SHORELINE
Shorecrest could smell an upset.
With its starting quarterback on the sideline injured, the Scots’ defense rose up with two big plays to give it the lead.
But in the end, Tyler Tuiasosopo, Jaren Saga and the favored Mariner Marauders kept calm under pressure and eked out a 29-22 win Oct. 5 at Shoreline Stadium.
“Coming close like that and not coming out with a win, it hurts,” Shorecrest senior co-captain Marek Domanski said.
Steven Shomaker intercepted Tuiasosopo and returned it 55 yards for a touchdown to give Shorecrest an improbable 22-21 lead over the Marauders with 6:30 left in the game. That followed a 93-yard fumble return for a touchdown by Shorecrest’s Michael Harris, that halted a Mariner scoring drive that could have put the game out of reach.
“I told them in (the locker room at halftime), ‘We need our defense to score touchdowns,’” Shorecrest coach Mike Wollan said. “They responded with two touchdowns.”
Having failed to take care of business the first time around, Mariner had one more chance and they got to work.
Tuiasosopo led a four-plus minute, 12-play drive that culminated in his 1-yard sneak for the go-ahead score. A two-point conversion pass from Tuiasosopo to back Adrien Black extended the lead to 29-22.
“They pulled a drive together right when they needed one,” Domanski said. “The better team won tonight.”
Shorecrest had one more chance, but Shomaker, who replaced injured starting quarterback Lars Swenson, couldn’t handle a fourth-down snap and Mariner ran out the clock.
Swenson hurt his throwing shoulder in the first quarter and came off the field, but did return. He sustained another hit after that and did not play in the second half. An X-ray determined that nothing was broken, Shorecrest coach Mike Wollan said. Swenson, who led the Scots with 33 yards rushing before leaving the game, had an MRI taken on Monday and results were still pending as of the Enterprise deadline.
Saga finished with 24 carries, and 147 yards to lead Mariner. Tuiasosopo threw for 156 yards on 10-of-17 passing and was intercepted twice.
From the first drive on, Shorecrest proved they could compete with the favored Marauders. The Scots drove 65 yards on their opening possession, with Marek Domanski pounding inside for a 10-yard touchdown run. The big play of the drive was a 35-yard run by Swenson that got the Scots inside the 20.
“I thought that opening drive we had set the tone,” Wollan said. “We were looking for a spark. We emphasized offense.”
Mariner responded with a 14-yard touchdown run by Saga, but a 26-yard field goal by Harris gave Shorecrest a 10-7 lead at the end of the first quarter.
Mariner took its first lead when receiver Michael Johnson did a pirouette to make a catch along the left sideline and turned up field for a 60-yard touchdown.
The Marauders extended the lead to 21-10 in the third quarter on Tuiasosopo’s 3-yard touchdown run and extra point by Jakub Rynkiewicz.
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