Mountlake Terrace coach Alex Barashkoff was heartened by his team’s effort despite dropping a 12-7 Western Conference 4A South Division game to Everett last week.
Playing without starting quarterback Brian Ellersick, the Hawks nevertheless mounted a potential game-winning drive with 2:34 left in the fourth quarter and were in a position to take the lead when the Seagulls intercepted a pass in the end zone to thwart the Mountlake Terrace threat.
The blown scoring opportunity wasn’t the only one in the Oct. 2 game at Everett Memorial Stadium.
“We had our chances to score and we blew it,” Barashkoff said. “Every time we got in the red zone, they put a lot of pressure on us.”
Penalties came back to hurt the Hawks during Everett’s opening drive. The Seagulls took the ball from their own 18 and mounted a 22-play scoring drive that lasted more than 12 minutes.
George Grant scored on a 1-yard run to give Everett a 6-0 advantage early in the second quarter.
The Hawks committed a variety of miscues that helped extend the Everett drive.
“A face mask, two pass interferences, offsides … we had four or five penalties, most coming on third and fourth down,” Barashkoff said.
On fourth-and-7, a pass interference call gave new life to Everett and led to Grant’s touchdown.
Mountlake Terrace took a 7-6 lead in the third quarter on a 1-yard touchdown run by Tony Fuga and a successful PAT by Ronald Bang.
The lead didn’t last long as the Seagulls came right back. Quarterback Steve Nazario connected on a 25-yard touchdown pass to Lee Smith less than a minute into the fourth quarter to give Everett a 12-7 advantage. The Seagulls’ two-point conversion run was stuffed by the Hawks.
In the fourth quarter, Mountlake Terrace took the ball on their own 42 and drove to the Everett 4 with 1:06 remaining.
But the drive stalled there and Everett’s Niko Sievers picked off an errant pass on fourth down to seal the Seagulls’ victory.
“Anthony Rutherford did a great job at the end … he got us down to the 4-yard line,” Barashkoff said. “It’s good experience for a young quarterback.”
The running game worked well against Everett with Mountlake Terrace rushing for 155 yards on 32 carries. The Hawks had 285 total yards, a total Barashkoff felt positive about given his personnel.
“Both teams ran the ball quite well,” Barashkoff added.
Rutherford is feeling more comfortable in his role at quarterback and as a result, Mountlake Terrace ran some five-receiver sets against Everett.
“We tried to mix it up,” Barashkoff said. “He (Rutherford) was effective. We played a pretty good team.”
At the start of the week, Barashkoff said Ellersick was unlikely to play in tonight’s game against Shorewood. The senior quarterback is still recovering from a leg injury and had not been cleared by his doctor.
The Mountlake Terrace defense, which Barashkoff said had a strong effort against Everett, faces significant challenges against Shorewood, the least of which is standout running back Seth Setterberg.
Four defensive starters will not be playing tonight due to disciplinary issues, according to Barashkoff.
“Some kids are going to have to go both ways,” he said. “We’re scrambling.”
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