GRANITE FALLS – After playing Lynden Christian on Thursday night, the Trojans used a strong overall game to handedly defeat the Tigers 44-8 at Granite Falls High School on Tuesday night.
The win gives Meridian (3-7) the final seed in the district playoffs, and a road matchup with King’s (4-5) on Saturday night.
The Trojan defense was on top of it’s game and held Granite Falls to negative six yards at the half, on 23 plays. The Tigers scored eight points late in the game, which brings their total to 23 points scored against Meridian in their 11 total contests against Coach Bob Ames’ crew since 1988.
In turn, the Trojans have scored a total of 581 points in those games.
Senior quarterback Cameron Webster completed 9-of-15 passes for 175 yards and three touchdowns. He also scored a touchdown on the ground from two yards out to open the game. Webster also led his team in rushing with 105 yards on 12 carries.
His first touchdown pass came when his brilliant pump fake got the Granite Falls corner to bite, and he launched it downfield to a wide open Wesley Kurz from 39 yards away. His second was a 4-yard alley-oop pass to Ethan Brooks and the athletic 6-foot-4 junior came down with it in the end zone, and his third touchdown pass was on a short swing pass to junior running back Ethan Silves and he zig-zagged through the Tiger defense for a 29-yard score.
Silves and junior defensive end Mason Knutson led the stifling defense that totaled 12 stops behind the line of scrimmage and just 77 yards of offense.
Senior wide receiver Ryan Johnson also continued to impress as he caught four passes for 86 yards, and junior kicker Zack Loya converted three extra points as well as his first field goal of the season.
Meridian 44
Granite Falls 8
MER 13 21 7 3 – 44
GF 0 0 0 8 – 8
MER – Webster 2 run (Loya kick)
MER – Kurz 39 pass from Webster (kick failed)
MER – E. Brooks 4 pass from Webster (Loya kick)
MER – Silves 29 pass from Webster (kick blocked)
MER – Martin 2 run (Webster run)
MER – Silves 3 run (Loya kick)
MER – Loya 23 FG
GF – 2 yard touchdown run (2pt run good)
MER GF
35-248 Rushing Att-Yards 32-52
9-15-0 Comp-Att-Int 2-9-0
175 Passing yards 25
Individual Leaders
RUSHING – MER: Webster 12-105, Martin 15-91, Silves 3-43, Kuljis 3-7, Jones 1-3, Harrison 1-(-1). GF: N/A.
PASSING – MER: Webster 9-15-0-175. GF: N/A.
RECEIVING – MER: Johnson 4-86, E. Brooks 2-20, Kurz 1-39, Silves 1-29, Martin 1-1. GF: N/A.
