EVERETT — The Cougars threw just about everything they could at the Wildcats.
In a battle of the Cascade Conference’s top football teams Oct. 1, Lakewood lost a wild one to Archbishop Murphy 35-28, though it wasn’t for lack of effort — or creativity.
“We knew they scout really well and prepare for you, but if you throw some things at them that they hadn’t seen before, you can catch them off guard,” said Lakewood coach Dan Teeter. “And you’ve got to hand it to our kids — we threw some wrinkles in the play book — and they executed.”
A flea-flicker, hook-and-ladder, an intentionally spiked lateral to a wide receiver who then threw it down field and three onside kicks — one recovered — helped the Cougars stay right with the top-ranked Class 2A team in the state, but in the end it wasn’t enough.
The Cougars trailed 35-14 with eight minutes remaining in the fourth quarter, but scored twice in the next five minutes to bring them within striking distance. On a flee flicker, quarterback Justin Lane found Brandon Stott open for a 38-yard touchdown reception. The Cougars then recovered an onside kick and drove the ball down the field to score two and a half minutes later on a 4-yard pass from Lane to Justin Peterson.
The Cougars then forced an ATM fumble on a fourth-and-nine situation to get one more shot at tying the game with the ball back on their own 36 with under 35 seconds remaining. But an interception two plays later effectively ended the game.
“I was pleased with the way they battled,” said Teeter. “It hurts to come up short, but that just shows that you worked hard in the summer because if you don’t work hard, it doesn’t hurt much when you lose and there are some tears out here on the field.”
The Cougars started out fast, scoring on a 65-yard pass from Lane to tight end Dustin Stanton. Murphy countered with a pair of touchdowns and the score was 14-14 when Murray ran in a 1-yard score for Lakewood in the second quarter.
The Cougars worked mainly out of the shotgun to keep Murphy’s tandem of Division 1 linemen prospects, Taniela Tupou and Julius Tevaga, from getting to Lane, who completed 16 of 32 passes for 317 yards and three touchdowns.
