Marysville Pilchuck beats Mountlake Terrace 49-14 to advance

MARYSVILLE — It was freezing cold on the football field Friday night.

Fortunately for Marysville Pilchuck, its offense was on fire.

Austin Joyner ran 19 times for 292 yards and five touchdowns and Killian Page added 180 yards and two more scores on 15 carries as the Tomahawks ran past Mountlake Terrace 49-14 in the opening round of the 3A state tournament at Quil Ceda Stadium.

“Everything’s on fire except my toes right now,” Joyner said. “They’re freezing.”

The big night gave Joyner 1,475 yards for the season and 5,300 yards exactly for his Marysville Pilchuck career, a school record. The five touchdowns also gave him 506 points scored in the last four seasons, also the top mark in Tomahawks’ history, according to the coaching staff.

“He’s just a gifted athlete. He’s a special football player and he does special things,” Marysville Pilchuck head coach Brandon Carson said. “Killian’s really, really good too. Having that 1-2 punch makes it tough on defenses.”

Other than its last possession of the game, which ended on downs, Marysville Pilchuck scored on every offensive drive.

Page, who brought his rushing total to 1,547 yards this season, got the scoring started for Marysville Pilchuck with a 22-yard run early in the first quarter. Joyner followed that up with touchdown runs of 42 and 1 before Page closed out the first-half scoring with an 11-yard score with 47 seconds to go in the second quarter.

The second half continued with more of the same, with Page starting the half with a shoe-losing 51-yard run where the senior lost a cleat on the play. While Page stuffed his shoe back on, Joyner followed that up with a 19-yard score as the Tomahawks started to pull away.

“He’s as good as advertised,” Mountlake Terrace head coach Tony Umayam said of Joyner. “I was told previously by other coaches that he’s even better in person and we saw that. And it’s not just him it’s Killian Page, it’s their whole offense — it’s pretty unbelievable.”

No. 4-ranked Marysville Pilchuck (9-1) finished the game with 497 yards rushing — accounting for all of the Tomahawks’ offense. Joyner attempted a pass to Drew Hatch that fell incomplete in Marysville Pilchuck’s only pass attempt of the night.

It was a similar play that the Tomahawks executed for a touchdown against Meadowdale in the Wesco 3A championship two weeks prior.

“I have to block for them so I don’t usually get to watch but it’s amazing because they turn something that looks like it’s not going to be anything into something big,” Hatch said of Joyner and Page.

“It’s straight power, honestly,” added Joyner. “We’re not going to fall for you. We will not fall for you. If you don’t wrap up both of our legs and twist us to the ground we’re going to keep running.”

On the defensive side, Carson praised Hatch, a standout linebacker, for helping limit the Mountlake Terrace offense.

“I thought Drew Hatch was outstanding defensively,” Carson said. “He’s been outstanding for us all year long. He had a great night again.”

Mountlake Terrace started the game with back-to-back three-and-outs, but on its third drive the Hawks got exactly what Umayam was looking for with a 13-play drive that took seven minutes and 14 seconds off the clock, capped by a 12-yard touchdown run by Ryan Lacasse.

Lacasse’s score made it 14-7, which was as close as the Hawks would get. The senior added a 44-yard score late in the game and finished with 14 carries for 88 yards.

“We had a great group of kids to coach that were resilient and I’m proud of them for never giving up in any game,” Umayam said. “We had the type of season that reflected that. We just ran into a buzzsaw tonight.”

Mountlake Terrace (8-3) completed a season that saw the Hawks win a playoff game for the first time in school history with last week’s 14-7 win over Capital.

They also set a school record for most wins in a season.

“We knew that they were going to be fired up because they made history and they wanted to keep rolling,” Joyner said. “But we’re on our way. We’re trying to make history. One other team before us has made it to the semifinals in MP history so we’re trying to duplicate that and at least get back that far.”

Marysville Pilchuck moves on to play the winner of Saturday’s Roosevelt-Columbia River game. The winner of that game, kicking off at 4 p.m., will host the Tomahawks in a 3A state quarterfinal game next weekend.

“We just have to take it one game at a time and play the opponent that’s in front of us,” Carson said. “I don’t know much about either team but I’m sure we’ll get more information (Saturday) night and go from there.”

The Marysville Pilchuck seniors were happy to finish with a win at their home field, which has seen the past few seasons end with playoff defeats at Quil Ceda Stadium.

“It’s a huge win for us,” Hatch said. “In my career, we haven’t ended on a win at our home turf. That was one thing we were all jumping around for at the end. It was big momentum to beat them like that. I think that will lead into next week and keep us on track.”

At Quil Ceda Stadium

M. Terrace 0 7 0 7 — 14

M. Pilchuck 14 14 21 0 — 49

MP—Killian Page 22 run (Sebastian Navarro kick)

MP—Austin Joyner 42 run (Navarro kick)

MLT—Ryan Lacasse 12 run (Ivan Melchor kick)

MP—Joyner 1 run (kick failed)

MP—Page 11 run (Tyler McDonald pass from Erik Lind)

MP—Joyner 19 run (Navarro kick)

MP—Joyner 5 run (Navarro kick)

MP—Joyner 81 run (Navarro kick)

Lacasse 44 run (Melchor kick)