Mavs halt three-game skid

EDMONDS — The Meadowdale football team snapped a three-game skid with a blistering first-quarter effort that sent Everett reeling.

The Mavericks scored on their opening drive and then took advantage of a pair of Seagulls special team blunders to take a 21-0 first-quarter advantage and went on to rout Everett 35-19 in a Western Conference 4A South Division game Oct. 17 at Edmonds Stadium.

The win coupled with Shorecrest’s loss to Jackson means that Meadowdale (3-3 in the league, 3-4 overall) can clinch its second straight Northwest District 3A playoff berth with a victory over the Scots (0-6, 1-6) tonight and a Lynnwood loss.

The league’s three 3A teams (Lynnwood, Meadowdale and Shorecrest) are battling for one district playoff berth.

Two of the Mavericks’ past three losses have been to 4A powerhouses Jackson and Mariner, who are currently tied for first place in the league. The third defeat was to second-place Kamiak.

“We played some tough teams the last couple of weeks and we played them well,” Meadowdale coach Mark Stewart said.

Meadowdale’s offensive and defensive lines dominated their Everett counterparts throughout the night, which brought a smile to Stewart’s face.

“That’s one of our strengths,” he said. “We feel like we can get some things done up front. It was nice to go out and get back to that and feel dominate up front.”

Meadowdale junior running back Travis Anderson rushed for 102 yards on 16 carries and scored a pair of touchdowns.

The Mavericks took the ball on their opening drive and marched 52 yards on five plays with Anderson scoring on a 9-yard run.

Everett then took possession on its own 20 when Meadowdale kicker Robert Peck booted the ball through the end zone, a frequent occurrence throughout the game.

Four running plays later, the Seagulls were forced to punt from their own 17. Meadowdale’s Jake Williky blocked the punt and Yorman Diaz recovered the ball in the end zone.

Everett again was stopped cold by the Meadowdale defense on its next possession and was set to kick from its own 25, but the Seagulls’ punter dropped the ball and was tackled for a loss. Three plays later, Anderson took it in from the 9 to give Meadowdale a 21-0 advantage with 5:59 remaining in the first quarter.

“They had problems with their snaps,” Stewart noted. “That always helps to capitalize on it.”

Everett seemed to suffer the most of the two teams in the blustery conditions.

“You’re worried when you come out in a game like this,” Stewart said. “This morning it was raining real hard and (with) the wind, you’re just worried about ball handling. It was nice … we were able to handle it and they had some problems. That happens.”

The Seagulls’ special teams nightmare continued in the second quarter. Everett’s third punt of the game went a total of eight yards, while its fourth actually netted negative yardage. Another punt in the fourth quarter went for two yards.

The latter miscue led to an 8-yard touchdown run by Meadowdale quarterback Eric Marty that boosted the Maverick advantage to 28-0.

“They gave us some great (field) position,” Stewart said.

Everett resorted to a trick play to score its first touchdown of the game in the second quarter. Running back Lee Smith took the pitch from quarterback Jake Stevens and threw a 74-yard touchdown pass to Niko Sievers, catching the Meadowdale secondary by surprise.

The Seagulls closed to 28-13 on an 8-yard pass from Stevens to Smith at the 4:21 mark of the third quarter. Meadowdale quarterback Eric Marty then extended his team’s cushion to 35-13 on a 1-yard run early in the fourth quarter.

Smith closed out the scoring with a 17-yard touchdown run with just over two minutes remaining in the game.

“Everett is a team that we felt like we matched up real well with,” Stewart said. “We had to go out and execute some game plan stuff and we did so. It was nice to do that and get it done.”

NOTES

BOOMER: Even without a strong wind, Meadowdale kicker Robert Peck often sends the ball into the end zone on kickoffs. The junior standout had four touchbacks against Everett.

“He’s definitely going to put that thing in the end zone,” Mavericks coach Mark Stewart said of Peck’s kickoffs. “With a wind like this, you knew it was going to be 10 yards deep at least. He’s a great kicker.”

In the fourth quarter, Peck attempted a 50-yard field goal that the officials ruled was wide left. The kick, which was aided by a strong northerly wind, had enough distance to be good from at least 60 yards out if it had been accurate.