On a misty evening in Kirkland, Mercer Island football fell 51-6 to Juanita High School in a game marred by injuries and turnovers.

The Islanders, now 0-2 in league play coming off the wrong end of a 56-0 blowout against Bellevue last week, battled until the end but need to learn how to better handle adversity, Coach Brett Ogata said.

“Bad things are going to happen, so it’s how we react to that and and respond to that,” he said. “Tonight, we didn’t really handle it well, and that causes problems. It’s a growing process, and we’ve got to grow from it and get better.”

A bright spot came in the second quarter, when Jackson Caputo intercepted a pass in the red zone, and quarterback Blake Swanson swung an 8-yard pass to Griffin Kane for Mercer Island’s only score of the night. Before that, they were down 16-0, having given up two touchdowns and a safety.

The Islanders were driving efficiently to start the game, with Swanson gaining yards on the ground and completing passes to Jordano Mark and Kane. After failing to convert a fourth down at the 16-yard line and turning the ball over on downs, Mercer Island forced a three-and-out for Juanita.

Then, the problems began. The Islanders fumbled the ball on the punt return. Juanita’s quarterback, Tavin Montgomery, drove the Rebels into the endzone, escaping several Island defenders and scrambling for a touchdown run. Before the end of the first quarter, the Islanders would again turn the ball over on downs, making way for a 34-yard touchdown run by Rebel Dean Sise.

Swanson threw two interceptions on subsequent drives to Diego Moctezuma and AJ Peacocke. In the second half, things kept going well for Juanita and poorly for Mercer Island. Eric Kim, Jack O’Connell and Swanson came out with injuries. The Islanders continued to find themselves in third or fourth and long yardage situations, and failed to convert them. Sophomore Nikhil Nayer, in as quarterback, threw an interception on his last play of the night.

Moctezuma, Salvon Ahmed and Tristan Morgan added scores for Juanita, contributing to the final of 51-6.

“We only punted once tonight, and yet we only scored six points,” Ogata said. “We just had turnovers, and turnovers, and that was the name of the game. If you turn the ball over, you’re not going to win the game, and blowouts like this happen.”