BURIEN – What a difference a week makes. After a brutal loss to Burlington-Edison at home a week ago, Meridian went on the road and handled Evergreen of Seattle 55-6 on Friday night at Highline Memorial Stadium.
It was big play after big play in the passing game as senior quarterback Tucker Harrison enjoyed the best night of his varsity career, completing 10-of-12 passes for 274 yards and five touchdowns. He also ran for a score, as well as a two-point conversion. And, he did it all in the first half of the game.
His biggest beneficiary in the passing game was 6-foot-2 165-pounder Hunter Jones. The junior playmaker hauled in deep passes from Harrison, and also caught shorter passes that saw him run over, and around, defenders for big gains. He finished with a game-high five receptions for 197 yards and two touchdowns.
Harrison also hit senior tight end Bryce Johnson for a 40-yard touchdown pass, and senior wide receiver Daniel Short on a pair of touchdown passes.
Senior defensive end Josh Groen had another big game, this time with three sacks and 2.5 tackles for loss. Seniors Bryce Johnson and Isaac Iredale, and junior Marcus Castaneda, each had multiple stops behind the line of scrimmage.
Meridian freshman Landon Downey recovered a fumble on defense, which halted the opening drive of the game for the Wolverines. He also scored two rushing touchdowns in the fourth quarter.
The Trojans (1-1) will travel to Grandview (1-1) next Saturday for a 1:00 kickoff.
Meridian 55 Evergreen 6 MER 14 28 0 13 - 55 EVER 0 0 0 6 - 6 MER - Harrison 5 run (kick blocked) MER - Johnson 40 pass from Harrison (Harrison run) MER - Short 27 pass from Harrison (Jensen kick) MER - Jones 47 pass from Harrison (Jensen kick) MER - Jones 68 pass from Harrison (Jensen kick) MER - Short 1 pass from Harrison (Jensen kick) MER - Downey 3 run (Jensen kick) EVER - 8 yard touchdown run (pass failed) MER - Downey 6 run (conversion not attempted) MER EVER 27-134 Rush Att-Yards 29-71 10-13-0 Comp-Att-Int 2-4-0 274 Passing Yards 33 Individual Leaders RUSHING - MER: Binta 7-42, Fyfe 2-36, Jones 4-21, Elmer 2-17, Downey 4-10, Harrison 3-5, Gray 3-3, Castaneda 1-2, Wolven 1-(-2). EVER: N/A. PASSING - MER: Harrison 10-12-0-274, Fyfe 0-1-0-0. EVER: N/A. RECEIVING - MER: Jones 5-197, Short 2-28, Johnson 1-40, Jensen 1-8, Binta 1-1. EVER: N/A.
