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| Shorecrest football team |
Football
November 1, 2024
Shoreline Stadium
Shorecrest 36 – Mount Vernon 28
Shorecrest overall record: 6-3
An elated Shorecrest Football team is headed back to State!
With a spot in the first round of the WIAA State 3A Playoffs on the line, the Scots prevailed 36 to 28 in a hard-fought battle against Mount Vernon, a WesCo North crossover opponent who came to Spartan Stadium in Shoreline ready to play.
For Shorecrest, coming off a convincing rivalry win last week over Shorewood in the Rotary Cup to secure the third spot in the WesCo 3A South, this might have seemed like an easy matchup: The Bulldogs came to town with only two wins on the season, against six losses. However, one of those wins was against Sedro Woolley, which was 6-2 on the year; and three of the other losses were by a touchdown or less.
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| #16 Pavel Tatarinov kicks off to start the game for Shorecrest |
As if to drive the point home, the Bulldogs – the Underdogs – lit Shorecrest up in their first drive, going the length of the field for the first touchdown, a 13 yard slant fired by Bulldog QB Kaiden Anderson to senior receiver #1 Michael Johnson. Scots defender
Tyson Lasconia blocked the extra point, but the Scots were 6-0 with just a few minutes gone in this game.
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| #8 Ben Chesnut eyes his touchdown ball coming into the bucket |
Shorecrest responded with a drive of its own that stalled out in the red zone, making it fourth down on the 14 yard line. With the Bulldog defensive line bearing down, Scots senior
QB Danny “Dimes” Stephenson dropped a ball to a breaking
Ben Chesnut for the score, Chesnut’s team leading 11th touchdown of the season.
Tatarinov added the PAT – Scots 7, ‘Dogs 6.
Counterpunch: Mt Vernon drove the field again, with the Anderson-Johnson combination again turning a slant into a score, 23 yards for a second TD. This time the visiting team opted to tie things up with a two-point conversion to go up 14-7. Not stopping there, Mt. Vernon scored again, this time on a run from 15 yards out, again going for two on the PAT to go up 22-7 over the Highlanders with 7:20 to go in the first half. These Bulldogs had some game! And just like that the Scots were looking at a two-score deficit.
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| #7 Eli Gojdics celebrates his touchdown with #19 Max Beer and #5 Charlie Chin |
It was time for Shorecrest to show some of its weapons. First up, and fired up, Eli Gojdics punched in from two yards out and with the Tatarinov PAT, put the Scots within 8 with 1:33 left in the half. Any running back will be quick to credit his offensive line – in this case, ironmen Michael Murray and Carter Nichols, who anchor the blind side and play nearly every down on defense as well; center sophomore Aram Suleiman, called into action mid-season to replace an injured Noe Cordova, and has blocked and accurately hiked each ball to Stephenson in the shotgun; and Tyler Glenn and Jacob Engle on the right side. Kudos to these five!
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| Anthony “Ant” Downing handles the pass for the two point conversion to tie the game. |
Well, there wasn’t much time left in the half... but that didn’t matter much to senior
Charlie Chin, who picked off an underthrown Anderson pass around his own 35 and returned it, looking like DK Metcalf got lessons from Christian McCaffrey, all the way to the Bulldog five.
Chesnut took it the rest of the way, punching it in for the touchdown and his second score of the night. Down two,
Coach Brandon Christensen and his offensive coordinator Mike Wollan, called for a two point conversion.
Stephenson rolled out, spotting
Anthony Downing just past the goal line.
Downing slipped, but he managed to get a handle on the pass to tie up this game, 22-22, to close out the first half. Whew.
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| Chin goes low and Blidchenko goes high to stop #3 Gideon Hope as a gang of Scots stands ready to assist. |
The second half was mostly Scots.
Chesnut took the handoff on the first drive and ran it from 26 yards out, for his third touchdown of the night.
Tatarinov got another PAT, and Shorecrest had just run off 22 straight points to go up 29-22. From then on the home team’s defense, which has been strong all year, showed their mettle.
Nichols harassed the Bulldog backfield; #4 sophomore
Isaiah Blidchenko played like a veteran, breaking up a crucial 4th and 9 pass attempt to kill a Mt. Vernon drive.
Lasconia punched well above his weight,
Chin, Chesnut and of course,
Beers, all had big stops. It was a masterclass in stopping the run and the pass. #3
Soren Lirhus, a linebacker and running back, is also a nifty punter, dropping a high wedge shot that stopped at the Bulldogs two yard line with 3:10 left in the game.
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| #10 Danny Stephenson has a little “cele” after his touchdown run. |
A final play for the highlight reel was a 60 yard
Stephenson to
Chesnut hookup to put the Scots on the one yard line.
Stephenson, with a big assist to that O-Line, carried it in for the final Scot’s score of the night to put them up 36-22 with 3:10 left in the game.
Mt. Vernon did manage a final touchdown, with zero time on the clock, to make the final score 36-28, but this final regular season matchup for the Scots was terrific football for this group of teammates, in all facets of the game. And they’re not done yet.
Only twice in two decades has a Shorecrest team made it to the first round of State in back to back years – in 2004, and again in 2005, with Scot’s legendary running back Jesse Hoffman ravaging WesCo’s defenses under then head coach Mike Wollan. That year Shorecrest won their first state game, making it to the round of 16 before losing to Rainier Beach.
And now this season’s Highlanders have repeated this feat, earning back to back trips to the round of 32, advancing to face off this week against top-ranked Bellevue, which won the state championship back in 2005 (and last year).
The Scots will play this state game at 7pm at Bellevue High School, this Friday night, November 8, 2024. Come and cheer on the Highlanders!
--Sports Desk II
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