Mavs’ comeback falls short

EDMONDS — Meadowdale’s emotions went from near-euphoria to heartache in a split-second.

Trailing 27-21 with 10 seconds left in the game, the Mavericks had the ball at the Mariner 10-yard line and were poised to score the tying touchdown and then possibly take the lead.

But senior Matt Jones picked off a pass and returned it 90 yards for a touchdown as Mariner escaped with a 34-21 victory over Meadowdale in a Western Conference South Division football game Sept. 22 at Edmonds Stadium.

The Mavericks overcame a 27-7 third-quarter deficit with 14 points in the fourth quarter. Meadowdale recovered an on-side kick and forced a fumble in the final 3:33 of the contest before finally succumbing to the Marauders.

Meadowdale often was its worst enemy in the first three quarters. The Mavericks fumbled away the ball five times and struggled with penalties. Meadowdale was flagged six times for 55 yards.

“It was an ugly game,” Meadowdale head coach Mark Stewart said. “The guys came back. … We could never get on track with turnovers and penalties. We just killed ourselves with those turnovers and so by the time we got rolling and the time we battled back it was late. It was just a lot of missed opportunities.”

Mariner didn’t distinguish itself either in the win as the Marauders turned the ball over five times on fumbles and once on an interception.

Two of the Mavericks’ turnovers were the result of quarterback/center exchanges and the others were a result of not holding on to the ball more than hard hits by the Marauders.

“We’ve never had center/quarterback exchange (problems),” Stewart said. “This is the first time we’ve had it. That was just out of the blue. … The backs, we just let the ball get away from us a little bit.”

Three of the turnovers gave Marauders the ball in good field position and led directly to 20 points.

“It’s a field position game,” Stewart said. “You give them a short field. You put yourself behind.”

The Mavericks (1-2 in the league, 1-3 overall) also failed to take advantage of the opportunities given to them by the Marauders. Meadowdale advanced the ball to the Mariner 34, 17, 35 and 19 but came away without any points. The Mavericks held a 26:48 to 21:12 edge in time of possession.

“We just couldn’t finish any drives,” Stewart said.

The Meadowdale defense had trouble controlling Mariner (3-1, 3-1) in the first half but then was able to better control the Marauders’ offense in the second half.

“The second half we tightened up,” Stewart said. “Offensively, we didn’t get things going like we should.”

Neither team’s offense seemed in sync to start the game as Mariner fumbled away the ball on its first play and Meadowdale returned the favor, also on its first play from scrimmage.

The Marauders then drove 53 yards downfield before fumbling away the ball on the Meadowdale 1.

Mariner finally broke the scoring drought when running back Mike Schamus scored on a 14-yard run with 4:57 remaining in the first quarter.

Meadowdale responded with a 10-play 59-yard scoring drive as running back Eric Rabon tied the score at 7 on a 13-yard run as time ran out in the first period.

Mariner quarterback Trent Tuiasosopo then connected on a 10-yard scoring strike to wide receiver Luke Terwilliger to give the Marauders a 14-7 halftime lead. Mariner then tacked on a 1-yard touchdown run by Tuiasosopo at the 7:11 mark of the third quarter. Teammate Shaundell Burns added a 12-yard touchdown run to stretch the Marauders’ advantage to 27-7 with 3:24 left in the third quarter.

After recovering a fumble, Meadowdale finally got on track in the fourth quarter as senior quarterback Matt Johnson threw a 24-yard touchdown pass to wide receiver Calum Gordon to cut the deficit to 27-14. Then on the ensuing on-sides kick, Meadowdale’s Naji Moore recovered the ball at the 50.

Six plays later, Johnson again found Gordon, this time for a 17-yard touchdown and the Mavericks pulled to 27-21.

Mariner recovered the subsequent on-sides kick and appeared ready to close out the game when Tuiasosopo fumbled the ball on a quarterback sneak and Meadowdale’s Nick Montanari recovered the ball at the Mavericks’ 40 with 1:01 left in the game.

Johnson and Calum Gordon again went to work, connecting on a 40-yard pass that took the ball down to the Mariner 15. Another completed pass took the ball down to the 10 and Johnson spiked the ball to stop the clock with 25 seconds to go.

Johnson again dropped back to pass but his throw across the middle was picked off by Jones, who ran untouched to the opposite end zone.

Johnson completed 13 of 25 passes for 219 yards and two touchdowns. Calum Gordon had eight catches for 173 yards.

“He (Gordon) is a new player. He’s a pretty big kid,” Stewart said. “He got out there and made some plays. He did a nice job for us.”

Tuiasosopo completed nine of 17 passes for 162 yards with one touchdown. He also ran for a score.

“We’ve got to take care of the ball,” Stewart said. “We’ve got to finish drives and we’ve got to eliminate penalties … We’ve got kids who can make plays. We’ve got to put it all together.”