BELLINGHAM – Ball control, and a swarming defense. A great winning combination, as the Mariners blanked the Seahawks 17-0 at Civic Stadium on Friday evening. It was the first time the Mariners shut out the Seahawks since 1998, in a game that ended 2-0.
Sehome ran more than twice as many plays than Anacortes, and they did a lot of it by unveiling a new Wing-T type formation from time to time. It featured junior Carson Neff taking snaps directly from under center, junior Kai Swanson at tight end and sophomore Lucas Ortega as an extra running back. It was effective early, as the Mariners controlled the clock with power runs by Tommy Funk.
The 5-foot-11 185-pound junior was able to break off big runs early with this new offense, scored the first touchdown of the game, and ended with a team-high 139 yards on the ground on 22 carries. In fact, Funk’s 22 carries was the most by a senior running back in three years.
The Mariners did, however, go back to their regular spread offense at times, which featured senior Jovyn Sangha at quarterback. He finished with 134 yards passing, completing 16-of-30 passes.
A 31-yard field goal off the left foot of senior Aidan Andrews made it 10-0 in the third quarter, and Sehome scored its final points in the fourth quarter when Neff connected on a 30-yard touchdown pass to senior wide receiver, Luke Evans, who now has two touchdown receptions in two games, from two quarterbacks.
The Mariner defense played tremendous, limiting big plays, and playing with a high football IQ. Junior strong safety Max Malo led the way with 5.5 tackles, a tackle for loss and an interception. Funk added to his defensive stat line as well with two tackles for loss.
Sehome (1-1) will begin conference play this Friday night against Archbishop Murphy at Civic Stadium at 8:00.
Anacortes 0 Sehome 17 ANA 0 0 0 0 - 0 SEH 7 0 3 7 - 17 SEH - Funk 2 run (Andrews kick) SEH - Andrews 31 FG SEH - Evans 30 pass from Neff (Andrews kick) ANA SEH 9-16 Rush Att-Yards 37-160 11-25-1 Comp-Att-Int 18-33-2 33 Passing Yards 176 Individual Leaders RUSHING - ANA: N/A. SEH: Funk 22-139, Neff 7-24, L. Ortega 3-13, Malo 2-6, Sangha 3-(-22). PASSING - ANA: N/A. SEH: Sangha 16-30-2-134, Neff 2-3-0-42. RECEIVING - ANA: N/A. SEH: Evans 5-66, Duckworth 4-32, Chisolm 3-26, Malo 3-15, Funk 2-7, Heyward 1-30.
