At Marysville-Pilchuck High School, the Tomahawks and the Hawks met on the gridiron for a playoff showdown on Nov. 11, but the Tomahawks’ offensive prowess proved to be too much as they went on to win the game 49-14.

The Hawks came fresh off their first playoff win in school history against the Capital High School Cougars in a thriller that came down to the wire. They came into this game with a striking record of 8-2, the best in school history as well.

The Tomahawks came off a win against the Meadowdale Mavericks and are on a six game winning streak with a record of 8-1.

The Tomahawks in comparison with the Hawks are two very similar teams: both of the teams have had major success giving the ball to the their running back tandems. The Hawks tandem consisted of senior Ryan LaCasse and senior Malcolm Johnson. The Tomahawks tandem consisted of senior Kilian Page and senior Austin Joyner. The stage was set for a battle of ‘run games’ and who can pound the ball harder.

The Tomahawks came out doing exactly what they’ve done all season long and that’s feed the ball to their tandem. Before the Hawks knew it, the Tomahawks were up a lead of 14-0.

The Hawks weren’t going to go down without a fight however. Immediately afterward, the Hawks put together a long drive resulting in a LaCasse touchdown, closing the gap to only seven points.

This drive would show to be one of only two drives that would result in any type of points; the other being in garbage time. While the Hawks offense had trouble getting through the defense, the defense was having even more trouble stopping the Tomahawks’ offense. This Tomahawk offense is an offense that in the eight games that they played, averaged almost 44 points a game (Oak Harbor’s resignation game was not counted). Excluding the outlier game of 10 points against O’Dea High School, this offense averages a whopping 48.7 points a game.

The centerpiece of this offense is senior running back and division-one bound four star recruit, Austin Joyner. Joyner had himself a day: the 5’10, 186 Washington State commit had 19 carries for 292 yards. He scored five TDs and according to David Kreuger of the Everett Herald, he scored on 25 percent of his carries.

The Hawks and Tomahawks would go into the half with a daunting score of 28-7. The second half would subsequently be a blur as it was all the same with the addition of some ‘clock-running’.

With this loss, the Hawks historic, cinderella season is over, but they lost to no joke of a opponent.

The Tomahawks now advance to the 3A state quarterfinals and will face the winner of the Roosevelt-Columbia River game.