After a first half when things weren’t quite breaking their way, the Mercer Island football team roared back to a 47-24 win over Juanita Friday night.

In the first home game of the season, the Islanders struggled to contain the Rebels early on, but after the break found what they were looking for offensively.

The Rebels had an advantage during the first half of the game at Mercer Island High School Friday. Juanita strung together a solid drive, earning the first points of the night with 6:06 left in the first quarter for a 6-0 lead, but penalties and lost chances would change the game for Juanita, and Mercer Island took advantage.

Penalty flags flew on the field throughout the game, sparking Mercer Island head coach Brett Ogata to say it is something the team plans to work on in practice this week, as did Juanita head coach Shaun Tarantola. The Rebels lost two touchdown runs, of almost 90-yards each, because of penalties.

“We are definitely going to work on it, we had a lot of penalties last week and later in the year that’s going to catch up to us,” said Ogata. “We need to work on it.”

Across the field, the Rebels faced more penalties, which stymied their offense.

“Penalties hurt us throughout the game, we had two touchdowns called back because of penalties early in the game,” said Tarantola. “We just weren’t able to get in a rhythm. Penalties played a major role in us letting it get out of hand. It would have been nice if we could have not gotten penalized on those big plays – we had two 90 yard plays get called back, which is tough to withstand. I give our players credit for continuing to compete.”

What the Rebels lacked, the Islanders made up for, competing and controlling at the line of scrimmage, especially in the second half.

“The o-line, those guys were awesome all night. They dominated the line of scrimmage and we were able to control the ball in the second half. Those guys, our receivers made big plays and our defense they kept down the turnover for us, which was really big. I’m just really excited for the guys,” said Ogata.

Towards the end of the first, Mercer Island quarterback Jeff Lindquist lodged the ball deep, finding Eric Stefanchik in the endzone for a 51-yard touchdown pass, followed by a kick from Alex Wood to give the Islanders a 7-6 edge after 12 minutes.

“We do work on it, and do scrambles on those different routes but Jeff is really special,” said MIHS head coach Brett Ogata of the two long touchdown passes made by Lindquist during the game. “There aren’t many high school players who are going to make that throw on the run for 60 yards in stride.”

In the second quarter, Mercer Island held off the Juanita defensive line to allow Connor Bernal a run with 8:24 left in the quarter for a 14-6 ball game.

After repossessing the ball, Rebels continued to drive, connecting for a touchdown pass late in the quarter to change the score to 14-12. On the kickoff return, Mercer Island fumbled the ball and the Rebels regained possession at the 26 yard line. A quick drive to the goal line gave the Rebels another touchdown, just a minute after the one before, and giving the visiting team the lead 18-14.

To even things outs, kicker Alex Wood came out to make a field goal with four seconds on the clock, putting the score at 18-17 for Juanita.

After the break, Juanita began on their own 20 yard line, but Mercer Island intercepted the ball with 10:23 on the clock and took over at the 25. The Islanders drive was stymied by Juanita, who regained possession on the 40 and quickly burned through four downs to give the Islanders another chance.

“Second half we came out and got the turnovers that we needed and really got the momentum of the game, and used that momentum that was really the difference. If the first half things weren’t looking great, but you just have to stay in the game,” said Ogata.

This time Wood returned to the field, making a 29-yard field goal and giving the lead back to Mercer Island with a 20-18 score.

In the second half Mercer Island found its rhythm and slowed Juanita enough to find the endzone repeatedly.

Senior Phil Frazier ran for a touchdown at the end of the third quarter to make it 27-18, and Stefanchik caught another long pass from Lindquist, this time 55 yards, to score for a 34-18 game.

The Islanders scored again in the beginning of the fourth quarter, after Frazier ran the ball in, followed by an interception with 10:16 on the clock to set up another touchdown. This time Frazier ran it in, scoring the final points of the night for Mercer Island.

Juanita made moves to the endzone and scored with just under five minutes left to play for the 47-24 score.

The Islanders will travel to Interlake next Friday, and the Rebels will host Sammamish. Both games begin at 7 p.m.