The Arlington Eagles (7-2 overall, 5-0 conf.)  face off against the Bonney Lake Panthers (5-4 overall, 4-3 conf.) at 7pm on Friday, November 6th in a game that will send the winner to the state tournament.

While Bonney Lake’s record in away games of 2-1 is greater than their home record, which sits at 2-3, the Panthers five wins this season (including postseason) have come against teams with a combined record of 9-36. Factoring in the fact that the Eagles are undefeated when playing at home points to a tough night for Bonney Lake.

This year has been a standout year in the Eagles passing game, with quarterback Drew Kalahar (‘16) having finished the regular season with 2,141 passing yards and 23 touchdowns, and throwing for another 395 yards and two scores against Glacier Peak in the 19-29 loss in the Wesco 3A District Championship. Look for Donavan Sellgren and Kyle Bayer to make big plays in the air raid like they have all season.

Sellgren, with 667 receiving yards on 58 receptions in the regular season, and another 219 yards and a score in the loss to Glacier Peak, caught 11 of Kalahar’s touchdowns during the regular season, and has been the senior quarterback’s favorite wideout this year.

Bayer has been the other standout in the receiving game, hauling in 659 yards on 48 catches in the regular season, and catching 9 of Kalahar’s touchdowns. Bayer also put up another 138 yards on five catches against Glacier Peak.

The Panthers are coming into this game with some solid momentum, winning three of their last four games. While the Bonney Lake defense has been stout almost all year, giving up just 20 points or fewer in all five of their wins, their 31-0 loss to Bellarmine Prep, the 9th ranked 4A team in Washington coming into November, shows their struggles both on offense and defense when facing higher caliber teams.

Against the Eagles, the Panthers can looks to run into the same troubles both on defense and offense, with Arlington’s defense allowing just 219 points against a tough Wesco schedule, and scoring an explosive 322 on the season, the second in Wesco North behind Glacier Peak.  

Arlington, the 10th ranked 3A Washington team coming into November, looks to come back from a hard fought loss against Glacier Peak last week and move on to the state playoffs.