Strong rain hit Veterans Memorial Stadium, as the Snohomish Panthers dominated the Mountlake Terrace Hawks on Oct. 20 with a score of 47-6. The loss drops the Hawks’ record to 4-4 on the season and 1-4 in conference play.
The Hawks defense struggled to find a way to stop the Panthers’ running attack, allowing 441 rushing yards and six rushing touchdowns. Snohomish senior running back Keegan Stich led the way for the Panthers with 283 rushing yards and four touchdowns on the ground. Terrace struggled to get past the Snohomish offensive line and into the backfield, only recording four tackles for a loss of yards in 55 total plays and failing to sack the quarterback in 12 pass attempts.
“They [Snohomish] have a powerful running game” Terrace head coach Kelly Dougan explained. “No. 27, [Keegan] Stich, is a fantastic running back, he has put up thousands of yards in this league over the last three years and he’s hard to stop.”
Terrace saw struggles on the other side of the ball as well, only racking up 27 total yards and failing to score until a 6 yard rushing touchdown by senior running back Moussa Traore with 3 minutes left in the game. The Terrace offensive line was pushed around all game by the Snohomish defense, giving up four sacks for 48 yards in only nine pass attempts and allowing Terrace to be tackled 13 times for a loss of yards in 29 total plays.
Dougan stressed the importance of having the advantage on the line of scrimmage:
“They [Snohomish] are big, they’re physical, and they have a lot of experience, so they’re able to dominate at the line of scrimmage and football is won and lost at the line of scrimmage.”
The last two matchups for the Hawks have both been losses by blowouts. Between the games against Snohomish and Edmonds-Woodway, the Hawks have been outscored 92-6, allowed 946 total yards (796 rushing yards) on defense, and only produced 101 total yards on offense. In order to have a chance at making 2A playoffs, the Hawks need to be able to shake off their recent struggles.
The Hawks play the Shorecrest Scots (4-4, 1-4 Wesco) on Friday, October 27th at 8:00 PM at Shoreline Stadium. The Hawks look to finish off the regular season with a win over a Shorecrest team that has faced their own struggles lately, losing three straight games to Everett, Snohomish, and Edmonds-Woodway.
