Football: Shorecrest Scots prevail against league rival Mountlake Terrace, 34-22

Senior Brayden Victor pulls in the Scot's first TD
 in the opening quarter

Prep Football
Shorecrest 34 vs Mountlake Terrace 22

Friday, 10-27-2017 at Shoreline Stadium

Overall record: 5-4
Conference record: 2-4

In a Wesco 3A South battle full of surprising plays, two point conversions, and officials' yellow flags, the Shorecrest Scots prevailed with a 34-22 victory over the Mountlake Terrace Hawks.

Shorecrest struck first, driving 70 yards on eight plays, with Scots' QB Eladio Fountain hitting Senior Brayden Victor from 12 yards out for the score. Freshman Gavin Dalziel, who has been perfect this season with 11/11 PAT's in the past three games, converted the kick to put the Scots up 7-0. The Hawks took the ensuing kickoff and started a 15 play drive that took the rest of the first quarter to complete, and was capped by a five yard pass, and a two point PAT to put their squad up 8-7.

Chris Lee pulls in a touchdown pass in the first half

Terrace's next play took the Scots by surprise when their onside kick was recovered by the Hawks who took advantage of the fortunate bounce and quickly scored again, converting another two point PAT to go up 16-7.

Then it was Shorecrest's turn. After Senior running back Ricardo Ruiz was stopped for small gains, Fountain took to the air and used his favorite target, Senior Chris Lee, to take chunks of Hawks' territory, finishing with a 35 yard strike that Lee pulled in at the five yard line and carried into the end zone. The 6'3" Lee, who is also a starter for the Scots' basketball team, leads all Shorecrest receivers this season with 659 yards receiving and six touchdowns.

#12 Jacob Cruz forces a fumble

This drive also marked the beginning of a flag frenzy; Terrace was called for defensive targeting, and each team had penalties for personal fouls on this drive. In a game where both teams gained over 300 yards, it was the officials who led in total yardage, penalizing the Scots 15 times for 140 yards and the Hawks 20 times for 215 yards.

The second half opened with the Scots taking the kickoff and driving 60 yards to go up 21-16, earning a lead they would never relinquish. These points came from Fountain, who ran up the right side of the field from 19 yards out for his first rushing TD. Fountain was helped with terrific downfield blocking by Rico Dellaguardia, Lee, and Senior guard Jackson Jones who has been a key player on the Scots' offensive line all season long.

A gang of Scots, including Seniors #70 Max Long and
#55 Mohammed Al-Jabiri, attack the Mountlake Terrace QB

After stopping the Hawks' next drive, Junior Sammy Seliga returned their punt to the Scots 24 yard line and Senior Ricardo Ruiz got his turn to score for Shorecrest. Ruiz, who broke 1000 yards rushing for the season and ended the game with a total of 1066, ran like William the Conqueror with gains of 17, 9, and 13 yards before taking Fountain's short pass and going to the house from the Hawks' 13 yard line. This was Ruiz's second TD reception of the season, taking his team leading TD total to 14. Fountain, who had his most efficient game of the season, ended the night hitting 14 of 16 targets for 172 yards, four touchdowns and no interceptions.

The Scots will finish their season at home next Friday night at 8:00 in an interleague game against Newport High School, of Bellevue.

--Text and photos by Gordon Stephenson