Copyright Everett Herald
LAKE STEVENS — It was the longest yard of Blake Moser’s life. Lake Stevens football faced 3rd-and-goal at the one-yard line at Lake Stevens High School on Friday, and Arlington was making a stand after holding up a rush at the goal line and batting down a pass. The junior quarterback took the third-down snap and rolled back more than 10 yards behind the line of scrimmage, where he immediately faced down a pair of Arlington pass rushers. Moser slipped out of a sure sack, and glided to the left, where he had to dance around two more defenders before tucking the ball and running forward. Somehow, Moser reached the end zone on his feet. He may have traveled 50 yards on foot over the span of the play just to pick up a single tick, but the 5-foot-11 signal-caller made it look easy. “I’m looking left first, and then I come back around and I look right, and I see two defensive ends in my face with their hands up, going to block the ball, so I had no path to throw the ball,” Moser said. “So I tucked it and decided to make something out of nothing.” The scamper extended the Lake Stevens lead to 27-0 following the extra point with 6:35 left in the first half, and the Vikings (9-0, 6-0 league) rolled to a 55-7 victory over the Eagles (4-5, 4-2) to clinch the Wesco 4A title and keep their perfect season intact. Moser finished 12-for-17 with 227 yards and four touchdowns, and he added 48 yards and two more scores on the ground before getting subbed out midway through the third quarter. The offense fired on all cylinders, with each of Moser’s four touchdowns going to four different receivers, who made play after play turning short receptions into long gains. On the rare occasion when things broke down, though, it was Moser on clean-up duty to keep things rolling. Two of his teammates crashed his interview with The Herald to declare him the best quarterback in the state. “We’ve been saving him a little bit for the right time,” said Lake Stevens coach Tom Tri, who won his 13th Wesco title in his 21st season leading the program. “We felt like this would be a good night to show that, ‘Hey, you gotta pay attention to ‘Six’ (Moser) because he’s pretty dang good.’ He’s really good at extending plays, turning a broken play into a successful play, which is tough for defenses.” Meanwhile, on the other side of the ball, the Vikings defense more than held up its end of the bargain, forcing Arlington to punt on each of its first three drives before recovering a fumble on the fourth. By the time the Eagles finally reached the end zone on a 62-yard rushing touchdown from senior Dirci Ngondo (116 scrimmage yards on just two touches) with 5:01 left in the third quarter, Lake Stevens had already scored 27 points. Aside from the long Arlington touchdown, the Vikings defense held the Eagles to just 87 more yards in the first half, while the offense compiled 311 yards before the break and roughly 440 yards in total. Tri said the team focused on containing the Arlington offense between the tackles, believing the defense possessed enough speed in the middle to converge on the ball-carrier before he was able to break a big gain. “(We were) plugging holes that weren’t there to begin with,” senior lineman Ted Kuhrau said. “Being there and being just a run-stopper, you have to stop the run so they go to the pass and they go to screen, but it starts with the run. You got to stop it.” Anytime the Eagles turned to the passing game, the defensive backs played their markers tight, especially on deep balls. On Arlington’s first offensive play, Vikings senior Brian Tilghman broke up a deep shot down the left sideline, and classmate Dylan Phinney had a third-down pass break-up near the end zone on the next drive to force the Eagles to punt back to Lake Stevens while trailing 14-0, which Tri labeled the game’s pivotal defensive play. The Vikings built up their 14-0 lead on a 21-yard screen reception from junior Seth Price (five receptions, 75 yards, one touchdown) and a five-yard rush from junior Jayvian Ferrell (10 carries, 81 yards; one reception, nine yards, two total touchdowns) in the first quarter. Lake Stevens opened the second quarter with five consecutive gains of double-digit yards, the last one an 11-yard keeper from Moser, who dove into the front right corner of the end zone. “I think (we executed) everywhere,” Moser said. “That’s because of the energy we brought today. … Coach Tri, before the game, told us, ‘This is a game we come out and we’re expecting to win,’ but he tells us, ‘Come out with emotion and passion,’ and every time we do that, that’s when we perform the best.” The players heaped praise on Tri for his player development and family culture that makes the Vikings a powerhouse, and they rewarded their coach with another league title. After Arlington’s long touchdown cut it to 27-7, Moser created more magic in the red zone, spinning around a defender on 4th-and-6 from the nine-yard line before finding Ferrell for a tear drop touchdown pass down the left side, extending the lead to 34-7 with 2:45 left before halftime. “It can be annoying at times, but it’s honestly a gift,” said Kuhrau, who has to block for the elusive quarterback. “Because if we mess up in any way, which is rare, he extends (the play). He makes our mistakes good.” The Vikings forced a turnover on downs on the next drive, getting the ball on Arlington’s 37 with 40 seconds left before halftime. They only needed seven to pad their lead, as Moser sent an arcing pass to senior Kekoa Okiyama (four receptions, 66 scrimmage yards, one touchdown) down the left sideline for a 37-yard touchdown to take a 41-7 lead, which Moser felt was the dagger. Sophomore Maxten Cook (three receptions, 78 yards, one touchdown) and junior Colten Fink (69 scrimmage yards, one touchdown) added scores in the second half to put the finishing touches on a game that held more significance for the program than usual. A year prior, Arlington upset Lake Stevens 28-14, and the Vikings came in with a mindset of avenging last year’s senior class and securing the Wesco title outright. That’s exactly what they accomplished. “My boy (former Lake Stevens quarterback) Kolton Matson at home. I told him I’d take us all the way last year,” Kuhrau said. “This is just for him, honestly. … I told him, ‘I’m not going to let this happen to me, and this is all for you,’ and I’ve taken that to heart and I mean it every day. I live by it. This is for my seniors last year. We’re doing what they couldn’t do.”
