EVERETT — Try as they might, no one could quite wrestle the spotlight from KeiVarae Russell Friday night.
Yes, Russell’s Mariner teammate Dominique Law had two explosive touchdown runs. Yes, Kamiak’s Mylz Dixon ran for 217 yards and a pair of touchdowns.
But when the game was on the l
ine and all eyes were on him, Russell showed why he is considered one of the best players in the state.
Playing in front of longtime University of Oregon running backs coach Gary Campbell, Russell ran 25 yards into the end zone with 2:27 to play for the go-ahead touchdown and Mariner held on to defeat Kamiak 21-17 in a Wesco South rivalry matchup between the two Mukilteo schools at Goddard Stadium.
The win keeps the Marauders in position to claim the division’s final playoff spot as they improved to 2-1 in the league, 4-3 overall. Kamiak dropped its sixth in a row to fall to 0-3, 1-6.
And while Mariner seems in strong standing to claim the league’s No. 3 playoff spot behind Edmonds-Woodway and Jackson, Russell is thinking higher than that.
“We want the second spot, not the third,” said Russell, who finished with 99 yards on 19 carries. “We want to get as high a spot as we can so we’re not thinking about third.”
A week after missing a blowout loss to Eastlake with an ankle injury, Russell returned at what he described as 75 percent. And to be honest, he was pedestrian in the first half, gaining 29 yards on seven carries and clearly limping on his ailing ankle.
But Mariner coach John Ondriezek turned more to his star in the second half and Russell finally broke through.
Kamiak led 17-14 and had the ball midway through the fourth quarter but on fourth down, Mariner’s Raymond Afalava sacked Kamiak’s Anthony Berg to give the Marauders solid field position. Mariner twice survived third downs with runs, including a 6-yarder by quarterback Gabe Dye, who himself was struggling through a foot injury suffered in the first half. After running 5 yards on first down to get to the 25, Russell took a handoff, ran up the middle and broke to the left, racing into the end zone for his 11th touchdown of the season and a 21-17 Mariner lead.
“He’s our best running back so I figured I’d just give him the ball,” Ondriezek said. “He said he felt good and he’s the guy who we want with the ball and he did a great job.”
Russell, who was offered a scholarship by Oregon after the game and now has an offer from every Pac-12 school, said he felt he had to show what he could do despite the pain in his ankle.
“I was in a lot of pain but I knew I had to push through it,” Russell said. “If I’m going to be the No. 1 running back in the state, I have to fulfill that every week and that’s what I try to do.”
The game had the look of an old-school football matchup as the teams combined to run 84 times and pass just 14 times, including just three passes by Mariner.
Law took center stage in the first half, putting Mariner ahead 7-0 with a 34-yard run after a Russell fake late in the first quarter. After Dixon tied it with a 4-yard TD run, Law, a senior, ran 70 yards right up the middle for a 14-7 Mariner lead that it took into halftime.
“I just read my blocks and found the hole,” said Law, who had 101 yards on just four carries. “I was just prepared for whatever we needed.”
After cutting the lead to 14-10 with a 26-yard Chris Menghini field goal, Kamiak got the ball back and behind the running of Dixon, went 71 yards, scoring on a 12-yard Dixon run to go up 17-14. The Knights then got the ball back after Mariner fumbled but turned it over on downs, setting up Russell’s late heroics.
“We overcame a lot of adversity,” Russell said. “We prepared to play with me and without me, but I’m glad I got to play. It’s always great to beat Kamiak.”
Now Mariner will prepare for a big matchup with Jackson that could vault the Marauders into that coveted No. 2 seed.
“We’re going to enjoy this for a couple days because this was a big win for us,” Ondriezek said. “But Jackson is another big game and we’re going to start preparing for them pretty quick.”
At Mariner H.S.
Kamiak 0 7 3 7 — 17
Mariner 7 7 0 7 — 21
Mar–Law 34 run (Manson kick)
Kam–Dixon 4 run (Menghini kick)
Mar–Law 70 run (Manson kick)
Kam–Menghini 26 field goal
Kam–Dixon 12 run (Menghini kick)
Mar–Russell 25 run (Manson kick)
Records: Kamiak 0-3 in league, 1-6 overall. Mariner 2-1, 4-3.
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