Throughout its matchup against Juanita, the Mercer Island defense did its job holding the Rebels’ offensive unit on third down. Unfortunately for the Islanders, the Rebels never sent their punter on the field.
Converting six of its nine fourth-down plays throughout Friday’s contest, Juanita managed to wear down the Mercer Island defense, pulling out a 24-17 win at Islander Stadium.
Allowing only 24 points to a team that scored 44, 52 and 45 points in its first three wins, Mercer Island coach Brett Ogata said after the game he was more concerned with the Islanders’ offensive showing than that of its defense.
“We were having a tough time on defense trying to stop them on fourth down but on offense, we were just out of sync tonight,” he said. “It was just one of those tough games. Offensively, we were in sync at the very beginning and then the penalties just got us out of whack and we never got going again. It was a very frustrating game tonight. Juanita hung in there and they beat us, that’s the way it goes sometimes.”
The Islanders were off to a strong start, with Alfonso Gonzalez capping an eight-play opening drive with a 40-yard touchdown pass to Jack Counihan to give Mercer Island a 7-0 lead. But despite the Mercer Island defense recovering fumbles on Juanita’s first two possessions, the Islanders weren’t able to extend its advantage. Mercer Island’s offense drew three penalties on its second drive of the game, eventually turning over on downs. A possession later, a Mercer Island false start turned a fourth-and-2 into a fourth-and-7.
The Rebels stayed aggressive throughout, not once sending its punter on the field. Four plays into its next drive, Juanita converted on fourth-and-15. Then facing fourth-and-26 from Mercer Island’s 32-yard line, Juanita quarterback Dexter Mell, filling in for injured starter Tavin Montgomery, found Jared Holden in the end zone to even the score with 7:54 left in the first half. After a Mercer Island punt, a 36-yard field goal from Jackson Clemensen gave the Rebels a 10-7 lead with 2:20 left in the half. Mercer Island answered just before the break with a 25-yard field goal from Michael Krebs.
The Rebels didn’t take long to get going in the second half. On its second play after receiving the kickoff, Juanita running back Salvon Ahmed burned the Islanders for a 71-yard rushing touchdown to give the Rebels a 17-10 lead.
Both teams struggled to advance into scoring range until a Mercer Island turnover on downs put the Rebels inside Mercer Island’s 40-yard line in the opening minute of the fourth. On fourth-and-5 from Mercer Island’s 34-yard line, Mell found Pierce Belleman on a 29-yard pass. Three plays later, Ahmed punched it in from a yard out, giving the Rebels a 24-10 lead with nine minutes left in regulation. The Islanders went four-and-out on its next drive, but got the ball back after an interception by Eric Kim at Mercer Island’s own 2-yard line with 5:30 remaining.
The Islanders marched down the field, capping a 98-yard drive with Gonzalez finding Jack Vassau with a 23-yard touchdown pass to make it 24-17 with 0:52 remaining. But with Mercer Island’s ensuing onside kick attempt bouncing out of bounds, the Rebels were able to run out the clock.
Ogata said afterward he felt the Islanders defense played well overall, they just spent too much time on the field.
“The bottom line is our offense was struggling the whole second half and it just put our defense in a bind the whole time,” he said. “[Juanita] had that one big one to get that seven point lead and then we were kind of always behind that seven points. It just was tough for us.”
While falling to 1-3 on the season and 0-2 in KingCo competition, the coach isn’t panicking about the season just yet.
“I’m not going to change our message. Our goal is to keep getting better, improving and hustling day by day. It’s still a long season, but we’re not out of it. It might sound crazy at 1-3, but we can make the playoffs. Our goal is just to keep playing and keep going and we’ll be fine. We just have to get better by playoff time.”
