Prep football: Hawks lose after close first half against Lynnwood

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Lynnwood’s football Coach Keauntea Bankhead didn’t appear to be the only Royal suffering with a cold on Friday night–his Royals’ football team also looked a little under-the-weather at the beginning of their match-up with the Mountlake Terrace Hawks.

But after the slow start, Lynnwood shook off their glum, ran the football with authority and scored 26 unanswered points on their way to a 32-13 triumph over the Hawks in a Wesco League South Conference tilt played at Edmonds Stadium.

Delaun Smiley-Tatum ran for two Royals’ touchdowns, Michael Kirkman and Alton Hammond each added a rushing score, and Alton threw one TD pass to earn Lynnwood the victory.

Mountlake Terrace stayed close throughout the first half, forcing a couple of turnovers and scoring on an Andrew Blair 3-yard touchdown run. But the Hawks couldn’t keep up with the Royals, who seemed to get stronger as the game progressed.

Lynnwood ultimately rolled up 484 yards of total offense in the clash — 255 of it on the ground. Smiley-Tatum and Kirkman carried most of the rushing load: Smiley-Tatum ran for 89 yards on 15 carries; Kirkman tallied 82 yards on 13 carries.

While it ended well-and-good for the Royals’ Friday night, the early going raised concerns among their coaches and fans. Lynnwood’s first offensive possession ended in a punt after just four plays; later in the quarter, the Royal defense gave up an 11-play 52-yard drive to Terrace that ended with Blair’s touchdown on the first play of the second quarter — a drive that was aided by a pair of Lynnwood penalties.

In total, Lynnwood was penalized 11 times for 94 yards in the game.

Up by just one score at halftime, Bankhead rallied his squad in the locker room.

“I told the team that we’ve got to play our game no matter what. We can’t play to the opponent’s level,” he said. “It’s the penalties that slow us down. When we don’t get penalties, we play pretty good football. We just got to clean it up.”

He told his team to play a clean game.

“I just told them that we’ve got to be smart,” Bankhead explained. “We got a couple personal fouls for talking, and then holding penalties after big runs — I think Delaun Smiley-Tatum scored but we had a holding penalty called and it took away the touchdown — just things like that set us back.”

Despite Lynnwood’s lethargic first half, the Hawks could only stay close to the Royals; Terrace never led in the matchup.

“We played a really good first half,” Hawks’ Coach Kelly Dougan said. “But we didn’t take advantage of two opportunities to put points on the board. We tried to get field goals, (but) it didn’t pan out. Minus a couple of mental mistakes we probably would have had some chances to score touchdowns.”

The Hawks even tried some trickery to start the second half, recovering an on-sides kick and giving them the ball at midfield. But the possession ended four plays later with a punt.

The Royals went on to score touchdowns the next two times they touched the ball and the rout was on.

“Momentum was huge,” Dougan said. “We took the momentum with the onsides kick, but then we failed to cease that opportunity. I mean, it was right there for us. And then that gives them momentum.”

The big play for Lynnwood in the third quarter was an 81-yard TD pass from Alton to senior Ryley Johnson, giving the Royals a 26-6 lead at the time.

After the game, Bankhead said he has lots of confidence in Johnson. “We know he’s one of our playmakers,” Bankhead said. “When we need to take a shot or when we want to score, we can call his number. He’s one of those guys we can count on and he always comes down with the ball no matter what. He’s definitely a good player for us and I love having him on my team.”

Johnson had six receptions in the game for 142 yards and one touchdown.

Jesse James Martineau took over the quarterback role for Terrace for eight of the team’s ten offensive possessions; the sophomore completed 16 of 26 passes for 130 yards and one touchdown, a 1-yard toss to senior Garrett McDowell with 1:28 to go in the game.

Martineau is the third player to be used by Dougan at the quarterback position this season. “He’s gotten a lot better in just the last three weeks,” Dougan emphasized. “His improvement is huge. He’s gaining confidence, the coaches are confident in him, he’s accurate with his throws; he’s doing a nice job.”

Martineau is likely to start at the quarterback position on Friday, Oct. 28, when the Hawks host the Shorewood T-Birds at Edmonds Stadium at 8 p.m..

Lynnwood will travel to Shoreline Stadium for their next game, a 7 p.m. match-up on Friday, Oct. 28 against the Shorecrest Scots.

Prep Football: Lynnwood at Mountlake Terrace, Oct. 21

Lynnwood     7          7          12        6          —          32
Terrace           7          0            0        6          —          13

First Quarter
  5:03  Delaun Smiley-Tatum (Lynnwood) 3-yard TD run; Oscar Nunez PAT kick good

Second Quarter
11:55  Andrew Blair (Mountlake Terrace) 3-yard TD run; Bryon Shelton PAT kick good
8:03  Michael Kirkman (Lynnwood) 11-yard TD run; Oscar Nunez PAT kick good

Third Quarter
7:28  Alton Hammond (Lynnwood) 5-yard TD run; PAT attempt failed
3:46  Alton Hammond (Lynnwood) 81-yard TD pass to Ryley Johnson; two-point conversion attempt failed

Fourth Quarter
3:45  Delaun Smiley-Tatum (Lynnwood) 4-yard TD run; two-point conversion attempt failed
1:28  JesseJames Martineau (Mountlake Terrace) 1-yard TD pass to Garrett McDowell; two-point conversion attempt failed

Records: Mountlake Terrace 1-5 in 2A/3A Wesco League South Conference, 2-6 overall; Lynnwood 4-2 in 2A/3A Wesco League South Conference, 6-2 overall

Mountlake Terrace next game: versus Shorewood, Friday, Oct. 28, 8:00 p.m. at Edmonds Stadium

Lynnwood next game: versus Shorecrest, Friday, Oct. 28, 7:00 p.m. at Shoreline Stadium

–By Doug Petrowski