EVERETT — The new football season could hardly have started better for the Arlington Eagles on Friday night.
In a road game against Mariner, Arlington scored touchdowns on its first two offensive possessions. Minutes later, the Eagles blocked a punt and returned it for another TD, putting them ahead 20-0 early in the second quarter.
That was the good news. But the bad news was a knee injury to starting quarterback Blake McPherson on the first play of the second quarter that put him on the sidelines for all but one play the rest of the night.
From that point on, Arlington’s offense “began to sputter,” according to head coach Greg Dailer, and the Eagles were forced to hold on against a determined Mariner comeback bid. But Arlington did hold on and came away with a hard-earned 26-12 non-conference victory in the season opener for both teams.
When McPherson left the game, “the line knew we had to step it up,” said Blake Petersen, an offensive lineman and an Arlington co-captain. “We took that personal. Our quarterback going down, that’s our prized possession, so we knew we had to step it up and play even harder.
“This was a great way to start the season,” Petersen added. “Guys were flying around on defense. It was a lot of fun.”
With McPherson on the sidelines, Dailer said, “I thought the way the guys handled it and the way the defense stepped up … our team did a great job of winning the game in other areas.”
The Eagles got a big boost from junior running back Riley Cobb, who churned for 176 yards on 18 carries, averaging 9.8 yards per attempt.
After Mariner rallied with touchdowns in the second and third quarters, cutting the deficit to 20-12, Cobb basically put the game out of reach with a 52-yard scoring scamper early in the fourth period. He took an inside handoff, slipped through a hole in the middle of the line, broke a tackle, and suddenly was running free in the secondary.
He went the rest of the way untouched for a TD that gave Arlington its final 14-point margin.
“I thought Riley did an excellent job,” Dailer said. “He’s just a workhorse. He starts on both sides of the ball and plays on all our special teams, and then to finish it off at the end of the game with the long run … He just did a great job.”
The Eagles’ first touchdown capped a seven-play, 80-yard drive with running back Griffin Ginnis covering the final 5 yards through the right side. The second scoring drive went 85 yards in 13 plays with running back Colton Hordyk carrying for 9 yards over the right side for the TD.
Shortly after the second touchdown, the Eagles scored again with the blocked punt. The kick was blocked by Lucas Revelle, and as the ball bounced back near the goal line it was scooped up by Connor Cummings and carried the last 4 yards to the end zone.
Trailing 20-0, Mariner finally got its offense untracked with an 11-play, 59-yard scoring drive. On fourth-and-8 from the Arlington 10, quarterback Alex Coffman rolled to the left, dodged a tackler and then connected with Dominique Law at the back of the end zone for the touchdown.
The Marauders scored again late in the third quarter on an electrifying 58-yard dash by running back KeiVarae Russell. He started right with a handoff, beat two defenders to the corner and ran untouched down the sideline to the end zone.
At Mariner H.S.
Arlington71306—26
Mariner0660—12
Arlington—Ginnis 5 run (Hordyk kick)
Arlington—Hordyk 9 run (Hordyk kick)
Arlington—Cummings 4 blocked punt return (kick failed)
Mariner—Law 10 pass from Coffman (kick failed)
Mariner—Russell 58 run (pass failed)
Arlington—Cobb 52 run (pass failed)
Records—Arlington 1-0 overall. Mariner 0-1.
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