Football falls to Rebels

It was a wet end to the regular football season last Friday night as Mercer Island fell 39-7 to the Juanita Rebels.

The evening started off when three straight quarters of unanswered Juanita touchdowns before the Islanders found a way around the Rebels defense to get through to the end zone.

During the first quarter, the Rebels’ Jeremiah Laufasa was unstoppable, scoring twice in the first 12 minutes, making a 62 sprint down the sideline with 8:16 left in the first quarter. His second score of the quarter was with 1:24 left on the clock to end the first portion of the game with a 13-0 lead for Juanita.

In the second quarter, Mercer Island’s possession woes continued as the Rebels’ defensive line consistently found a way to get coverage on the receivers and quarterback Jeff Lindquist, making it difficult for Lindquist to find solid passing routes.

While the Islanders struggled, Juanita’s senior running back Cole Graves scored twice. With 9:55 left to play in the half, Graves found a hole and ran for a 55-yard touchdown. A minute later, the Rebels pushed through and Graves made a 6-yard run, but a holding call on the Rebels forced the play back to the opposite end of the field.

In the middle of the second quarter, Juanita fumbled and the Islanders were able to recover, potentially setting the team up for a momentum change in the game, but penalties pushed the team farther away from its goal before Lindquist aimed a fourth down pass that flew high in the end zone.

With 28.3 seconds left on the clock in the first half, Graves found another way through the Islanders defense to finish the half with the Rebels leading the home team 25-0.

The Islanders were able to hold the Rebels’ offensive line to just seven points during the third quarter after Juanita’s Andre Casino made a 6-yard run with 5:17 left in the quarter. Despite previous attempts to keep Laufasa from scoring, he found a way past the Islanders to catch a 34-yard pass from quarterback Derek Kaufman with 11:40 left in the final quarter of the game to take the score to 39-0.

Things finally clicked for the Islanders at the 7:18-minute mark as Lindquist found Ben Emanuels for a 54-yard pass to move the ball the closest that the Islanders had been to the end zone in a long time. Islander Doug Mahony made the final 1-yard sprint to get Mercer Island on the boards for the first time all night. Both teams held each other pointless for the rest of the game to end it 39-7.

This Friday, the Islanders will travel to Memorial Stadium to play Chief Sealth beginning at 5 p.m. in the final game of the season.

Contact Mercer Island Reporter Sports Writer Megan Managan at mmanagan@mi-reporter.com or (206) 232-1215 ext. 5054.

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