MARYSVILLE — With a little help from Jackson and a lot of hard running on the ground, the Marysville-Pilchuck football team became the league’s team to beat as they improved to 5-0 with a win over Arlington.

Thanks to the Tomahawks’ 37-15 win as they celebrated a century of M-P football and Jackson’s 50-49 overtime win over Lake Stevens, the Tomahawks are the last unbeaten team in Wesco North.

Whether they’ll hold that status for long remains to be seen as the Tomahawks visit the Vikings Oct. 10 in a clash for first place. Both teams remain unbeaten in league play and both are capable of putting a lot of points on the board.

Marysville arrived at 5-0 thanks to the dominance of the running game. While Arlington received first and scored on their opening drive. Quarterback Jake Parduhn and running back Kellen Botten drove the ball 73 yards down the field, culminating in a five-yard touchdown pass from Parduhn to wide receiver Connor Varnell, to go up 7-0 in the first three and a half minutes.

Within 10 seconds, Marysville answered the Arlington score as senior Andy Abadam returned the Arlington kickoff about 90 yards for a Tomahawk touchdown.

The next several drives set the tone for much of the rest of the game. After holding Arlington to three downs and a punt, running back tandem Austin Denton and Caleb Posey put up big runs. Denton broke free for a 50-yarder, while Posey’s 12 yards set up Denton’s scoring run for a 12-7 lead with 3:43 left in the first quarter.

Defensively, the Tomahawks got to Arlington too, specifically Parduhn. Multiple Tommie defenders got in Parduhn’s face during the game and the junior was sacked three times, hurried several more.

It was 20-7 by halftime as Caleb Posey ran the ball in from four yards out. Wide receiver Levi Cartas caught the ball for a successful two-point conversion.

Both teams turned the ball over a couple of times but neither team would score as a result. Arlington had success driving the ball after a second Posey score as Parduhn strung together big passes to wide receiver Jon Shell with nine- and 11-yard gains on keepers to set up a 10-yard touchdown pass in the final seven minutes. With a two-point conversion to Dylan Lindberg, Arlington trailed 30-15.

Denton would give Marysville their final score on a two-yard run in the final four minutes.

Marysville put all 37 of their points on the board through a 473-yard effort by the running backs. Denton led the offense, gaining 233 yards on 27 carries, while Posey and Ryan Sterley also had 10 carries.

If there was a bright spot in the game for Arlington, it was the emergence of an Eagle running game. Led by Botten, Arlington gained 186 yards on the ground on 29 carries. Arlington coach Greg Dailer said he hopes the development will better protect Parduhn.

“With that balance, they won’t be able to key on Jake as much,” he said.

Despite the win, Tomahawk coach Brandon Carson said there’s still work to be done, especially with Lake Stevens as the next opponent.

“We’re going to look at the film and realize we have got to get better,” he said. “We’re putting it on the ground way too much.”

At M-PHS

Marysville 12 8 3 14 37

Arlington 7 0 0 8 15