If Friday’s luck were any omen, the 11-game streak might stretch a little further.
The Inglemoor High football team dropped a nonconference game to Lake Washington, 31-21, on Friday at Mac Field in Kirkland. The Vikings (0-2) lost not only the game for the 11th consecutive outing, but also withstood an injury to starting quarterback Brayden Mills.
The senior was crushed during a sack attempt late in the fourth quarter, spending several minutes on the ground before being carried to the sideline. Junior Dahlton Sullivan stepped in for the final series.
UPDATE: Mills broke the fibula in his right leg and dislocated his right ankle. He had surgery on Saturday, Sept. 10, and is expected to miss the remainder of the season.
“Right now, it looks like [Mills] has a pretty serious injury, so we have to wait and see what the evaluation is,” said coach DJ Baddeley. “[Sullivan is] a guy that was competing for the job last year, so we’re going to see how he’s doing. Next man up.”
Next man up.
The sentiment was echoed by senior Alex Crotteau, who caught a touchdown pass from Sullivan with seconds remaining in the game.
“It’s the next man up,” he said. “Dahlton is talented. We all love him.”
The 6-foot-2, 190-pound Sullivan looked good in his limited minutes, but downplayed his role in the upcoming week.
“I believe in Brayden,” Sullivan said. “He’s a really good friend of mine, and I trust that he’ll get better. I believe in him to get better. If he doesn’t, then I’m doing it all for him.”
Mills was sacked twice during the series in which he was injured, both times by Lake Washington linebacker Rudy Wilkes. The knock came as Inglemoor offense had managed to pick up some momentum in the passing game. Mills hit Crotteau and Cole Kindschi for short gains, but the holes finally began to open in the offensive line.
Sullivan’s appearance came minutes after the final straw from Lake Washington’s offense: a 41-yard touchdown pass from quarterback Adam Long to Domonic Roussell with just over six minutes to play. The score gave Lake Washington a 24-14 lead and enough breathing room to play aggressive on defense.
Mills completed 12 of 29 passing attempts for 87 yards, and was intercepted once. Several balls were dropped, including a delicate pass to senior Chin Ugokwoli that easily could have resulted in a 76-yard score.
The touchdown would have given Inglemoor a lead. Instead, the Vikings trailed 17-7 at halftime, having garnered all their points from an 8-yard touchdown from Riley Mersberg in the second quarter.
“We had our chances in the first half, and we put our defense in bad spots,” Baddeley said. “Offensively, we’re a better team than we’re showing and we need to execute.”
Kyle Loken ran 13 times for 56 yards. Mersberg ran five times for 25 yards.
Next, Inglemoor is scheduled to begin conference play against Issaquah at 7 p.m. on Friday, Sept. 16 at Issaquah High School.
SUMMARY
At Mac Field, Kirkland
Inglemoor 0 7 0 14
Lake Washington 0 17 0 14
Second quarter
LW — Sean Gordon 19 pass from Adam Long (Lance D’Alessio kick), 11:54
I — Riley Mersberg 8 run (Dahlton Sullivan kick), 10:32
LW — D’Alessio 21 field goal, 5:19
LW — Colby Coco 57 pass from Long (D’Alessio kick), 2:00
Fourth quarter
I — Cole Kindschi 1 run (Sullivan kick), 8:31
LW — Domonic Roussell 41 pass from Long (D’Alessio kick), 6:08
LW — Ryan Clifford 20 run (D’Alessio kick), 2:11
I — Alex Crotteau 2 pass from Sullivan (Sullivan kick), :06
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING — I: Kyle Loken 13-56, Mersberg 5-25, Sullivan 4-8, Christopher Birmingham 1-5, Brayden Mills 5-(minute 26); LW: Clifford 25-145, Long 4-11, Caleb Rickels 2-7.
PASSING — I: Mills 12-29-1-87, Sullivan 3-4-0-52; LW: Long 8-20-0-235.
RECEIVING — I: Kindschi 3-65, Crotteau 6-27, Mersberg 1-(minus 1), Loken 1-(minus 2); LW: Roussell 3-112, Coco 3-82, Gordon 1-19, Shelby Merkatz 1-12.
