Marysville Pilchuck runs away from Lake Stevens

LAKE STEVENS — Austin Joyner said it hurt for him to walk Friday night.

Fortunately for Marysville Pilchuck, he was able to run.

Joyner, who took a helmet to the hip on his second touchdown run of the first half, got two more TDs in the final two quarters to help Marysville Pilchuck defeat rival Lake Stevens 40-28 in a non-conference football game Friday night.

“I took a helmet right to my hip, and the side of my gut. It was bruised to where I could hardly walk,” Joyner said. “I took an Ibuprofen, and the pain started to go away and I was back out here playing.

“It was painful, I’m not going to lie,” Joyner continued. “I could feel it with every step. But I’m not going to run softer because it’s hurting. I just pushed through it.”

Joyner ran 13 times for 195 yards, averaging 15 yards per carry. He had touchdown runs of 78, 30, 22 and 3 yards.

The senior got going early, scoring the longest of his touchdown runs on his first carry of the game — and just the second offensive play for the Tomahawks. His second score, the 3-yard run, came with 2:09 left in the first quarter.

That play was where his injury occurred, causing him to play in pain the rest of the way.

“This may have been the best performance I’ve seen from him since he’s been here,” Marysville Pilchuck head coach Brandon Carson said. “He’s got a hip pointer and he battled through. When we came out in the second half, I didn’t know if he was going to go or not and he just came out and showed what he’s made of. He’s a special athlete. I’m really proud of him. He dug deep tonight. I’m really proud of him.”

Joyner was just part of the Marysville Pilchuck rushing attack, which also got 118 yards on 22 carries from senior Killian Page.

“At times I thought we played the run really well, at times I though we made a lot of mistakes,” Lake Stevens head coach Tom Tri said. “… We know that (Joyner’s) going to be an explosive runner and he’s going to get his yards, but we’ve got to do a better job of bottling him up on third down and on critical situations.”

A Page touchdown in the second quarter was offset by a 7-yard Andrew Grimes score for Lake Stevens to make the score 21-14 at the half.

Lake Stevens capped an 8-minute, 49-second scoring drive with an 8-yard touchdown pass from Jacob Eason to Tevin Gray. Eason was 10-for-12 for 66 yards on the scoring drive.

After the defense held the Marysville Pilchuck offense in check, the Vikings tied the game with a 4-yard score from Eason to Riley Krenz.

Then Marysville Pilchuck took over in the fourth quarter. The Tomahawks got touchdown runs from Page and Joyner to go up 33-21 midway through the final period. Grimes had a 1-yard run to cut the difference to five with four minutes to go, but Joyner took the ball on fourth-and-1 and got the first down and more, running the ball 30 yards to seal the win for the Tomahawks.

“We had some rhythm but just one too many mental mistakes, just not consistent enough on a varsity level to beat a team like Marysville,” Tri said.

Two big goal line stands by Marysville Pilchuck (2-0) in the first half proved to be vital. The Tomahawks stopped the Vikings twice inside the 10-yard line.

“Those were huge,” Carson said. “They might have been the difference in the game.”

Eason finished 36-of-55 for 379 yards. The junior quarterback, who verbally committed to Georgia, got big performances from receivers Riley Krenz (12 receptions for 113 yards) and Tevin Gray, who caught seven passes for 129 yards.

“That quarterback put the ball on the money a lot,” Carson said. “There were a couple of times where we had the guy covered very decent and he put the ball in the only spot the receiver could catch it.”

Grimes added 24 carries for 88 yards and the two touchdowns for Lake Stevens (1-1).

It was a big win for the Tomahawks, who still consider Lake Stevens a rival, even though the two teams haven’t been in the same league since 2011. It was the second consecutive victory in the series for Marysville Pilchuck, which beat the Vikings 37-24 last season.

“It feels great. It really does. We have a lot of respect for the Lake Stevens program and when you play these games you’ve just got to limit your mistakes,” Carson said. “You come out ahead when you can do that.”

“We’ve been thinking about this game since last year,” Joyner added. “Every year this is a game we look forward to. It’s a huge game for us.”

At Lake Stevens H.S.

MP 14 7 0 19 – 40

LS 0 14 7 7 – 28

MP—Joyner 78 run (Sebatstian Navarro kick)

MP—Joyner 3 run (Navarro kick)

LS—Andrew Grimes 7 run (Ignacio Ponce kick)

MP—Killian Page 2 run (Navarro kick)

LS—Tevin Gray 8 pass from Jacob Eason (Ponce kick)

LS—Riley Krenz 4 pass from Eason (Ponce kick)

MP—Page 5 run (kick failed)

MP—Joyner 22 run (run failed)