Auburn Riverside defeats MI in football opener

By Reporter Staff • September 4, 2021 10:30 am
Mercer Island’s Jack Durner blasts up field against Auburn Riverside. Photo courtesy of David Wisenteiner
Mercer Island’s Jack Durner blasts up field against Auburn Riverside. Photo courtesy of David Wisenteiner

Auburn Riverside beat Mercer Island, 49-35, in a nonleague football opener on Sept. 3 at Islander Stadium.

AR led 28-21 at halftime and 35-21 after three quarters.

Mercer Island scored first on an Alex Espinoza 67-yard interception return and kicker Samir Lumba added the first of his five PATs.

Down 21-7 in the second quarter, MI’s Jack Durner snagged a 37-yard touchdown pass from Eli Fahey. Later in the second quarter, MI’s Callum Neher scored on a 16-yard pass from Fahey to cut AR’s lead to 28-21.

After AR built a 49-21 lead in the fourth quarter, MI scored twice more on an Addison King 9-yard pass from Spencer Kornblum and a Davis Johnson 21-yard pass from Kornblum.

MI will play at Highline at 6 p.m. Sept. 9.