Meadowdale routs Prairie on the gridiron

EDMONDS — For Meadowdale, it all comes down to the third quarter. Yes, the Mavericks, from a point-differential standpoint, dominate more in the first half, but it seems like the third quarter is when they are able to simply break their opponent’s will.

And that’s what happened again on Nov. 5.

Holding a 5-point halftime lead, Meadowdale scored on its first three possessions of the third quarter and the Maverick defense didn’t allow a point as the Wesco 3A champions defeated Prairie 33-7 in a quad-district playoff game at Edmonds Stadium.

With the victory, Meadowdale (10-0) advances to meet Mercer Island — led by University of Washington-bound quarterback Jeff Lindquist — in a first-round 3A state tournament game at 7 p.m., Nov. 12 at Edmonds Stadium.

“Most of our momentum comes in the third quarter,” said senior running back Kyle Newsom, who scored three third-quarter touchdowns. “We’re a physical team and we just wear out our opponent.”

Being physical had something to do with it, but ultimately it just came down to making plays. Meadowdale’s defense held Prairie to minus-5 yards rushing and the only points the Falcons (6-4) scored were on a 63-yard punt return by Jesse Zalk in the first quarter. Otherwise, Prairie, which had its first winning season since 1997, could get little going, surprising given the Falcons’ vaunted passing attack led by senior quarterback Colin Seitz. Seitz had 228 yards passing but was 26-for-44 and was under constant second-half pressure.

“We have faced teams that spread us out, but defensively we just try to handle our assignments, get after the ball and get off the field,” Meadowdale coach Mark Stewart said. “And our defense didn’t allow them to score today, so we were happy with that.”

The game seemed to turn in an instant. Meadowdale took the lead at 12-7 on Kyle Larsen’s second 3-yard touchdown run with 32 seconds to play in the first quarter. A big kickoff return gave Prairie a chance to counter, but on fourth down Meadowdale blocked a 36-yard field goal attempt as time expired.

Larsen opened the second half by returning the kick to the Prairie 30. Seven running plays later, Newsom ran in from 2 yards out for a 19-7 lead. It just grew from there. On the ensuing kickoff, Corwin Perkins knocked the ball loose and Dillon Wright recovered for Meadowdale, setting up a 3-yard Newsom TD.

“I tried to get downfield as fast as I could,” Perkins said. “I got blocked but shed him, found the ball, hit him and it came out.”

Prairie continued to sink, going three-and-out. Newsom put the game away by cutting back to his left through a big hole and running 71 yards down the left sideline for a touchdown and a 33-7 lead late in the third quarter.

“My blockers did a great job getting downfield and opening things up,” Newsom said. “I just found the hole and ran through.”

Meadowdale ran for 301 yards as both Giavani Shepard (132) and Newsom (113) broke the 100-yard mark. The Mavericks outgained Prairie 346-226.

The game did not start well for Meadowdale, though.

The Mavericks committed eight penalties in the first half, including five in the first five minutes of the game, which Stewart attributed to nerves. But the defense held strong, buying the offense time to get going. Meadowdale finally scored with just under 4 minutes to play in the first half on a 3-yard run by Larsen.

“We just try to play at our own speed and make the other team try to catch up with us,” said Perkins, a senior linebacker.

“We’re an emotional team and once we get going we just build off of that.”

Stewart was happy with what he saw from his team but knows that the penalties and special teams play have to be cleaned up. The Mavericks won’t be able to make many mistakes next week against a team led by one of the nation’s top passers.

“We have a group of seniors who just don’t want to stop playing,” Stewart said. “They want to keep winning and so when we need them to, they dig down and find what we need to keep going. And that’s what we saw again tonight.”