EVERETT — With a dramatic, never-say-die comeback, the Meadowdale football team scored 17 unanswered points in the final 6:15 to tie the score against Everett, and then pulled out a dramatic 47-40 win in overtime on Friday night at Everett Memorial Stadium.
The win came in the Wesco 3A South opener for both teams. Meadowdale improved its season record to 2-1. Everett is also 2-1.
In OT, the Mavericks got the ball first and scored a touchdown as quarterback Drew Tingstad got flushed from the pocket on a third-and-goal play from the Everett 11. Rolling right he found running back Kela Marshall in the end zone, and Marshall made a diving catch to his left for the TD.
Placekicker Will Schafer, who had made a 44-yard field goal in the waning seconds of regulation to send the game to overtime, converted the PAT.
Everett began its OT possession at the 25 and reached the Meadowdale 12, but quarterback Murdock Rutledge was sacked on a first-down play, setting up second-and-17 from the 19. Rutledge stepped up in the pocket and threw a pass to the end zone, but the ball skipped off the receiver’s hands and was snagged by Schafer, a defensive back, for a game-ending interception.
The rest of the Meadowdale team rushed the field in jubilation as the Everett players, moving in stunned disbelief, gathered for the postgame handshake line.
Meadowdale, which had jumped to a 16-0 lead after one period, saw that margin disappear in the second quarter as Everett came to life by scoring 26 straight points in the period. The Seagulls added another touchdown on the final play of the third quarter for a 33-16 lead.
The Mavericks quickly responded, getting a 6-yard TD carry by Marshall early in the fourth quarter. But Everett countered with a 10-yard run to the end zone, moments after Rutledge had flung a 50-yard pass to wide receiver Elijah Ross-Rutter. At that point Everett led 40-23.
Meadowdale’s next possession ended with a punt, and the prospects were bleak. But a Rutledge pass was intercepted by the Mavericks and they needed three plays to reach the end zone, aided by a pass-interference penalty against Everett. Tingstad found Schafer in the end zone for a 20-yard score, cutting the deficit to 40-30.
The Maverick defense got another interception moments later and it set up another touchdown, this one on an 8-yard scramble by Tingstad with 3:02 on the scoreboard clock.
Meadowdale’s defense desperately needed a stop and it came with a three-and-out, aided by an errant center snap that cost the Seagulls 19 yards. The Mavericks started their final possession in regulation from their 45 and moved the ball down to set up Schafer’s game-tying field goal.
Jacob Leonard had three rushing touchdowns for Everett, and Rutledge had TD passes of 54 and 53 yards. Meadowdale got rushing TDs of 14 and 49 yards from Marshall, who finished with 195 yards on 25 carries.
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