EDMONDS — It was by no means a flawless performance, but the Shorewood football team will take it.
In a matchup of winless Western Conference South Division foes, the Thunderbirds used a robust defensive effort to down Lynnwood 28-7 Sept. 24 at Edmonds Stadium.
Shorewood improved to 1-3 and the Royals dropped their 42nd game in a row to move within four games of matching Tyee for the state record for consecutive losses.
“We didn’t play real good, but we played good enough to win,” Shorewood coach Jeff Weible said.
The Thunderbirds took advantage of premium field position by turning three Lynnwood fumbles into touchdowns. Two of the scores came during a decisive three-minute stretch of the second quarter.
Lynnwood controlled the clock for much of the second half, but the Shorewood defense slammed the door on the Royals with a pair of crucial fourth-and-1 stops.
“The offense wasn’t real smooth tonight but we converted those turnovers into points,” Weible said. “The defense put us in good position.”
Shorewood scored on the game’s fourth play when the Royals fell for a fake sweep and Alex Burns busted through the line for a 37-yard touchdown run. Both offenses mustered just one first down over their next five possessions.
After pinning the Thunderbirds inside their 10-yard line on a punt, Lynnwood pulled even at the 8:06 mark of the second quarter when Derek Stong pounced on a botched handoff in the end zone.
The Royals then forced Shorewood to go three-and-out, but fumbled two plays later at their own 11. Shorewood quarterback Sean Tracey gave the Thunderbirds the lead for good with a 2-yard touchdown sneak on fourth down.
Two runs from Luke St. Marie got the Royals close to midfield on their ensuing drive, but Shorewood recovered another fumble in Lynnwood territory. On the next play Tracey fired a 45-yard pass down the sideline to junior Chris Kearns, who out-jumped his defender and stumbled across the goal line to give the Thunderbirds a 21-7 edge.
Lynnwood put together its longest drive of the half in the final 1:56 of the second quarter, chewing up 40 yards in seven plays before Stong was intercepted by Austin Collins as time expired.
“Unfortunately we just ran out of time,” Royals coach Andrew Burton said.
Stong completed three passes for 40 yards and St. Marie added 22 yards on six rushes as Lynnwood opened the third quarter with a 79-yard drive. But the Thunderbirds stuffed Stong on third down and St. Marie on fourth-and-goal from inside the 1-yard line to protect their lead.
“That’s huge for momentum,” Weible said. “The defense did a great job on the goal line.”
On what Weible labeled a poor play call on his part, Josh Petersen intercepted Tracey two minutes later and returned the ball 19 yards to the Shorewood 48. Backup quarterback Gilbert Martin marched the Royals inside the 20-yard line before turning the ball over on downs at the start of the fourth quarter.
Midway through the period Lynnwood fumbled for the third time and Burns responded with his second touchdown on a 16-yard burst. The 5-foot-10, 180-pound junior finished with a team-high 80 yards on just six carries.
Working with short fields most of the contest, the Thunderbirds rushed for 200 yards. Tracey misfired on his first six pass attempts and was 2 of 10 for 54 yards.
Weible pointed to a number of factors that have hindered Shorewood’s passing game this season.
“Our pass blocking just hasn’t been real good,” he said. “Sean needs to stand in there a little bit more, step up in the pocket and maybe even take some hits. Our receivers haven’t done a great job catching the ball. Sean should probably have 15 more completions if our guys would catch the ball for him.”
St. Marie accounted for 110 of Lynnwood’s 203 rushing yards on 19 carries. It was the second straight 100-yard game for the junior tailback.
The next few weeks are shaping up to be the toughest of the season for the Thunderbirds, with games against Everett, Edmonds-Woodway and Kamiak. The league leaders took a combined 11-1 record into Week 5.
The low point of Shorewood’s 0-3 start was a disheartening 30-0 defeat to district rival Shorecrest Sept. 10. After the loss, the Thunderbirds scored seven touchdowns in their next two outings.
“We just needed to get off that snide. Our intensity and our pace and our enthusiasm was kind of lacking after Shorecrest,” Weible said.
“I thought we played hard the first week and we kind of rolled over against Shorecrest. Last week we played hard against a good team (Mariner) and showed some signs offensively. This week we improved defensively. Now we need to put everything together.”
Talk to us
> Give us your news tips.
> Send us a letter to the editor.
> More Herald contact information.
