After making a run at Bellevue the week prior, Mercer Island had new confidence going into the game against Mount Si on Thursday evening. That confidence showed during the Islanders 42-12 win over the Wildcats.

Mercer Island head coach Brett Ogata said after last week’s game, in which the Islanders made a comeback in the final minutes against Bellevue, that the Islanders gained confidence, knowing if they could play with Bellevue, they could play with anyone.

“Just confidence,” Ogata said of what the Islanders took from last week’s game. “Our guys just realized that if we can play with Bellevue we can play with anyone. The kids are learning how to win games, they aren’t getting too excited and that’s an important piece.”

The game started off with Jeff Lindquist passing to junior tight end Zach Bucklin to get a 7-0 game rolling. The team added another in the second to have a 14-0 lead over Mount Si, before the Wildcats scored near the end of the half. The teams ended two quarters with a 14-7 score.

In the first, Mercer Island’s defense did a solid job of slowing Mount Si, and turning the shortage of yards in their favor.

“We’ve been working on tackling and being really aggressive and that showed tonight,” said the coach.

Back in the third quarter Lindquist connected with Nicky Sinclair with 5:21 in the quarter for a 2-7 game after Alex Wood’s kick was blocked.

The team added another touchdown with 2:29 left, this time adding a two point converstion to make it 28-7.

In the final quarter the of the game, the Lindquist-Sinclair duo struck again, to make it 35-7.

Ogata credited Sinclair with a great game, one that has been in the works for a while. Sinclair, who had a serious knee injury last year, has slowly been making his way back into the game for the Islanders this fall.

“Nicky Sinclair really stood out tonight. He really had a good game for us,” said his coach. “He had a really bad knee injury last year, and came back and had a wonderful game. It was really cool, his grandpa was on the sidelines tonight and he got to call the play, the one actually he caught the touchdown on. That was pretty fun. It was a great night for his family.”

Mount Si scored with 6:38 left in the game, to make it 35-14, but the Islanders would have one more run before the game ended.

Connor Bernal, breaking a school record, made a 65-yard touchdown run with 3:48 left to go for the final points of the night.

Mercer Island is now 3-1 in league games and 4-2 overall. The Islanders will travel to Liberty next Friday, Oct. 14 for another KingCo game.

“We’re just constantly trying to get better. We’re playing another team that’s going to be tough, we have to do it again,” said Ogata of this week’s match up.

Mercer Island returns home on Oct. 21 for homecoming against Sammamish.