielsen kick)
Lake Stevens—Hutchinson 20 pass from Canham (Canham kick)
Lake Stevens—Balunsat 5 run (kick failed)
Arlington—Boitano 57 run (Nielsen kick)
Records—Arlington x-x in league, x-x overall. Lake Stevens x-x, x-x.
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