Coming off a blowout loss to open the season, the Mercer Island football players knew they had to dial up their intensity if they were to find success on the football field.
Friday night, they found themselves in yet another blowout. But this time, the Islanders were on the delivering end.
Mercer Island quarterback Blake Swanson threw for two touchdowns and rushed for another as the Islanders used four first-half touchdowns to hammer Kentridge 37-14 Friday at Islander Stadium.
The Islanders (1-1) scored touchdowns on each of their first three possessions of the game, en route to their first win of the young season.
Getting the start under center, Swanson and the Islanders set the tone early, turning to the ground game and finding success with their read-option offense.
“We were really well prepared going into this game, and I think that was the difference,” Swanson said. “We established the run early. We knew that [the Chargers] like to pack guys out and really play the pass, so we were just trying to run it all game and it was successful.”
Seven of Mercer Island’s first nine plays called for the run, with running back Jordano Mark rushing for 27 yards and Swanson for 32 on the opening drive. Swanson capped the possession, rumbling for a 13-yard touchdown run to put the Islanders ahead 6-0.
On their next drive, the Islanders marched 80 yards on eight plays down the field, with Cole Northrop hauling a screen pass from Swanson 19 yards into the end zone to extend the lead to 13-0. After the Islander defense forced the Chargers (0-2) into a three-and-out on their next possession, Griffin Kane ripped off a 42-yard punt return in the opening minute of the second quarter, giving the Islanders a 20-0 advantage.
Swanson would also find Jackson Caputo on a 4-yard touchdown pass later in the quarter, and a 30-yard field goal from Jack Clayville extended the Islander lead to 30-0 at the break.
“Our intensity was just amazing this game,” Swanson said. “We wanted to come out and make it way different than last week and that’s what we did. The guys were just dialed in. We all knew what we had to do and we wanted to go out and just do it.”
Kentridge managed to avoid a shutout in the second half. After Nikhil Nayar extended Mercer Island’s lead to 37-0 on a 15-yard touchdown run, the Chargers responded with a 65-yard drive. A 19-yard touchdown pass from Mason Glover to Jordan Omatsu made it a 37-6 contest at the end of the third quarter.
Then on the opening play of the fourth, Nayar saw a second-down snap sail over his head, which was recovered in the end zone by the Chargers’ Sam Mullins. Kentridge converted the two-point conversion to make it a 37-14 game.
Though Kentridge would recover its ensuing onside kick, the Mercer Island defense held the Chargers scoreless the rest of the way.
Swanson finished the game completing 7-10 passes for 58 yards and rushing for 74 yards on 11 carries, while Mark finished with 144 yards on 25 carries.
Islander coach Brett Ogata said in Friday’s game, he saw an energy in his players that they lacked the previous week in their loss to Bishop Blanchet.
“We want to have energy, play as a team and play with the intensity that we need to play with. I felt like our guys did that; we grew a lot tonight,” Ogata said. “They did a great job. Blake had a great game and let the game come to him. He took a big step tonight.”
Next, Mercer Island will take on Bellevue at 7 p.m. next Friday at MIHS. The Wolverines are coming off a 35-7 loss to Bishop Gorman.
Notes
At halftime, Lee Gordon, a 1981 MIHS alum, was inducted into the MIHS Hall of Fame. Gordon was a track and field KingCo champion for the Islanders. Gordon went on to be an NCAA 100 meter dash silver medalist at WSU, as well as a Pac-10 100 meter relay champion.
