Prep football: End-of-game TD gives Mavs win over Warriors in annual rivalry game

Few would have thought that this year’s “Stadium Jam” rivalry game between the Meadowdale Mavericks and the Edmonds-Woodway Warriors could ever match the excitement and suspense of last year’s 34-27 come-from-behind thriller when the Mavericks scored the game-winning touchdown with 1:03 to go.

Think again.

With just 10 seconds on the clock, Meadowdale’s Kealoha Kepo’o-Sabate hauled in a 17-yard touchdown pass from Ki Gamble to give the Mavs a heart-stopping 34-31 victory over the Warriors in a game played Friday at Edmonds Stadium — and certainly to be remembered in this rivalry for some time.

Down 31-27 with 3:54 to go, the Mavericks drove 72 yards in 12 plays, capped off when Kepo’o-Sabate found some space in the end zone and pulled down the game-winning catch as a Warrior defender was clinging to his side.

“It was a broken play — I’m going to be honest with you,” Kepo’o-Sabate said. “The ball wasn’t intended to go to me at the start. Our quarterback trusted himself, rolled it out, saw me in the corner, threw it up. And the story ends there.”

Following the Kepo’o-Sabate touchdown and subsequent PAT kick, Edmonds-Woodway was able to get in two plays from scrimmage in the game’s final 10 seconds. But the Warriors  could only advance the ball to midfield as the clock ran out, giving Meadowdale the big win.

“This feels great,” Kepo’o-Sabate said after the victory. “My boys, my teammates, they never give up.”

That Meadowdale never-give-up attitude was tested late when the team, after building a 27-17 lead with 8:09 to go, surrendered a pair of fourth-quarter scores to E-W. After Aidan Osborne scored on a 43-yard TD run to put the Mavs up by 10, the Warriors only needed two plays — a 70-yard pass from quarterback George Gizzi to Nolan Lee and a 5-yard TD run by Carmelo LaRocca — to pull within three points, 27-24.

Then after a Mavericks’ three-and-out, E-W went 62 yards in nine plays, ending the drive with a LaRocca touchdown run of five yards and giving the Warriors a 31-27 lead with less than four minutes to go

But E-W wasn’t able to hold off the Mavs on their game-winning final drive of the night.

“It was a crazy game. To be honest, not what I expected,” said Edmonds-Woodway Coach Joe Roth. “It was a little bit of a letdown for our guys, for sure.”

“Meadowdale played hard, I’m not going to take that away from them,” Roth added. “The better team won tonight. That’s the one they wanted. That was their Super Bowl; they got it. We’ll move on.”

LaRocca ended the night with three TD runs for E-W, the first being a 1-yard dive in the first quarter.

Nathan Schlack had perhaps the biggest highlight play of the night for the Warriors when the junior ran back a Meadowdale kickoff 84 yards for a first-quarter touchdown.

Tyler Yates closed out the E-W scoring with a 25-yard field goal at the end of the first half.

Kepo’o-Sabate had two TD pass receptions for Meadowdale in the contest, the first coming with just 42 seconds remaining in the first quarter. Osborne had a pair of TD runs and Gamble finished with three touchdown passes, the two to Kepo’o-Sabate and a TD toss to Jack Baker late in the first half.

Cayen Rivera served as the Mavericks’ workhorse in the rushing game, carrying the ball 28 times for 124 yards.

The two teams combined for more than 700 yards of total offense in the game; neither team had a turnover.

The loss was the first for Edmonds-Woodway (2-1 in 3A Wesco League South Conference, 3-1 overall) this season after starting 3-0 and outscoring their opponents 122-20 in their first three games. The Warriors will next travel north to face undefeated Sedro-Woolley, the No. 8-ranked 3A team in the state according to the Washington State Football Coaches Association poll, on Thursday, Oct. 2.

“We (will) just continue to get better,” Roth said. “We’re not going to be going back to the drawing board; we’re fine. We just need to continue to get better, to work on our craft. We’ll be all right.”

Following their win over E-W, the Mavericks (1-2 in 3A Wesco League South Conference, 2-2 overall) celebrated heartily in their locker room, but also contemplated what still could come this year after finishing 2024 with a 3-7 record.

“This team can go far, you’ll be surprised,” Kepo’o-Sabate said. “You guys will see us in the playoffs, for sure.”

The Mavericks will also be on the road next week as they will face Shorecrest on Friday, Oct. 3, at Shoreline Stadium.

Prep Football: Meadowdale at Edmonds-Woodway, Sept. 26

Meadowdale 7 7 6 14 – 34
Edmonds-Woodway 14 3 0 14 – 31

1st quarter scoring:
8:16 – Carmelo LaRocca (Edmonds-Woodway) 1-yard TD run; Tyler Yates PAT kick good
:42 – Ki Gamble (Meadowdale) 14-yard TD pass to Kealoha Kepo’o-Sabate; Holden Johnson PAT kick good
:28 – Nathan Schlack (Edmonds-Woodway) 84-yard kick return for TD; Tyler Yates PAT kick good

2nd quarter scoring;
1:18 – Ki Gamble (Meadowdale) TD pass to Jack Baker; Holden Johnson PAT kick good
:00 – Tyler Yates (Edmonds-Woodway) 25-yard field goal

3rd quarter scoring:
2:21 – Aidan Osborne (Meadowdale) 9-yard TD run; Holden Johnson PAT kick blocked

4th quarter scoring:
8:09 – Aidan Osborne (Meadowdale) 43-yard TD run; Holden Johnson PAT kick good
7:53 – Carmelo LaRocca (Edmonds-Woodway) 5-yard TD run; Tyler Yates PAT kick good
4:00 – Carmelo LaRocca (Edmonds-Woodway) 9-yard TD run; Tyler Yates PAT kick good
:10 – Ki Gamble (Meadowdale) 17-yard TD pass to Kealoha Kepo’o-Sabate; Holden Johnson PAT kick good

Records: Edmonds-Woodway 2-1 in 3A Wesco League South Conference, 3-1 overall; Meadowdale 1-2 in 3A Wesco League South Conference, 2-2 overall

Edmonds-Woodway next game: versus Sedro-Woolley; Thursday, Oct. 2; 7 p.m. at Sedro-Woolley High School

Meadowdale next game: versus Shorecrest: Friday, Oct. 3; 7 p.m. at Shoreline Stadium