MARYSVILLE – The Mariners were one of just two Whatcom County teams to open up against a conference opponent, but they were the only ones to do it on the road, and against someone new to the conference. Sehome took care of business, and turned their opponent away at the goal line when it mattered on its way to a 14-7 win over Marysville-Pilchuck at Quil Ceda Stadium on Friday night.
The Tomahawks had a chance to tie the game with 6:30 to go, as they had the ball on the Sehome 6-yard line and it was 4th-and-4. The Mariners sniffed out the running play, and junior Hudson Neff sprung through the gap to make the tackle behind the line of scrimmage.
Sehome was able to put together enough first downs on the ensuing drive to ice the game away.
The Mariners were forced to punt after moving the ball past midfield on their opening drive, and the punt put Marysville-Pilchuck deep inside its own 10-yard line.
The Tomahawks ran behind their massive offensive line, and chipped away at the clock as they controlled the ball for the rest of the first and into the second quarter. After driving over 80 yards, it was 3rd-and-10, and senior cornerback Andre Watson made two huge tackles in a row to turn Marysville-Pilchuck over on downs.
Sehome took control and put its best drive together, which took over seven minutes off the clock, and it ended with a 5-yard touchdown pass from junior quarterback Nolan Wright to Watson.
The Mariners then forced a three-and-out, and the when the Tomahawks went back to punt, it didn’t exactly go as planned. The snap was low, mishandled by the punter, and senior defensive end Cooper McAtee tackled him at the 3-yard line.
It was a huge moment that Sehome took advantage of quickly, as senior running back Solomon McAlister scored a touchdown on the very next play to put the Mariners ahead 14-0 with 1:47 left in the half.
Marysville-Pilchuck put together another very methodical drive to begin the second half, and finished it with a 13-yard touchdown run. The Tomahawks then forced Sehome to punt, and took possession once again with the momentum on their side, despite being down 14-7.
Bleeding the play clock over and over again, the Tomahawks kept picking up first downs as the third quarter quickly became the fourth quarter. Their drive stalled; however, inside the 10 before the heroics of Neff and his swarming teammates allowed for the Sehome offense to take over and run out the clock.
Neff finished with 8.5 tackles and two stops for a loss, while senior linebacker Fisher Hall was all over the field with 15 tackles.
The Mariners (1-0) will host Anacortes (1-0) at Civic Stadium on Friday at 7:00.
Sehome 14 Marysville-Pilchuck 7 SEH 0 14 0 0 - 14 M-P 0 0 7 0 - 7 SEH - A. Watson 5 pass from Wright (Evans kick) SEH - McAlister 3 run (Evans kick) M-P - 13 yard touchdown run (kick good) SEH M-P 24-86 Rush Att-Yards 44-212 10-15-1 Comp-Att-Int 2-5-0 109 Passing Yards 6 Individual Leaders RUSHING - SEH: Woods 10-54, McAlister 10-30, Wright 4-2. M-P: N/A. PASSING - SEH: Wright 10-15-1-109. M-P: N/A. RECEIVING - SEH: A. Watson 5-34, Duckworth 3-40, D. Watson 1-25, Quiggle 1-10. M-P: N/A.
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