Scots beat T-birds to claim Rotary Cup

SHORELINE

Shorecrest kicked its passing game into high gear and claimed the Rotary Cup for the fourth consecutive year over crosstown rival Shorewood Sept. 7 at Shoreline Stadium.

Shorecrest beat the Thunderbirds 28-14 behind four touchdown passes by senior quarterback Lars Swenson, who completed eight of 16 passes for 186 yards.

“Never lost,” Swenson said of his class’s unblemished mark against their rival. “Didn’t want to be the senior class to lose. It feels good.”

“It’s a big confidence booster. It will get us going in the right direction next week (against Edmonds-Woodway),” he said.

The Scots hold an 18-11 lead in the series, which dates back to 1977. Fans jam-packed the stadium and saw a more competitive game than in recent years.

Shorecrest (1-1 in the league, 1-1 overall) led 21-7 at the half but Shorewood cut the lead to seven with 22 seconds left in the third quarter on a 3-yard touchdown run by quarterback Jon-O Hendricks that capped a 14-play drive. Hendricks got the defense to bite on a handoff up the middle to running back Dorian Lair and ran right into the end zone.

Shorecrest’s next drive stalled and Shorewood (0-2, 0-2) got the ball back on their own 25 with a chance to try for a tie. But after delay of game penalty, a short gain and a fumbled pitch, Shorewood found itself in third-and-long. Shorecrest linebacker Kevin Rechkoff then stripped the ball from T-birds’ back Nathan Cook for 1-yard loss, killing the drive.

Shorewood coach Andrew Hershey called his team’s effort “huge” but credited Shorecrest with doing “a great job of making plays when they needed to. … They stepped up and did what they needed to do.”

Shorecrest clinched the win eight plays later on a 15-yard touchdown pass from Swenson to Rechkoff.

“This week we executed, that’s what we did,” Swenson said.

Swenson had a big first half completing 7-of-11 passes for 147 yards and three scores.

He hit receiver Steven Shomaker for a 10-yard touchdown to put Shorecrest up 7-0 after Mickey Crudo’s extra point on the final play of the first quarter.

Swenson only threw six passes the week before in a 42-14 loss to Kamiak and head coach Mike Wollan knew that had to change.

“It was obvious after week one we had to learn to throw the ball,” he said.

Swenson hooked up with tight end Andrew Stephens on a corner route for 73-yard pass play with 8:03 left in the half. Stephens caught the ball near midfield took off down the right sideline and outran the pursuing defender.

Shorewood answered with an 11-play, 71-yard drive, capped off by a 13-yard run by Cook.

On the next series, Swenson broke free for what would have been a 71-yard touchdown but Shorewood’s Steven McGinley stripped him at the 2-yard line and recovered the ball. Swenson said he got a bit “greedy” and didn’t take of the ball, but after the defense got a stop he had a chance to redeem himself.

With 7.5 seconds left in the half, found an open Michael Harris streaking down the field for a 33-yard touchdown pass.

“I wanted that touchdown back, I had to complete it to him,” Swenson said.

Swenson also rushed for 147 yards on 13 carries. The Scots ran for 212 yards on 29 carries as a team. Marek Domanski added 50 yard on nine carries.

Shorewood was led in rushing by Dorian Lair, who ran 13 times for 84 tough yards. Cook, who led the T-birds in rushing against Mariner the week before, added 40 yards on 15 carries. Shorewood ran 34 times for 148 yards as a team, 40 more yards than the week before when they lost 52-7 to Mariner.

“I think we took a huge step forward from last week. We were a better football team than a week ago and I really believe we’ll be a better football team next week as well,” said Hershey of his team, which faces Lynnwood tonight, Friday, Sept. 7, at Edmonds Stadium.

Hendricks completed 6-of-11 passes for 45 yards and was intercepted once.

“Our team has a lot more confidence than we did (last week) and everybody’s thriving off it,” Hendricks said. “We executed a couple big plays, we made some mental mistakes (but) other than that we came out to play.”

Shorecrest was penalized eight times for 67 yards while Shorewood drew five penalties for 40 yards.

Crudo and Shomaker each intercepted a pass for Shorecrest.

Both teams finished with 11 first downs.