MARYSVILLE – The game-winning touchdown run by the Golden Eagles was called back, and that was followed up by the game-winning field goal getting blocked. It just wasn’t Ferndale’s night as Marysville-Getchell defeated the Golden Eagles for the first time in school history 14-13 at Quil Ceda Stadium on Friday night.
The Chargers took the opening kickoff and possessed the ball for most of the first quarter. Running out of double-wing set, Marysville-Getchell slowly drove down the field, gaining multiple first downs, before settling for a short field goal attempt that was wide left.
After forcing Ferndale to punt on its first possession, the Chargers put together another long drive full of running plays, and finished the drive off with a 24-yard touchdown run.
The Golden Eagles answered back quickly by scoring a touchdown on their next drive on an 8-yard run by senior Phoenyx Finkbonner.
Marysville-Getchell came out in a spread offense on its third drive of the game, but kept running the ball, this time with sweeps and other outside runs. It culminated with a 15-yard touchdown run, and the Chargers took a 14-7 lead into halftime.
The ball control offense by the Chargers was working perfectly, and at halftime they had ran 35 plays to just 16 by the Golden Eagles.
Ferndale began the second half by putting together its own 80-yard drive that consisted of 17 plays, which took up the majority of the third quarter. Finkbonner scored his second touchdown of the game on the 17th play, a 5-yard run, but the extra point was missed and Marysville-Getchell still clung to a 14-13 lead.
After both teams traded punts in the fourth quarter, the Chargers possessed the ball once again and looked to get some first downs and secure the win, but an errant pitch to the outside was recovered by Ferndale senior defensive end Kellan LaFave which gave the ball back to the Golden Eagles on the Marysville-Getchell 21-yard line.
Three plays later it appeared that Finkbonner scored his third touchdown of the game, on a 20-yard run off right tackle that would have taken a late lead, but it was nullified by a penalty. Ferndale then had to settle for a 35-yard field goal attempt to take the lead, but it was blocked and returned past midfield.
The Chargers were able to run out the clock from there.
A notable absence from the action was Ferndale star senior Conner Walcker who was out with an injury. The Golden Eagles were led defensively by LaFave who had 8.5 tackles and a tackle for loss to go along with his late fumble recovery, and junior linebacker Jacob Gandy who finished with 10 tackles.
Ferndale (4-2) will attempt to bounce back next week at home against Mount Vernon (1-5) on Friday at 7:00.
Marysville-Getchell 14
Ferndale 13
FER 0 7 6 0 - 13
M-G 0 14 0 0 - 14
MG - 24 yard touchdown run (kick good)
FER - Finkbonner 8 run (Eldridge kick)
MG - 14 yard touchdown run (kick good)
FER - Finkbonner 5 run (kick failed)
FER MG
35-176 Rush Att-Yards 49-266
6-7-0 Comp-Att-Int 1-4-0
59 Passing Yards 11
Individual Leaders
RUSHING - FER: Finkbonner 16-78, Bungard 9-50, E. Kennerley 1-23, Moore 7-18, Ootsey 2-7. MG: N/A.
PASSING - FER: Ootsey 6-7-0-59. MG: N/A.
RECEIVING - FER: O'Tool 3-33, Thomas 1-22, Finkbonner 1-9, Moore 1-(-5). MG: N/A.
