I wish all rivalry games were as perfectly timed as this one.
Tonight at Goddard Stadium in south Everett, the Mariner and Kamiak prep football teams will collide in the annual Mukilteo School District battle. It’s the final regular season game for both teams. Both squads have already clinched a postseason berth but the winner will be the Western Conference South Division No. 2 seed in the Class 4A preliminary playoff round, and the loser receives the South’s third (and final) berth.
To get a feel for how players from Mariner (6-1 in division, 6-2 overall) feel heading into the highly anticipated game versus Kamiak (6-1, 7-1), I dropped by at the end of Mariner’s practice Thursday. Here’s what Mariner standouts Tyler Tuiasosopo (quarterback) and Matt Jones (running back/linebacker) had to say.
QUESTION: How have things been different this week at school?
Tuiasosopo: (The buildup) started this past weekend, actually. We remember last year, the school was excited. We were in the same situation and our records were pretty similar. We just got caught up in the hype last year. [Kamiak beat Mariner 19-7 in 2006.] But this year (Mariner coach John Ondriezek) reiterated, ‘Let everybody else at school get excited and create the excitement around us, but we just want to stay focused.’
QUESTION: Was last year’s game an important learning experience?
Tuiasosopo: It was a learning experience, and it was kind of different being the away team at your home stadium. That feels different. Everything was strange. [Mariner and Kamiak both use Goddard Stadium for home games, so every year one of them uses the visitors’ locker rooms and lines up on the visitors’ sideline.]
Now that we’re the home team again in our home stadium, we’ve got the home crowd on our backs. I think we’re ready to go.
Jones: Last year the real problem was we were too hyped. We came out too high on ourselves. Now we know what we’ve got to get done.
QUESTION: Was your team’s loss against Edmonds-Woodway earlier this season (E-W beat Mariner 54-20 Sept. 7) a reality check?
Tuiasosopo: We don’t think of it as a reality check because Edmonds-Woodway (8-0 overall and ranked No. 3 in 4A by WashingtonPreps.com) is a great team. But it was definitely a humbling experience for us. Statewide everybody had our name in different rankings and guys started to get caught up in that stuff. But losing to Edmonds-Woodway humbled us and brought us back down to earth: ‘You know what, football is football and so on any given day teams can win and teams can lose.’
Jones: Again, I think we were kind of overconfident with that and worrying about the rankings.
QUESTION: Have the folks who compile team rankings underrated the Mariner football team? [The Marauders’ two losses were against E-W and ninth-ranked Snohomish (7-1)]
Jones: I feel like they have. But to me rankings mean nothing. If they want to under-rank us, go ahead. We just have to prove ourselves ‘cause we know deep down inside what we can do.
Tuiasosopo: After (losing against E-W) we were kind of dropped off and not heard of again. We had some injuries (most importantly to Jones and running back/defensive back Shaundell Burns) but now we’re getting healthy and we’re getting everybody back to 100 percent. We’re ready to go at the right time.
QUESTION (to Jones): When were you injured and what was the injury?
Jones: A tackler came in (during Mariner’s Sept. 14 game against Jackson) and hit me from the side so I pulled an inside ligament in my right leg. It didn’t tear but it was severely pulled.
Tuiasosopo: I was right behind him when he fell, and I didn’t hear anything but I definitely saw it. It was pretty nasty.
Jones: I remember yelling, ‘I can’t be out his early! No, no, no!’ [Jones missed three games and returned Oct. 12 versus Lynnwood. After getting limited action in that contest, Jones erupted for 192 yards on 12 carries last Friday against Mountlake Terrace.]
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