Second-half surge sends Mountain View to 42-28 playoff win over Edmonds-Woodway

Maybe Mountain View should make a habit of spending halftime out on the field.

Overnight rains flooded the locker rooms at McKenzie Stadium, forcing the Thunder to spend halftime outside in their Class 3A state preliminary playoff game Saturday against Edmonds-Woodway.

Mountain View (9-1) will learn its first-round state opponent when state seeding is announced Sunday.

That seemed to do the trick for the Thunder, who scored touchdowns on five consecutive second-half drives to outrun the Warriors 42-28 and qualify for the 3A state playoffs.

“I didn’t say a lot,” Mountain View coach Aaron Hart said of his halftime speech. “It was just challenging them. I always talk to them about how we have to come out one drive at a time, one play at a time, one tackle at a time. We’re just going to chunk away at it.”

Mountain View found itself down 21-7 after what Hart labeled the Thunder’s worst half of football since a season-opening loss to Nooksack Valley.

The Thunder had a 69-yard touchdown pass and a 27-yard touchdown run both called back on penalties in the first half. They had a first down at the 6-yard line and did not score. And then a surprise onside kick didn’t work, setting up Edmonds-Woodway to add a late touchdown before halftime.

“We played poorly in that first half,” Hart said. “It felt reminiscent of the Nooksack game. Things just got away from us. But this time we were able to correct them in the second half.”

Porter Drake rushed for 235 yards and three touchdowns, with 197 yards and all three scores coming the second half.

“We knew we could run the rock over them,” senior lineman Juan Pasillas-Stanton said “We have the best back in the league. We just told each other to keep going.”

Drake capped the Thunder’s opening drive with a 5-yard touchdown run. After the defense got a quick three-and-out, Drake added a 44-yard touchdown run on the next play from scrimmage to tie the game 21-21 with 6:33 left in the third quarter.

Mountain View got a fourth-down stop on its own 30, then drove 70 yards for the go-ahead score, a 7-yard run by Drake with 1:33 left in the third.

“That offensive line is so good,” Hart said. “They just came out a little flat in the first half. I have no idea why. But they were able to come back from that and play hard.”

The Thunder stretched their lead to 42-21 in the fourth quarter before the Warriors added a late touchdown.

The second half Saturday – and last week against Richland – showed just how good the Thunder can be. If they can put together four quarters of that kind of football, they will be a tough matchup in the state playoffs.

But it must start earlier, Hart said.

“We just can’t come out flat against these next opponents,”  Hart said. “The teams are going to get incrementally tougher. So we have to play better from the get-go.”

MOUNTAIN VIEW 42, EDMONDS-WOODWAY 28

E-W        7 14  0  7—28

MV         0  7 21 14—42

First quarter

E-W — David Danyo 36 pass from Steven Warren (Danel Kasapovic kick)

Second quarter

E-W — Diego Escando 18 pass from Warren (Kasapovic kick)

MV — Cash Cook 2 run (Owen Purvis kick)

E-W — Rashaad Gerona-Chatters 2 run (Kasapovic kick)

Third quarter

MV — Porter Drake 5 run (Purvis kick)

MV — Drake 44 run (Purvis kick)

MV — 7 run (Purvis kick)

Fourth quarter

MV — Aiden Nicholson 14 pass from Cash (Purvis kick)

MV — Cook 2 run (Purvis kick)

E-W — Escandon 69 pass from Warren (Kasapovic kick)

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING — Edmonds-Woodway: Rashaad Gerona-Chatters 10-37, Christopher Cruz-Akre 3-9, Carmelo LaRocca 1-17, Steven Warren 4-(-11). Mountain View: Porter Drake 22-235, Cash Cook 13-64, JJ Thompson 6-30, Jaden Brown 2-4.

PASSING — Edmonds-Woodway: Steven Warren 26-35-1-352. Mountain View: Cash Cook 11-18-1-202.

RECEIVING — Edmonds-Woodway: Diego Escandon 11-176, Rashaad Gerona-Chatters 3-11, Jesse Hart 7-93, Cannon Kennard 2-8, David Danyo 1-36, Christopher Cruz-Akre 1-21, Alex Bloy 1-7. Mountain View: JJ Thompson 3-71, Aiden Nicholson 3-48, Ayden Cummings 1-21, Akili Kamau 1-8, Porter Drake 1-20, Felix Cuevas 2-34.