Mercer Island beats Juanita, will take part in 3-team playoff for postseason spot | Prep football

Islanders tied with Redmond, Interlake for final two playoff berths.

Mercer Island, Interlake and Redmond will decide who gets the final two postseason berths out of KingCo 3A with a three-team playoff Tuesday night at Juanita High School.

After Mercer Island’s 24-14 upset win over the Juanita Rebels in its KingCo league finale Friday, the Islanders (4-5, 2-3 in KingCo) found themselves tied with Redmond (3-6, 2-3) and Interlake (6-3, 2-3) in conference standings for the league’s final two playoff spots.

And so, the three teams will square off in two “mini-games” for the league’s second and third playoff seeds, Mercer Island head coach Brett Ogata told the Reporter. Interlake and Redmond will compete in a two-quarter contest, with the winner earning KingCo 3A’s second seed.

After a 20-minute “halftime” period, the loser will take on Mercer Island for the third seed in a second two-quarter game. The matchups were decided by coin flip Friday night, Ogata said.

The Islanders were already clinging to their playoff lives heading into Friday’s game against the Rebels (4-4, 3-2), who secured KingCo’s top seed with Bellevue (5-1, 5-0) ineligible for postseason play due to sanctions handed down from the league.

But behind a defense that limited the Rebels to six points through the first three quarters of play, the Islanders stormed out to a 24-6 advantage and held off the Juanita offense down the stretch.

Interlake and Redmond are scheduled to kick off at 7 p.m. Tuesday night in Kirkland.