EDMONDS — After a less than scintillating debut against Oak Harbor a week earlier, the Mountlake Terrace football team rebounded with a solid effort against district rival Lynnwood.
Senior quarterback Brian Ellersick threw for three first-half touchdowns to lead the Hawks to a 41-6 rout over the Royals in a Western Conference 4A South Division game Sept. 12 at Edmonds Stadium.
Ellersick connected on a 22-yard touchdown pass on Mountlake Terrace’s opening drive in the first quarter and then threw a 31-scoring strike to Ryan Marker and a 3-yard touchdown to Clayton Stacks in the second quarter.
The Hawks’ passing attack was complemented by an effective ground game that eventually wore down Lynnwood, which had many players going both ways.
“Our run really sucked them in and … we went deep a couple of times and got our touchdowns,” Ellersick said. “It really sets up our throw game. One of the big parts (of our offense) is our run game.
“We knew they were a little not too deep with their players. We got them tired.”
Mountlake Terrace was coming off a listless 26-0 season opening loss to Oak Harbor. The major difference between the two games was obvious to Hawks coach Alex Barashkoff.
“The key to the victory was non-turnovers,” he said.
Mountlake Terrace (1-0 in the league, 1-1 overall) turned the ball over five times against the Wildcats. The offense was far crisper against Lynnwood (0-1, 0-2).
Ellersick gave all the credit to his offensive line.
“Our blocking was exceptional,” Ellersick said.
While he was running for his life against Oak Harbor at times, Ellersick said he was only touched three times by Lynnwood defenders.
Mountlake Terrace running back Tony Fuga added an 8-yard touchdown run in the third quarter and linebacker Kyle Hawkins recovered a fumble for a touchdown 13 seconds into the fourth quarter.
Lynnwood quarterback Foster Hill then scored his team’s lone touchdown on a 91-yard run.
Mountlake Terrace’s Steven Allen ran for a 12-yard touchdown with about a minute remaining in the game.
Ellersick came into the game still sporting a sprained ankle suffered last week.
“Brian was a little hurt but he was pretty effective,” Barashkoff said. “He did well.”
The Hawks face district rival Meadowdale in a 5 p.m. game tonight (Friday, Sept. 19) at Edmonds Stadium.
Though the Mavericks graduated several key starters, they still have a lot of talent, Barashkoff said.
“Their quarterback (Eric Marty) is good. They executed well against Edmonds,” he said. “We’ve got our hands full.”
First-year Lynnwood coach Andrew Burton saw plenty of things he liked from his players but also acknowledged that penalties and turnovers hurt his team.
The Royals were flagged for two offsides penalties on Mountlake Terrace’s opening drive and the problem persisted throughout the game.
In addition, a 48-yard touchdown run by running back Randall Eldridge was called back because of an illegal blocking infraction. A Lynnwood fumble early in the second quarter led to a Mountlake Terrace touchdown and in the fourth quarter, the Hawks recovered a fumble in the end zone for another touchdown.
“Penalties weren’t much of an issue last week but last week is behind us and this week penalties were a problem,” Burton said. “There are certain things you cannot do and when you do them, it’s costly and that’s exactly what happened to us.”
One bright spot was Hill’s fourth-quarter touchdown.
“Foster Hill is an absolute treat to work with,” Burton said. “He’s an extraordinary athlete. He thinks on his feet.”
Burton made a few adjustments at halftime and liked what he saw from his crew in the second half.
“We worked on staying low as a football team. I thought they did a better job with that,” he said. “The line had a better game. I thought I saw a lot of improvement there. I thought our tackling was better. I thought we did a better job in the secondary.
“I’m pleased with what we did tonight.”
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