Marysville Pilchuck surges to Wesco 3A football title

MARYSVILLE -– Just when it looked like Meadowdale might gain control of Friday’s Wesco 3A championship football game, Marysville Pilchuck seized it back, secured it, and never let it go.

In an extraordinary sequence that proved devastating for Meadowdale, MP scored three touchdowns in a 41-second span of the second quarter and rolled to a 55-34 victory over the Mavericks.

It was the first game for the Tomahawks since the shooting at Marysville Pilchuck High School on Oct. 24 that left four students dead and two others injured.

“It means a lot to our players that the community has really rallied behind us in the wake of this tragedy,” Marysville Pilchuck head coach Brandon Carson said. “We played really well tonight and I think a lot of that had to do with the energy of the crowd. I’m proud of the way our kids controlled their emotions so that they didn’t get physically drained throughout the day and throughout the game.”

The Tomahawks (7-1) earned a berth in the championship when their game against Wesco 3A North co-leader Oak Harbor was canceled because of the shooting and the Wildcats, in a gesture of compassion, conceded the title to MP.

Oak Harbor defeated Mountlake Terrace 49-9 in a Wesco 3A seeding game Friday night.

“It’s been a great night and part of that being a great night is Oak Harbor won tonight,” Carson said. “That’s one of the first things I asked one of the reporters when we got done is ‘Did Oak Harbor win?’ I’m so proud of them and what they’ve done. I hope we play for real sometime if it works out.”

With the win, Marysville Pilchuck takes the No. 1 seed from Wesco 3A into the postseason and will play the No. 9 team from the Metro League, which will be either Seattle Prep or Cleveland, when the quad-district playoffs begin next week. Meadowdale is the No. 2 seed and faces the No. 3 team from the South Puget Sound League.

After Marysville Pilchuck scored the first 14 points Friday night, Meadowdale answered with 13 of its own to pull within one on a Malik Braxton 20-yard pass to Jesse Navlet with 1:50 remaining in the first half.

Moments later the Mavericks walked into the locker room trailing by 21 points.

The onslaught started and ended with MP senior running back Killian Page. Page scored on a 55-yard run with 55 seconds remaining in the second quarter to give his team a 20-13 lead.

With nearly a minute remaining before halftime, the Mavericks elected to try to score rather than go into the locker room down seven points. On the second play of the Mavericks’ next drive, Marysville Pilchuck made them pay. Senior Darrion Young intercepted Meadowdale’s senior quarterback Caleb Tingstad and returned the ball 35 yards untouched for another Marysville Pilchuck touchdown.

It seemed the final minute of the second quarter couldn’t get any worse for the Mavericks –- then it did.

Meadowdale fumbled the ensuing kickoff and Young came up with the recovery on the Mavericks’ 29-yard line with 26 seconds remaining before halftime.

Two plays later, Page was in the end zone again, scoring on a 31-yard run and giving the Tomahawks a 34-13 advantage.

“It was huge momentum swing,” Carson said. “It started with we were able to keep them from getting an extra point to tie the score at 14 and from there we scored and then we get a pick-six and they fumble the kickoff and we score there. That might have been the ball game.”

Page rushed for 196 yards on 15 carries and three touchdowns in the first half and finished the game with 225 yards on 19 carries.

Quil Ceda Stadium was filled to capacity with screaming fans who were never louder than during the three-touchdown blitz.

“Normally I can’t hear the fans,” senior running back Austin Joyner said. “They’re loud, but they’re not as loud to where I can hear them. I’m in the game and I’m in game mode, I usually cut off the sound. Tonight I could hear them.”

“There’s no other feeling like it,” senior captain Bryce Vitcovich added. “The energy the fans bring is just unreal. You can tell the difference in how we play and how the momentum went on our side once the crowd started getting into it.”

For as bad as the first half ended for Meadowdale, it would get worse before it got better.

On the Mavericks’ first possession of the second half, Joyner intercepted Tingstad on a deep pass intended for Braxton. Five plays later, Joyner showed his versatility, throwing a halfback pass to a wide open Drew Hatch for a 46-yard touchdown, giving the Tomahawks a 41-13 lead.

Tingstad had another pass intercepted later in the quarter that was returned by Hatch for a 95-yard touchdown, but the touchdown was taken off the board by a penalty.

Meadowdale finally ended Marysville Pilchuck’s run of 27 unanswered points on the first play of the fourth quarter when Tingstad connected with Donovan Evans on a 16-yard touchdown pass that cut the deficit to 41-20.

The Mavericks made it even more interesting on their next offensive possession, driving 92 yards in eight plays, capped by a 40-yard touchdown pass from Tingstad to Charlie White that cut the MP lead to 41-27.

“Hats off to Meadowdale, they gave us a heck of a game,” Carson said. “They’re a really good football team. I can’t say enough about them. They’re going to do well in the playoffs.”

Meadowdale’s rally came up short in large part because of Joyner, who had touchdown runs of 43 and 47 yards that put the game away.

Joyner finished with 193 yards on 20 carries and three rushing touchdowns to go along with his TD pass.

“We were fired up because we knew we weren’t only playing for ourselves, but we were playing for our whole community,” Joyner said. “This is part of the healing process and it gets everybody together

“We knew we had to come out here and get a win for our community.”

Aaron Lommers covers prep sports for The Herald. Follow him on Twitter at @aaronlommers and contact him at alommers@heraldnet.com.

Herald Writer David Krueger contributed to this story.

At Quil Ceda Stadium

Meadowdale 0 13 0 21 — 34

Marysville Pilchuck 7 27 7 14 — 55

MP–Austin Joyner 39 run (Sebastian Navarro kick)

MP–Killian Page 8 run (Navarro kick)

Mea–Malik Braxton 45 pass from Caleb Tingstad (Brett Schafer kick)

Mea–Jesse Navlet 20 pass from Braxton (pass failed)

MP–Page 55 run (kick failed)

MP–Darrion Young 35 interception return (Navarro kick)