On Friday, Oct 7, the Arlington Eagles bounced back after previous week’s loss to Stanwood by beating the Marysville-Pilchuck Tomahawks 44-23. Arlington (3-2 in league games, 4-2 overall) remains in third place in Wesco 3A North, while Marysville-Pilchuck (2-3, 3-3) is still in fourth place. 

The Eagles jumped out to a convincing lead almost immediately, scoring the first 28 points of the game. Sophomore quarterback #7 Leyton Martin threw a long  pass to sophomore receiver #23 Chase Deberry that was completed in the end zone over two Tomahawk defenders for the Eagles’ first score. 

Their second touchdown came on another pass, this time a short one to sophomore tight end #90 Billy Kooy, which was his first career varsity touchdown. “It was unreal,” Kooy said. “I felt so calm and in the moment.” After Kooy’s score, the Arlington student section erupted, chanting his name. “My favorite moment was when the crowd was chanting Billy Buckets,” said Kooy, who also plays basketball. “That got me hype!”

 Junior receiver #6 Kaleb Adams returned a punt for a touchdown with 2:21 to go in the first quarter, and then Martin scrambled behind the line, evading multiple defenders before throwing a touchdown to junior receiver and quarterback #5 Jacoby Falor to complete Arlington’s streak of 28 unanswered points. “My favorite moment of the game,” said #45 sophomore linebacker Alex Cunningham.

Marysville-Pilchuck was able to get a pick-6 to snap the run with 28 seconds left in the first half, making the score 28-7 going into the break, a much different halftime feeling for Arlington than last week. “Momentum is everything,” said Cunningham. “We stopped playing as young.”

However, in the third quarter, Martin got injured on a run, and was immediately taken out of the game. He broke his wrist and will miss the rest of the season. Falor is expected to start at quarterback for the rest of the year, which he did earlier in the season. “Jacoby is a great QB” said sophomore lineman #75 Dylan Scott. “At the beginning of the season he played good and last night he threw dimes and ran great.”

Falor had multiple nice runs in the game after replacing Martin, and threw a long touchdown pass to sophomore receiver #4 Jake Willis. After that score, the Eagles took out their starters, giving other players a chance to play. Sophomore kicker #33 Adam Storey Jr. made a field goal during this stretch, pushing the Eagles lead to its final score of 44-23. 

“Winning a game after a losing streak always feels nice,” said senior lineman #70 Payton Conner. “Winning this game was necessary for making it to the playoffs which makes it feel even better.”