SHORELINE
The Lynnwood football team felt great after its second victory of the season, but the Royals were far from satisfied.
Lynnwood followed up a near flawless first-half performance with a sloppy second half but still coasted to a 39-20 victory over Shorewood in a Western Conference South Division game Sept. 14 at Shoreline Stadium.
“We came out ready to battle in that first half,” said first-year Royals head coach Dorian Manza. “A little letdown in second half. … (We) weren’t happy how poorly we played against Kamiak. They were ready to get after it tonight. They were fired up.”
Lynnwood (2-1 in the league, 2-1 overall) lost 37-14 to Kamiak last week following its opening week 28-7 victory over Mountlake Terrace.
Manza’s counterpart on the opposing sidelines agreed with his assessment of the Royals.
“Lynnwood came out on fire and it took a little while for us to adjust,” said Shorewood coach Andrew Hershey. “By the time we did, it was too late. I think our kids played pretty valiantly in the second half. But we need to come out with a little more fire next week.”
The Royals marched 75 yards on their opening drive against Shorewood (0-3, 0-3) and scored on three of their next four possessions to take a 25-0 lead at halftime. Lynnwood’s defense did its part by shutting down the Thunderbirds. The Royals picked off a pass, recovered a fumble and forced Shorewood to punt on its other two offensive possessions in the first half.
“Our defense has been tough all year,” Manza said.
Hershey, a former Edmonds-Woodway assistant coach, didn’t see very good execution by his team in the first half.
“Lynnwood didn’t cause our fumbles; Lynnwood didn’t cause our effort mistakes,” Hershey said. “Lynnwood played a heck of a game, but we didn’t play up to our level. We started getting closer to where we could be in the second half.”
Lynnwood’s size advantage on the line made a difference. Linemen David Harris and Nick Portillo each tip the scales at 300 pounds. Most of the Shorewood line averages 215.
“I saw some big boys from Lynnwood,” Hershey said. “They were really aggressive up front. We didn’t maintain our blocks and if you’re not maintaining contact with those 300-pounders they can cause some disruption, which they did.”
Junior running back/defensive end Geoff Meinken said that the Royals weren’t doing anything fancy on the line.
“We just played them straight up the entire game,” Meinken said. “We knew that we’re bigger than most teams in the league and we just like to go out and physically dominate them.
“It really helps to have that big line. It just controls the running game.”
Meinken finished with 130 yards on 21 carries and scored one touchdown.
Lynnwood senior quarterback Andrew Beatty threw a 28-yard touchdown pass to senior wide receiver Curtis Wisser to give the Royals a 7-0 lead at the 9:04 mark of the first quarter. Lynnwood junior linebacker Dylan Burnett then picked off a tipped pass and returned it to the Shorewood 44. The Royals, however, weren’t able to move the ball beyond the 33 and turned the ball over on downs.
Shorewood promptly turned the ball over again, this time on a fumble at its own 20. Lynnwood took advantage with three straight handoffs to Meinken with the third being a 1-yard score to give the Royals a 13-0 lead after the extra point was missed.
A 3-yard touchdown run by Beatty midway through the second quarter boosted the lead to 19-0. Teammate J.J. Fuentes later blocked a punt and Maksim Kuzyuberdin grabbed the ball and ran six yards for a touchdown.
“The first half we were rolling,” Beatty said. “We were catching balls. We were pounding them. … It was a great half. The defense was outstanding. So was the offense.”
The second half saw Shorewood’s offense start to gain a foothold, while Lynnwood did not execute as crisply as it did in the first half.
A 20-yard run by Jovi Zeleta increased the Lynnwood advantage to 32-0. Shorewood returned the ensuing kickoff to the Lynnwood 41 and two plays later running back Nathan Cook rambled for a 23-yard touchdown.
The Thunderbirds recovered a Royals’ fumble and eventually capitalized when quarterback Tyler Host found Demarcus Taylor on a 33-yard touchdown. Lynnwood turned the ball over again on another fumble, but the defense stiffened and forced Shorewood to punt.
Beatty scored on a 5-yard touchdown run at the 9:11 mark of the fourth quarter as the Royals stretched their lead to 39-14. Shorewood closed out the scoring with a 1-yard touchdown pass from quarterback Jon O Hendricks to Taylor.
“We’re all really excited about (the win),” Beatty said. “But it was a horrible second half. … We know we have a lot of things to work on.”
The Royals wanted to build on their success from the first half.
“We didn’t want to let down what we were doing,” Beatty said.
The Lynnwood senior quarterback completed 12 of 20 passes for 260 yards and one touchdown and ran the ball nine times for 43 yards and a pair or scores.
“We still wanted to come out and play the game we were playing in the first half, but some things happened,” Beatty said. “They had a few big plays. … But in the end we picked it up.”
Lynnwood takes on district rival Edmonds-Woodway at 8 p.m. Friday, Sept. 21 at Edmonds Stadium. Shorewood faces winless Mountlake Terrace at 5 p.m., also at Edmonds Stadium.
“We opened up our offense a lot more tonight,” Manza said. “We showed a little more than we have been. We’ve got a lot of plays in our playbook.”
Shorewood’s offense started to get into a rhythm in the second half.
“The kids started believing they could do it,” Hershey said.
The Royals also are becoming believers, especially since they are above .500 for the first time since 1999.
“It feels pretty good,” Meinken said. “I like the opportunity for us to stay over .500 for the rest of the year.”
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