By Quint Turner

Meadowdale improved to 8-0 with a win over the 1-7 Lynnwood Royals Friday night. Kyler Larsen scored the first three touchdowns for the Mavericks, two of them going for 50-plus yards. Brian Marty threw for two touchdowns as the Mavericks rolled to a 42-7 win. The defense also forced two turnovers during Lynnwood drives to prevent quarterback Blake Lord from doing much on offense.

The first quarter started with a common occurrence lately for the Maverick defense. They forced a three and out, and took over on their own 45. However, they were three and outed as well thanks to a sack by Nathan Fabia. Lynnwood got the ball but couldn’t move against the Mavs’ stout defense. After a short punt, the Mavs took over on the Lynnwood 34. After Kyle Newsom gained 8 yards and put the Mavs on the 26, Larsen took a pitch and ran it in to put the Mavs up 7-0 with 6:40 to go in the quarter.

Lynnwood had a small drive to the Meadowdale 49 before being stopped on third and 17. The Mavs started on their own 37 and three plays later, Larsen was open and he caught a pass from Marty and ran up the field 53 yards for the score to make it 14-0 with 30 seconds left in the quarter.

Starting the second quarter, a pass from Lord fell short of Lynnwood wide receiver Morgan Skelton. The Mavs got the ball back on their own 37. On second and 2, Larsen took a pitch and ran 55 yards for his third touchdown of the game and it was 21-0.

Lynnwood started driving, thanks to a third and 12 conversion that picked up 19 yards. Then Christain Burress caught a pass for 13 yards to get the ball into Maverick territory. On third and 8 though, Hunter Lord caught a pass but was hit as soon as he caught and fumbled. Josiah Evans recovered the ball on the Maverick 48 yard line with 7:30 still to play.

The Mavericks were stopped after three plays. On their punt, it looked like the Mavs would get the ball right back when Lynnwood’s punt returner deflected the ball and the Mavs recovered. However, a flag was thrown for fair-catch interference, so Lynnwood got possession back.

On Lynnwood’s second play of the drive, Jacob Hughes intercepted Lord’s pass, giving the Mavs the ball on their own 38. After a 9- yard run from Giavani Shepard, a personal foul call on Lynnwood put the Mavericks at the LHS 38. On third and 4 at the 18, Shepard ran the ball 18 yards to make it 28-0 Meadowdale with five minutes left in the quarter. Lynnwood failed to move the ball again and after a punt, the Mavericks took over on their own 30. On third and 6, Shepard ran six yards for the first down, and on the Lynnwood 46, Ryan White caught a pass from Marty for a 37-yard gain to the Royal 9. On first and goal from the 5 after an offsides penalty, White dove to catch a low ball from Marty to make it 35-0 just before the half ended.

The Mavs started with the ball in the second half, but they only milked two and a half minutes from the clock and were three and outed. Lynnwood also failed to get a first down on their drive, so the Mavs got the ball back with 7:50 to go. They put together a 5:55 drive to score their last touchdown on the night, thanks to Shepard, Larsen, and White all combining to get the ball down to the 4-yard line. Then Newsom ran the ball in from 4 yards out to make it 42-0.

The fourth quarter started with Lynnwood facing third and 7 on their 26-yard line. A pass to Skelton was incomplete and MHS got the ball back again. On third and 3, back-up quarterback Jeremiah Evans was sacked for a 3-yard loss. Lynnwood got the ball back on their 26. Corey Hoerner ran 28 yards to the Maverick 44-yard line, and then he ran another 26 yards, putting Lynnwood in a position to score. Then Lord threw a 7-yard touchdown pass to Skelton to get Lynnwood on the scoreboard. The game ended three minutes later, as the Mavs won 42-7.

The 8-0 Mavericks (7-0 in conference) will play their last game of the season at home next Thursday vs. the Oak Harbor Wildcats in a battle that will decide the winner of the Wesco 3A division.

Sports correspondent Quint Turner is a sophomore at Meadowdale High School.