By Kiara Doyal, The Seattle Medium
Roosevelt’s Damari “Mar Mar” King was virtually unstoppable as he scored four first-half touchdowns in the Roughriders’ Metro League matchup against the Rainier Beach Vikings.
The Roughriders started off strong as they quickly moved down the field and took a 7-0 lead on King’s first touchdown of the night and a successful extra point attempt by kicker Jason Page just 40 seconds into the game.
The Roughriders’ defense started the game off strong by forcing Rainier Beach to punt on their first possession. Following the punt, Roosevelt continued to dominate, as King was like a lightning bolt on the field, advancing the ball to the Rainier Beach three-yard line, and then scoring his second touchdown of the night, bringing the score to 14-0.
The Beach Boys then regained possession and gave the ball right back to Roosevelt, as the Roughriders’ Jojo Paaga intercepted a pass on the Vikings’ first down. Following the interception, King scored his third touchdown of the night. However, the extra point attempt was blocked by a Viking defender, as the Roughriders stretched their lead to 20-0 within the first six minutes of the first quarter.
Trying to take every chance they got, play by play, the Beach Boys looked to gain some momentum. However, Roosevelt’s dominant defense was not going to let that happen, as the Roughriders’ Isley Suapaia tackled the Vikings’ Vae Lindsay as soon as the ball touched his hands on their second play after taking possession of the ball. The play set the tone for the defense as they forced another Rainier Beach punt.
The speedy Roughriders looked to score again as they drove the ball down to the Vikings’ 5-yard line. But the Beach Boys held strong and kept King and the Roughriders out of the end zone on consecutive plays, and then regained possession after forcing an incomplete pass on fourth down. However, the excitement for the Vikings was short-lived, as the Roughriders’ Kash Lexing quickly returned an interception for a 15-yard touchdown to give Roosevelt a 28-0 first-quarter lead, following a successful two-point conversion by King.
Rainier Beach restored some energy to their sideline with a big run to the 40-yard line as the first quarter came to an end. However, Beach started the second quarter by punting the ball for a touchback, giving Roosevelt possession. King quickly advanced the ball downfield, but a fumble by Roosevelt was recovered by the Vikings, as the two teams exchanged punts until late in the quarter.
Keeping their heads held high, the Beach Boys inched closer and closer to the end zone but were halted with a 5-yard false start penalty that pushed them back. With a little over two minutes remaining in the second quarter, and the Beach Boys on the move, Vikings’ quarterback Micah Ili-Meneese scored a 6-yard touchdown run that was followed by a successful extra point to cut the Roosevelt lead to 28-7.
Roosevelt quickly responded to the Beach Boys’ touchdown, as they advanced downfield, quickly reaching the 5-yard line. After calling a timeout, Roosevelt quarterback Dalton Anderson connected with King on a touchdown pass, giving King his fourth touchdown of the night, bringing the lead to 35-7 as the two teams went into halftime.
The Roughriders began the second half with the same intensity they ended the first half with, as Lexing scored on a 14-yard touchdown just minutes into the third quarter to stretch Roosevelt’s lead to 42-7.
Still trying to remain positive, Micah Ili-Meneese was giving it his all to move the ball down the field, but King made his presence felt on defense as he managed to sack the Vikings’ quarterback.
Later in the quarter, the Vikings’ luck continued as Paaga fumbled the ball into the end zone, allowing the Beach Boys to take possession before the quarter ended, as the score remained 42-7.
Both teams struggled to move the ball during the fourth quarter. Rainier Beach’s Micah Ili-Meneese continued moving the ball downfield for his team, and Ze Watkins made some key tackles, but it wasn’t enough to help the Vikings close the gap, as Roosevelt secured a comfortable 42-7 victory over Rainier Beach.
Despite the great win, Roosevelt Head Football Coach Sam Adams feels that his team still has work left to be done.
“It was an alright game, we played alright, it was pretty sloppy for us tonight,” says Adams. “We have a lot of work to do, a lot of things we need to clean up to get us where we want to be for our big game next week [against O’Dea].”
