MARYSVILLE – All the Marysville-Pilchuck football team needed was some hard-nosed defense and a roster spot for Moses.
Playing in his first high school varsity game, Marysville-Pilchuck’s Marquise Moses rushed for 145 yards and two touchdowns in a 13-7 victory over Cascade Friday night in the Western Conference North Division opener for both teams. Moses, a junior who spent last season on the Tomahawks’ sophomore team, parted the Bruins’ defense at Marysville’s Quil Ceda Stadium during his 25 carries and also returned a punt 80 yards.
“I’ve been waiting for this opportunity since last year when I didn’t get to play varsity,” Moses said. “Now, I’m here, and I’m stepping it up. My goal was to get 100 yards and two touchdowns. I got it, and I’m so excited.”
M-P coach Rudy Grandbois, who saw signs of promise from Moses during the summer, was even more thrilled about his defense. The Tommies, who finished last season by winning four of five games, held Cascade’s running attack to 148 yards – more than half of which came on J.P. Oliver’s 75-yard TD run in the second quarter. The Tomahawks sacked Cascade three times, and the Bruins misfired on all five of their passing attempts.
“Our defense stepped it up big tonight,” Grandbois said. “They played like it wasn’t the first game of the year.”
The M-P defense, led by 6-foot-3, 340-pound senior defensive tackle Darren Fallon, spent much of the evening in Cascade’s backfield. The Bruins lost yardage on seven of 24 rushing attempts. On three occasions, Cascade barely managed the handoff before being swarmed by Tomahawks.
“All the guys were really amped about getting out there and stuffing it to them in the second half,” said defensive end Denis Moynihan, who sacked Cascade’s quarterback and forced a fumble that was recovered by Fallon in the fourth quarter.
The first quarter featured 17 running plays that netted 44 yards and got neither team more than 7 yards into the other’s territory.
In a game between two teams that see the forward pass as a mostly unnecessary aspect to the game of football, a 6-yard drive gave M-P a 7-0 lead.
The field position quandary changed quickly for M-P after Moses fielded a punt at his own 14-yard line with just over 11 minutes remaining in the half. He hurdled two defenders and broke a tackle before being tripped up at the 20. He continued to stumble before finally giving in to gravity at the 6. From there, the Tommies returned to plodding. Moses plunged into the end zone on fourth-and-1 for a 7-0 Marysville-Pilchuck lead with 9:12 remaining in the half.
Cascade answered with a 75-yard TD run from Oliver that took less time off the clock than the Tomahawks’ 6-yard drive.
Moses broke through again in the fourth quarter, surging through a massive hole created by the M-P offensive line of Stuart Pennington, Bryan Thomas, Todd Stillwell, Kenny Alexander, John Miller and tight end Zach Ames for a 68-yard TD. The Tommies missed the extra point and led 13-7 with 6:47 remaining in the game.
M-P stunned on-lookers by attempting – and completing – a pass in the second quarter. Gary Carrier lobbed the ball toward Josh Lemery, who reached over a Cascade defender and took the ball away for a 17-yard completion to the M-P 33. The drive stalled at the 1 when Oliver stopped Moses just shy of the goal line on fourth-and-goal. Oliver, who finished with 85 yards on eight attempts, also recorded a sack in the first half.
At Quil Ceda Stadium, Marysville
Cascade0700-7
M-P0706-13
M-P-Moses 1 run (Stillwell kick)
Cascade-Oliver 75 run (Snel kick)
M-P-Moses 68 run (kick failed)
Records-Cascade 0-1 in division and overall. Marysville-Pilchuck 1-0, 1-0.
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