MARYSVILLE — The Tommies hit their first speed bump of the of the year in a clash of unbeatens early in the season.

Marysville-Pilchuck had difficulty adjusting to the Jackson pressure in a 2-0 loss March 30.

“We maybe kind of got shocked a little bit,” said Tomahawks manager Geoff Kittle. “At times we didn’t do some of the things we’ve been saying all along were going to hurt us.”

Jackson (6-0) took advantage of an M-P defensive line that was caught being uncharacteristically out of position a number of times in the first half.

Meanwhile, Jackson forced the issue, racking up seven offsides calls in the first 40 minutes. But amidst those overzealous runs were a pair of goals. The first came in 22nd minute by way of Moris Vrachovski’s cross. Caleb Houvener ran down the middle unchecked for the finish. Haouvener then set up Guy Shively in a similar play just five minutes later.

The Tommies hadn’t trailed by more than a goal since last year’s state quarterfinal match against eventual state champion Stadium. But Kittle said they’ve been making similar mistakes most of the matches this season, but opponents haven’t capitalized.

“We’ve been lucky that some teams haven’t finished,” he said. “They are technically strong and we paid for those mistakes tonight. The fact that we now paid because we weren’t defending appropriately, that should get their attention.”

Jackson controlled much of the possession from that point on, as Marysville had many runs ended by taking too many chances.

“We just got too fancy,” said Kittle. “We need to keep it on the deck and playing in space — and we tried to force too much.”

The Tommies had a few chances, however, including a shot off the crossbar by Jesus Valenzuela, but those were few and far between. M-P was outshot by Jackson 12-4.

There were spurts of positive play for the Tommies, and Kittle estimated that his boys played like he knew they could for about 30 minutes.

“We actually didn’t play a bad game. We had chances that we just weren’t able to finish,” he said. “Maybe on a different night, we connect on a few of those crosses that we missed, but we’ve got to play that way for all 80 minutes.”

The loss knocks M-P down to 6-1 overall and 5-1 in the Western Conference. The Tommies play Cascade at Everett Memorial Stadium April 6.