LAKE STEVENS — In the space between the highly unlikely and the darned-near impossible lives Dustin Adams and the Lake Stevens Vikings.
The do-it-all Adams secured all five of his pass receptions in the fourth quarter — and made the last of his trio of interceptions with seven seconds remaining — and the host Vikings scored two touchdowns in the final two minutes to earn an 18-14 victory over the Arlington Eagles in a Western Conference North Division football game Friday night.
“It was our homecoming and we weren’t going to lose,” Adams said in the midst of the Vikings’ post-game celebration.
Lake Stevens trailed 14-6 entering the fourth quarter, but fullback Clark Ferrucci capped a 15-play, 89-yard drive by flying over the pile for a touchdown to cut the deficit to 14-12 with 1:58 to play.
The drive included a fake punt on which Colton Tupen took the short snap and threw a 21-yard pass completion to Sean Driscoll.
“That’s ironic,” Lake Stevens coach Tom Tri said of the play that was a mirror image of a play that helped Marysville-Pilchuck beat his Vikings last week.
Adams had receptions of 13 and 16 yards on the series and Driscoll added a 14-yard reception on a third-and-long play to keep the drive alive.
The Lake Stevens defense, which had shut down the Arlington offense for the duration of the second half, had to come up big after Ferrucci’s TD and it did.
On the Eagles’ ensuing possession, the Vikings stopped the Eagles for negative yardage on two plays, using their last two timeouts in the process.
On third down, Trevor Riecks and Devin Papka (4.5 tackles for loss, three sacks) knocked Arlington’s Jerad Barber (TD reception, TD pass, 55 yards receiving, 99 return yards) out of bounds to stop the clock with 1:39 to play.
“The defense carried the day and came through when they needed to,” Tri said.
A short punt gave the Vikings possession at the Arlington 44-yard line.
On first down, Adams made a 14-yard reception in the middle of the field.
Three plays later, he made a leaping 27-yard reception on a perfect pass from quarterback Ian Baker at the Arlington 1-yard line with 53 seconds to play.
“What an athlete,” Tri marveled. “(Adams) has been carrying us all year with plays like that.”
Three plays later, with 17 seconds remaining, Baker powered into the end-zone from about the 3-inch line.
“My line just got under them and I just kept my legs driving,” said Baker (10-for-16, 143 yards).
Arlington had one final chance for a comeback, but Adams snuffed the bid with his third interception.
Arlington starting quarterback Brandon Gunter suffered an apparent shoulder separation on his throwing arm when he was sacked by Papka at the Lake Stevens 26-yard line with 59 seconds remaining in the first quarter.
In the second quarter, back-up quarterback Jake Parduhn, a sophomore, lofted a pass high into the left corner of the end zone where Barber made a circus catch over Dustin Adams for a touchdown and a 6-0 lead with 7:25 remaining in the first half.
Isaac Molstre’s 40-yard run down the right sideline highlighted the Vikings’ ensuing nine-play scoring drive. Molstre capped the series with an 11-yard TD run to knot the score at 6-6.
Arlington’s Marcus Dolan, a defensive standout all game long, received the Lake Stevens kickoff near his own 10-yard line, ran left and handed off to Barber who rode the reverse 48 yards into Vikings territory. Running back Michael Keating went to work on the next two plays, covering 26 and 13 yards on successive carries.
On a fourth-down play, Parduhn pitched the ball to Barber who threw a 7-yard TD pass to D.J. Lockwood. Keating converted the 2-point conversion with a second effort and gave Arlington a 14-6 halftime lead.
At Lake Stevens H.S.
Arlington01400—14
Lake Stevens06012—18
Arlington—Barber 18 pass from Parduhn (kick failed)
Lake Stevens—Molstre 11 run (kick blocked)
Arlington—Lockwood 7 pass from Barber (Keating run)
Lake Stevens—Ferrucci 1 (run failed)
Lake Stevens—Baker 1 run (pass failed)
Records—Arlington 2-3 in league, 2-4 overall. Lake Stevens 4-1, 5-1.
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