BELLINGHAM – Mountlake Terrace ran the ball on 47 of its 50 plays from scrimmage and did the job as the Hawks got by Bellingham 21-12 at Civic Stadium on Friday night.
The Hawks ran the ball on 18 straight plays to begin the game, and did it all on their 82-yard opening drive which finalized on a 1-yard touchdown run. The Red Raiders scored just a few moments later when senior quarterback Morgan Cavalier showed tremendous agility and speed to get outside the defense and burn down the sideline for a 68-yard touchdown run.
Both defenses forced punts throughout the rest of the first half and the Hawks went into halftime with a 7-6 lead.
After a low snap that ended in a fumble that was recovered by Mountlake Terrace, the Hawks quickly scored on a 5-yard run to begin the third quarter. Bellingham answered on a 12-yard scoring strike from Cavalier to senior slot receiver Connor McKay.
The Hawks did attempt a few passes, but came up empty, with their third and final pass attempt intercepted by Cavalier.
However, Mountlake Terrace scored one more touchdown just before the end of the third quarter, which brought the score to 21-12.
Bellingham senior Jackson Taylor had his best overall game of his varsity career. He led his team in rushing with 88 yards on 16 carries. He also had six solo tackles, five assisted tackles and an amazing four tackles behind the line of scrimmage. An addition to scoring a touchdown of his own, McKay was in on 13 tackles from his safety spot.
Cavalier ended with 84 yards rushing on 12 carries, while completing 12-of-18 passes for 106 yards and a touchdown.
The Red Raiders (1-5) will play their longtime rival Sehome (5-2) at Civic Stadium this Friday.
Mountlake Terrace 21
Bellingham 12
MLT 7 0 14 0 – 21
BELL 6 0 6 0 – 12
MLT – 1 yard touchdown run (kick good)
BELL – Cavalier 68 run (pass failed)
MLT – 5 yard touchdown run (kick good)
BELL – McKay 12 pass from Cavalier (pass failed)
MLT – 6 yard touchdown run (kick good)
MLT BELL
47-248 Rushing Att-Yards 30-178
0-3-1 Comp-Att-Int 12-18-0
0 Passing yards 106
Individual Leaders
RUSHING – BELL: Taylor 16-88, Cavalier 12-84, Triplett 1-5, McKay 1-1. MLT: N/A.
PASSING – BELL: Cavalier 12-18-0-106. MLT: N/A.
RECEIVING – BELL: McKay 4-28, Triplett 3-32, Tolle 2-18, Quinlan 1-21, Swanson 1-9, Taylor 1-(-2). MLT: N/A.
