BELLINGHAM – The Trojan defense was locked in, and held the Pioneers to minus-14 yards on the ground as Meridian defeated Omak 48-20 on Friday night.
Trojan junior Xavier Perrin recovered a fumble on the opening kickoff, which ultimately led to senior quarterback Jaeger Fyfe scoring the first touchdown of the game on a nine-yard run.
The Pioneers evened the score up late in the first quarter when a penalty-ridden drive enabled Omak to move down the field with ease, and the visitors capitalized with an 18-yard touchdown pass of their own.
Senior running back Kelley Gray scored the first of his two touchdowns in the second quarter, from a yard out, and the Trojans closed out the scoring in the first half when Fyfe hit Landen Downey with a strike down the middle of the field that covered 27 yards and finished in the end zone.
Fyfe also intercepted a pass just before halftime, the seventh of his career.
The second half began with a bang when sophomore Trey Alexander caught the kickoff, pitched the ball to fellow sophomore Kasey Brennan, and it was off to the races from there. Brennan ran untouched for 80 yards, and Meridian extended its lead to 26-7.
Omak answered quickly with a 70-yard touchdown pass a few plays later, but still had a lot of ground to cover as the Trojan defense kept swarming, making plays in the backfield, which put the Pioneers in numerous 3rd-and-long positions.
Fyfe threw two more touchdown passes in the second half, a 45-yarder to Alexander, and a 20-yard jump ball to sophomore Pierce Brzozowski, before Gray closed the scoring with his second short scoring run.
Downey led the defense from his outside linebacker spot with eight tackles, 3.5 tackles for loss and a sack. He was joined by senior defensive lineman Jaxson Hurlbut who had 4.5 tackles, with three of them coming behind the line.
The Trojans (2-0) will travel to 4A Kamiak (2-0) on Friday to take on the Knights at 7:00.
Meridian 48 Omak 20 OMAK 7 0 6 7 - 20 MER 7 13 13 15 - 48 MER - Fyfe 9 run (Downey kick) OM - 18 yard touchdown pass (kick good) MER - Gray 1 run (kick blocked) MER - Downey 27 pass from Fyfe (Downey kick) MER - Brennan 80 kick return (run failed) OM - 70 yard touchdown pass (kick good) MER - Alexander 45 pass from Fyfe (Downey kick) OM - 28 yard touchdown run (run failed) MER - Brzozowski 20 pass from Fyfe (Fyfe run) MER - Gray 3 run (Downey kick) MER OM 33-108 Rush Att-Yards 24-(-14) 17-28-1 Comp-Att-Int 7-25-2 218 Passing Yards 143 Individual Leaders RUSHING - MER: Gray 14-38, Downey 7-29, Fyfe 6-27, Perrin 1-8, Driscoll 1-6, Alexander 2-2, Brzozowski 1-0, Valich 1-(-2). OM: N/A. PASSING - MER: Fyfe 16-26-1-201, Alexander 0-1-0-0, Brzozowski 1-1-0-17. OM: N/A. RECEIVING - MER: Downey 4-46, Alexander 2-43, Brennan 2-41, Larsen 2-23, Todd 2-23, Brzozowski 1-20, Perrin 1-17, Hoefer 1-9, Hedahl 1-(-2), Gray 1-(-2). OM: N/A.
