Mercer Island Football Rallies Late But Falls to Bellevue 43-28

Mercer Island scored the final 21 points of the game, but could not overcome a big deficit, falling 43-28 to Bellevue in front of a huge crowd on Friday night at .

The game, which featured a pre-game procession by the sizeable Mercer Island marching band, was billed as a matchup between the top two teams in the KingCo 3A conference and drew a packed house, with 90 percent of the fans cheering .

Bellevue, however, was eager to spoil the experience for the partisan crowd and justify its number-one state ranking and top-15 national ranking. The Wolverines, behind its usual potent running attack and stellar play from quarterback Tyler Hasty, built a 43-7 late in the third quarter, before a spirited Mercer Island comeback made a game of it.

The Islanders forced back-to-back Bellevue turnovers in the four quarter to close the gap and had the ball with over three minutes remaining, trailing by 15, but failed to cut into the lead any further. Mercer Island again had the ball with under two minutes remaining, but time ran out on its final drive.

“We’ll be fine," Mercer Island head coach Brett Ogata said. "It’s a game, obviously, that we wanted to win, but it’s not the end of the world that we lost it.”

For the better part of the first three quarters, it looked like Bellevue would apply its usual beatdown of the Islanders. The Wolverines scored on eight of their first nine possesions, steadily building a lead that looked insurmountable.

The Mercer Island offense, which had looked stagnant through much of the game, finally came to life beginning in the third quarter. Mercer Island quarterback Jeff Lindquist, noticeably tentative and off his game through much of the first two-and-a-half quarters, was benched for a series in the third quarter. After re-entering the game, he looked much more comfortable and led the Islanders on three straight scoring drives, rushing for two touchdowns and passing for another. Lindquist finished with 147 rushing yards and 162 through the air with four total touchowns.

“Jeff calmed down and that was obviously a big key to the whole thing," Ogata said of the comeback. "Jeff realized that he could really do some things out there and I think that will build confidence for us in the future.”

The Islanders defense took advantage of an ankle injury to Bellevue quarterback Tyler Hasty to get the offense back on the field, recovering fumbles on back-to-back possessions and nearly recovering one on the third possession.

“They did pretty good," Ogata said of the defense. "It’s just that the offense was so bad for a while, that it really put a lot of pressure on the defense. The defense really responded and they did a great job. We missed some tackles and a couple of reads here and there, but , for the most part, if the offense did their part in the first half and scored, then the defense wouldn’t have been on their heels and we would have done a lot better.”

But, after icing his ankle on the sideline, Hasty re-entered the game and calmed the Bellevue offense long enough for the Wolverines to get out with the victory. Hasty finished with 67 yards rushing on three carries and another 107 passing with one touchdown.

“We felt it was going to be one of our biggest games of the year, obviously," Hasty said after the game. "Jeff’s a great quarterback, he’s probably one of the best coming out of Washington.”

The points were the most the Islanders have scored on Bellevue in a ten-year span. Mercer Island finished with 324 yards of total offense on the night.

Despite the loss, Lindquist said the experience of playing a national power like Bellevue at this point in the season, can only help the Islanders down the stretch.

“When you see a team like them, winning eight out of the past ten state championships, they are a great football program," Lindquist said. "If you learn to keep up with these guys then we are in good shape.”