SNOHOMISH — No Austin Joyner, no problem.
Marysville Pilchuck showed many weapons outside of its star junior running back and used first-quarter and third-quarter surges to run away from Glacier Peak 59-20 on Friday in the Wesco 3A title game.
The Tomahawks playing without Joyner, the Wesco 3A North’s leading rusher who missed the game with an ankle injury, scored 21 points in the game’s first seven minutes to forge a lead that kept growing throughout the night.
“Going into it, I had confidence in our other guys,” Marysville Pilchuck coach Brandon Carson said about playing without Joyner. “I knew we had some weapons and our quarterback (Jake Luton) is a big time weapon and he showed that tonight both running and throwing. And (junior running back) Killian Page has been solid for us all year.”
Carson added that Luton “was on the money all night.” The MP quarterback finished 7-for-9 for 137 yards and threw three touchdown passes. He had no interceptions.
Marysville Pilchuck drove 79 yards on six plays on the game’s opening possession, highlighted by a 55-yard run by Page and a 5-yard touchdown run by senior Deion Stell.
The Tomahawks’ defense came up with a turnover on Glacier Peak’s first possession when senior Dante Fields made the first of back-to-back big plays, recovering a fumbled snap by Glacier Peak senior quarterback Branson Corwin.
On the next play from scrimmage, Luton found Fields for a 25-yard touchdown pass that gave the Tomahawks a 14-0 lead after the extra point.
Fields finished the game with three touchdowns — a 30-yard fumble recovery for a score and receiving touchdowns of 25 and 27 yards. He recovered two fumbles and sacked Corwin three times.
“He was big time for us tonight,” Carson said about Fields. “He’s been an incredible defensive player all year for us and was able to score on defense and he had a couple of great catches.”
The Tomahawks defense remained strong on the Grizzlies’ next possession, forcing a three-and-out. The offense continued to pile it on with an eight-play 60-yard drive that culminated in a 30-yard touchdown pass from Jake Luton to Chris Jones. Jones also caught a 29-yard pass on the touchdown drive.
After another Glacier Peak punt, the Tomahawks had a chance to put the game out of reach early, but a fumble deep in Grizzlies’ territory derailed that effort. Glacier Peak’s Brandon Jensen recovered and the Grizzlies offense responed with a 75-yard 11-play drive that ended with a 7-yard touchdown pass from Corwin to senior Nick Allan.
The Grizzlies’ defense rode that momentum to a stop on the Tomahawks next possession. The Glacier Peak offense successfully went for it all on its first play as Corwin connected with Austin Hines, who narrowly outran Stell to the end zone for the Grizzlies’ second touchdown. Rosenbach elected to go for two, but Corwin’s pass was intercepted.
Marysville Pilchuck added a field goal to take a 24-13 lead into the locker room at halftime, but momentum seemed to be on the side of Glacier Peak.
The Tomahawks snatched it right back to begin the third quarter the Grizzlies never sniffed it again.
After a three-and-out by Glacier Peak to open the half, the Tomahawks went 55 yards in three plays capped off by a 34-yard touchdown run by Killian Page.
Page finished the game with 218 yards on 22 carries and two touchdowns.
It looked as though the Grizzlies might answer right back when Corwin connected with Austin Hines on a pass that looked like it go yards for a touchdown. But Hines was caught by a Marysville Pilchuck defender and stripped of the ball one yard from scoring. The Tomahawks recovered the fumble in the end zone for a touchback.
Ten plays and 80 yards later, Page was in the end zone again, scoring from 2 yards out and giving the Tomahawks a 38-13 lead.
It just got worse for Glacier Peak. Corwin was intercepted by Alex Gray on the very next play from scrimmage and Luton found Fields for another touchdown on the play after that.
Minutes later, Fields recovered his second fumble of the game and returned it 30 yards to put the Marysville Pilchuck up 52-13.
Both teams added a touchdown to make up the final margin.
Aaron Lommers covers prep sports for The Herald. Follow him on twitter @aaronlommers and contact him at alommers@heraldnet.com.
At Veterans Memorial Stadium
Marysville Pilchuck 21 3 21 14 — 59
Glacier Peak 0 13 0 7 — 20
MP–Deion Stell 5 run (Ryan Spiva kick)
MP–Dante Fields 25 pass from Jake Luton (Spiva kick)
MP–Chris Jones 30 pass from Luton (Spiva kick)
GP–Nick Allan 7 pass from Branson Corwin (Spencer Pettit kick)
GP–Austin Hines 73 pass from Corwin (pass failed)
MP–Spiva 32 FG
MP–Killian Page 34 run (Spiva kick)
MP–Page 2 run (Spiva kick)
MP–Fields 27 pass from Luton (Spiva kick)
MP–Fields 30 fumble recovery (Spiva kick)
MP–Joey Navarro 7 run (Spiva kick)
GP–Branson Barnecut 5 run (Pettit kick)
Records–Marysville Pilchuck 9-0, Glacier Peak 7-2.
