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The Meadowdale Mavericks had hoped their 3A Wesco League crossover game against the Snohomish Panthers on Halloween night would be a celebratory party, ending with a much-coveted WIAA 3A State Week 10 Playoff berth.
Instead, the Mavericks committed a season-high four fumbles — all in the first half — and were never able to recover, falling to the Panthers 39-14 Friday night at Edmonds Stadium.
Three of the Mavs’ fumbles came in the first 5:15 of the game. And with each giveaway, the opportunistic Panthers took full advantage, reaching the end zone on their ensuing offensive possession — and twice scoring in just one play.
The Mavs’ first offensive possession lasted just four plays before the team fumbled the ball away at midfield. On the next play, Snohomish freshman quarterback Nate Kendall connected with Jack Rotondo for a 51-yard touchdown-scoring bomb. After a botched point-after-touchdown attempt, the Panthers led 6-0 less than five minutes into the contest.
On the ensuing kickoff, Meadowdale fumbled on the kick return and Snohomish was back on offense at the Mavs’ 38-yard line. The Panthers wasted no time scoring again as Kendall found Chase Clark for a 38-yard TD, giving the visitors a 12-0 advantage.
On the second play of the next possession, another Mavericks’ fumble and Panthers’ recovery set the visitors up at the Meadowdale 45-yard line. Eight plays later, Snohomish’s Luke Sage scored on a 2-yard run and the Panthers were up 19-0 late in the first quarter.
Up to that point, the Mavs had run just six plays from scrimmage but had committed three fumbles.
“Just miscues,” Meadowdale Coach Antwoine Gamble said after the game. “I don’t even want to blame (the weather). It wasn’t weather, it really wasn’t because, early on, it wasn’t raining.”
The Mavericks’ fourth fumble came with just 1:49 to go in the second quarter, but that was more than enough time for the Panthers to score again. On the second play after the takeaway, Kendall threw another TD pass, this one 37 yards to Rotondo with 1:16 remaining in the half.
The rout was now on as Snohomish was up 26-7 at halftime.
The Panthers kept the Mavs in check throughout the second half as the only Meadowdale points scored after the halftime intermission came with just four seconds remaining in the game, when backup QB Nolan Lee tossed a 15-yard TD pass to Nolan Swanson.
The Mavericks’ only other touchdown in the contest was scored by Cayden Rivera on a 3-yard rush with 4:41 to go in the first half.
The 3A Wesco League crossover game pitted Meadowdale, the No. 3 finisher in the 3A league’s South Conference, against Snohomish, the No. 5 finisher in the North Conference, with the winner punching their ticket to a 3A state round-of-32 playoff game. And while Snohomish had placed behind Sedro-Woolley, Mount Vernon, Stanwood and Ferndale in their conference — and had picked up only two wins in their eight games this season prior to Friday — Gamble knew his Mavs would be in for a battle against the Panthers.
“Seeing Snohomish’s film, us coaches seeing that, we knew that they were a high-caliber team,” Gamble said. “Their record was not indicative of who they were. They played some tough teams up there in the North (Conference). They were close games; they were good games. And we as a coaching staff knew that.”
On Friday, against a Mavericks’ defense that was playing without key senior Kealoha Kepo’o-Sabate in the secondary, Kendall completed nine of 15 pass attempts for 202 yards and three touchdowns.
“To say that we didn’t miss him is an understatement,” Gamble said of Kepo’o-Sebate, who sat out his second straight game due to a knee injury.
The loss was the second in a row for Meadowdale (4-3-0 in 3A Wesco League South Conference, 6-3 overall) in games that would have — with a win — sent them to the Week 10 round-of-32 state playoffs. Last year the Mavs fell to Stanwood 52-3 in a Wesco League crossover/winner-to-playoff game.
Gamble and his coaching staff, disappointed with Friday’s defeat, will need to shake it off to lead the Mavericks in one last week of practice before their final game of the 2025 season, to be scheduled against a yet-to-be-determined opponent on Nov. 6, 7 or 8.
“We’ve won some games (this year) and we’re turning the page but we’re still trying to teach these kids how to love themselves and how to love their teammates and how to win,” Gamble said. “We’ve got a shot at seven — we can get seven wins this year — which would be monumental and great; but we’ve got to love ourselves through this week because it’s going to be hard.”
Prep Football: Snohomish at Meadowdale, Oct. 31 (Wesco League 3A crossover game; winner to the WIAA 3A State Football Playoffs)
Snohomish 19 7 6 7 – 39
Meadowdale 0 7 0 7 – 14
1st quarter scoring:
7:51 – Nate Kendall (Snohomish) 51-yard TD pass to Jack Rotondo; PAT kick attempt fails
7:36 – Nate Kendall (Snohomish) 38-yard TD pass to Chase Clark; 2-point conversion is good
3:34 – Luke Sage (Snohomish) 2-yard TD run; Zachary Khorrami PAT kick is good
2nd quarter scoring:
4:41 – Cayden Rivera (Meadowdale) 3-yard TD run; Holden Johnson PAT kick is good
1:16 – Nate Kendall (Snohomish) 37-yard TD pass to Jack Rotondo; Zachary Khorrami PAT kick is good
3rd quarter scoring:
:21 – Luke Sage (Snohomish) 1-yard TD run; PAT kick attempt fails
4th quarter scoring:
3:08 – Garrett Gunnerson (Snohomish) 6-yard TD run; Zachary Khorrami PAT kick is good
:04 – Nolan Lee (Meadowdale) 15-yard TD pass to Nolan Swanson; Holden Johnson PAT kick is good
Records: Meadowdale 4-3-0 in 3A Wesco League South Conference, 6-3 overall; Snohomish 3-4-0 in 3A Wesco League North Conference, 3-6 overall
Meadowdale next game: opponent to be determined; time, date and place to be announced (final game of the Meadowdale 2025 season)
Snohomish next game: opponent to be determined; time, date and place to be announced (WIAA 3A State Football Week 10 round-of-32 playoff game)
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