SEATTLE — The Mountain View Thunder like to say that they are making memories together.
This one definitely counts.
The Thunder got to play in Husky Stadium as part of the Emerald City Kickoff Classic.
That’s cool, right?
Then they had to endure a 2-hour, 20-minute weather delay as Emerald City turned into the Electric Company.
Interesting, right?
Then they rallied from a 13-point deficit to beat Auburn 32-21, opening their 2015 high school football season.
Epic.
“That was the most exciting game I’ve ever played in,” said Preston Jones, who rushed for 131 yards and a touchdown and also returned a kickoff for a Thunder TD.
It was certainly the longest of his career.
Not true for Mountain View coach Adam Mathieson, though.
“We played a two-day game against Columbia River, remember?” he asked, referring to the 2011 game that started on a Friday but ended the next day after a power outage. “This is old-hat for us.”
OK, he was joking. No one was prepared for this.
The Thunder, though, said they delay did them good.
Mountain View trailed 7-0 when lightning was first spotted, and when play resumed all that time later, the Thunder took the lead.
They gave it right back, falling behind 21-8, but from there it was all Thunder — with a big T, not a little t.
“I love football,” linebacker Kimball Elliott said, noting that it did not matter to him how long he had to wait. “I just kept the intensity.”
The Mountain View defense shut out the Trojans the final two-and-a-half quarters.
“I was a little upset,” Jones said. “It took a little longer than we had hoped for, but I feel we kept the excitement in the locker room. We kept our minds right.”
The Thunder scored the final 10 points of the first half, then took the lead for good late in the third quarter when quarterback Colin Biggs spotted wide receiver Troy Pacheco, who was not being covered by any of the Trojans. The easy 26-yard touchdown pass made it 25-21.
Auburn would only run eight plays on its next two possessions, and the Mountain View rushing attack killed a lot of clock. Jones then capped the victory with a 29-yard TD run with 59 seconds to play.
“It was amazing. Our defense just started clicking. We struggled at first, but then turned it around,” Elliott said. “After the delay, we came out and started hitting.”
Defensive tackle Isaiah Carbajal said the Thunder used the delay to make some adjustments, and then went to school again during the shortened halftime.
“We drew up what we knew they were doing,” Carbajal said. “We just did a great job, filling our responsibilities.”
Mountain View held Auburn to 100 yards of offense in the second half, 45 coming in the final 59 seconds after Mountain View had the 11-point lead.
The Thunder rushed for 275 yards. Taj Albeck had 95 yards and scored the team’s first touchdown, just moments after the delay.
“It’s kind of like making dreams, you know what I mean,” he said of scoring in Husky Stadium. “Making dreams.”
His TD led to an 8-7 lead. But Auburn would get a kickoff return for a TD and took advantage of a Mountain View turnover to score another.
But then Jones returned a kickoff 80 yards, and, later, Biggs kicked a 26-yard field on the final play of the long first half to make it 21-18.
The Thunder were trailing, but they were feeling good.
“I knew we were going to win before we arrived,” Elliott said.
Winning this way, at that stadium, with a thunderstorm in between all of that?
Special memories for the Thunder.
MOUNTAIN VIEW 32, AUBURN 21
Auburn 7 14 0 0—21
Mtn. View 0 18 7 7—32
First quarter
Aub — Kev Clay 10 run (Caden Borden kick)
Second quarter
MV — Taj Albeck 5 run (Anthony Ramirez run)
Aub — Malik Williams 79 kickoff return (Borden kick)
Aub — Clay 5 run (Borden kick)
MV — Preston Jones 80 kickoff return (Colin Biggs kick)
MV — Biggs 26 FG
Third quarter
MV — Troy Pacheco 26 pass from Biggs
Fourth quarter
MV — Jones 29 run
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING — Auburn, Willams 6-47, Justice Tuia 10-42, Gavin Strajan 6-36, Clay 9-35, Dylan O’Grady 5-17, E.J. Brown 3-11, Zach Redelf 2-5. Mountain View, Jones 19-131, Albeck 15-95, Ramirez 4-25, Biggs 4-25.
PASSING — Auburn, Strajan 2-6-0-17, Tuia 3-5-0-37, Clay 0-1. Mountain View, Biggs 3-9-1-37, Ramriez 1-1-0-11.
RECEIVING — Auburn, O’Grady 2-17, Brown 1-17, Clay 1-10, Borden 1-10. Mountain View, Ramirez 2-11, Pacheco 1-26, Grant Francis 1-11.
