Meadowdale headed to quad-district playoffs

EDMONDS — The Meadowdale Mavericks knew they had one thing to do to keep this season alive — win.

And that’s just what the Mavericks did, but not with out a little Halloween night scare from the Everett Seagulls.

Meadowdale earned the 3A District’s No. 1 seed, holding off the Seagulls in a 28-21 Western Conference 3A contest at Edmonds District Stadium Friday night.

The victory coupled with Glacier Peaks’ win over Shorecrest earned the Mavericks (3-1 in league, 5-3 overall) a share of the Wesco 3A championship and the District’s No. 1 seed.

Everett’s season was also extended thanks to the Grizzlies win, however its task is a bit harder. The Seagulls (2-2, 5-4) will be the District 1 No. 3 seed and will play Tuesday at the Northwest League No. 2 seed Sedro-Woolley.

Meadowdale jumped out to a 28-7 lead thanks to the running back duo of junior Naji Moore-Taylor and senior Ben Shebly.

Like a true Maverick, Meadowdale head coach Mark Stewart said, “We stayed a little conservative because we thought we could keep running the ball.”

And they did.

Moore-Taylor rushed 28 times for 154 yards and Shebly did the rest, carrying 16 times for 60 yards and all four Meadowdale touchdowns.

“We like to spread them out. We have two different running styles,” Moore-Taylor said.

“I had no clue that was going to happen,” the 250-pound senior fullback said of his night and after his four-TD total doubled his season output and came on a night Meadowdale celebrated its seniors and Homecoming.

When it appeared Meadowdale was going to dominate the game, the Seagulls came back, scoring once in the third quarter on quarterback Chase Herrick’s 8-yard scramble and again in the fourth, when Jake Frauenholtz, the reigning Washington State U.S. Army High School Player of the Week, found David Andre for a 75-yard touchdown pass, cutting the Mavericks lead to 28-21.

The senior wide receiver was shutdown in the first half totaling -4 yards on just one carry and no receptions.

Frauenholtz finished with four catches for 39 yards and Herrick completed 16 passes with two interceptions, both leading to Meadowdale scores.

“They did a nice job. They were getting pressure on our quarterback and that also made it difficult to get him the ball. He made a couple of plays for us. We’ve got to be ready for that,” Everett head coach Will Soren said.

Everett made it interesting in the closing minutes of the game when it took six minutes off the clock and drove 78 yards to the Meadowdale 15 before the Seagulls fourth-down attempt failed and they turned the ball over with 49 seconds remaining in the game. Everett had converted its three prior fourth-downs all during that last drive.

“We got ourselves back in the game in the fourth quarter. It’s a pretty quiet locker room, we worked hard and wanted to get a better seed than that,” Soren added.

Moore-Taylor, Shebly and coach Stewart all admitted to being nervous on that last drive, their season hanging in the balance — if Meadowdale had lost its postseason hopes would’ve been shattered.

“We were very nervous but we knew our defense would pull through. We’re one big happy family,” Moore-Taylor said.

Soren hopes that the fourth quarter comeback carries over to Tuesday’s contest, “Absolutely that’s big, we’re hanging on that, we need to group and play Tuesday. We’ll try to catch our breath and re-group, this group is pretty persistent and have showed a lot of character this year.”

Andre scored on the game’s first play from scrimmage, rushing 74 yards for a touchdown and making it look like Everett was going to runaway with the game. The running back finished with seven carries for 96 yards.

At Edmonds District Stadium

Everett7077—21

Meadowdale71470—28

Everett—Andre 74 run (Barhanovich kick)

Meadowdale—Shebly 1 run (Henao kick)

Meadowdale—Shebly 4 run (Henao kick)

Meadowdale—Shebly 8 run (Henao kick)

Meadowdale—Shebly 3 run (Henao kick)

Everett—Herrick 8 run (Barhanovich kick)

Everett—Andre 75 pass from Frauenholtz (Barhanovich kick)

Records—Everett 2-2 in league, 5-4 overall. Meadowdale 3-1, 5-3.