More M-P domination

MARYSVILLE — Click.

A light bulb has gone on for the Marysville-Pilchuck High School football team, and the Tomahawks appear to have turned the corner.

And the Lake Stevens Vikings, who have been living on the edge all season, saw their unbeaten run through the Western Conference 4A North Division come crashing to an end.

Ken Kam and the Tomahawks shocked the division leaders, running roughshod over the Vikings in a 42-0 rout Friday night to continue M-P’s dramatic turnaround.

"It was amazing," said Marysville senior running back Ken Kam, who rushed for 219 yards on 23 carries and scored five touchdowns. "It was sweet. That was the best game we’ve played all year."

After losing their first three games, the Tomahawks (3-3 league, 3-4 overall) have won three of their last four, including their last two by a combined score of 89-7. And although Marysville is out of playoff contention, the Tomahawks took joy in their first shutout since 1998.

"We looked really good last week and we were hoping the momentum we gained against Mount Vernon would carry over tonight," Marysville coach Rudy Grandbois said. "We knew Lake Stevens was No. 1 in the league and we wanted the guys to get fired up to play a full 48 minutes and not back off. We’ve played a lot of good halves, but finally we put 48 minutes together."

Meanwhile, Lake Stevens (4-1, 5-2), was left wondering what went wrong. Despite leading the division, the Vikings have won just one game thism season by more than a touchdown,

"A lot of the players were taking this game lightly and we were not ready to come out and play," Lake Stevens senior fullback Mike Shea said. "They came out and hit us in the mouth and we didn’t respond. Everyone was fighting, but it just did not go right for us."

Both Kam and the Tomahawks turned in their second straight dominating performances. Marysville built upon its 47-7 crushing of Mount Vernon last week, and the 5-foot-9, 180-pound Kam followed up his five-touchdown performance against Mount Vernon with another five-TD effort against the Vikings.

"I don’t know why I ran so well," Kam said. "I think it was because I had a sucker before the game. There’s not much to it, I guess."

Grandbois had other ideas.

"He just gives you 100-percent effort," Grandbois said about Kam. "He’s the type of breakaway threat you like to have on offense. When he gets into the open field, he uses that great speed of his."

Kam wasn’t the only one gaining ground. As a team Marysville racked up 357 yards on 54 carries. The Tomahawks weren’t stopped for a loss until late in the third quarter, when it was already 42-0.

"Our offensive line keeps getting better and better every week," Grandbois said. "You want your players to get better every week and they have. They’ve been able to show it the last couple of weeks."

In contrast, Lake Stevens was limited to 71 yards on the ground on 33 carries and managed just 124 yards of total offense. Shea was the leading runner, picking up 57 yards on 12 carries, and quarterback Ricky Bargreen was just 6-for-19 for 53 yards.

Marysville dominated from the opening whistle. The Tomahawks scored on five of their six first-half possessions as Marysville’s running game was met with little resistance. The Tomahawks ran for 221 yards in the first half, and Kam ran for 149 yards and four TDs.

Kam scored his first TD just 2 minutes, 25 seconds into the game, rushing four straight times for 58 yards, culminating in a 3-yard TD.

Each of his next three touchdowns were 4-yard runs, one coming late in the first quarter and the other two in the second.

Marysville capitalized on a Lake Stevens fumble late in the second quarter to score again with 23 seconds to play in the half, Kyle Moran hauling in an 11-yard pass from Domino Stewart.

If there had been any thought of a second-half turnaround, it ended on the second play from scrimmage in the third quarter, when Kam busted through the middle and raced 69 yards to make it 42-0.

At Marysville Lake Stevens 0 0 0 0 — 0 Marysville-Pilchuck 13 22 7 0 — 42 Marysville-Pilchuck—Kam 3 run (Stillwell kick) Marysville-Pilchuck—Kam 4 run (kick failed) Marysville-Pilchuck—Kam 4 run (Stewart run) Marysville-Pilchuck—Kam 4 run (Stillwell kick) Marysville-Pilchuck—Moran 11 pass from Stewart (Stillwell kick) Marysville-Pilchuck—Kam 69 run (Stillwell kick)