One unique aspect of high school football in the Wesco Conference is that they have something called the “Two-year plan” where two teams would play against each other for consecutive seasons at each others’ venues.

With that plan comes a few “revenge games”, and after what Lake Stevens did last year to Arlington, some would say the Eagles have been waiting for this matchup. Last year, the Vikings beat the Eagles 42-7 at LSHS, the Eagles returned the favor by giving LSHS their first regular season loss since 2014, winning 54-28 at Arlington High School.

This year, the Eagles put themselves on the board first with 8:41 left in the first quarter, with a 52-yard punt return with a touchdown by senior Trevor Kazen to take an early 7-0 lead.  The Vikings later tied things up after a 38-yard touchdown (TD) pass from senior Conor Bardue to junior wide receiver Ian Hanson, with less than 6 minutes left in the first quarter. Arlington later responded with a 6 yard TD pass from quarterback Anthony Whitis to wide receiver Cooper Cummings to take a 13-7 lead after a missed two-point conversion.

Then, after a Bardue interception, senior running back Gabriel Green punched it in from 1 yard, and, after a successful 2-point conversion, took a 21-7 lead, but they weren’t done just yet. After the Vikings turned the ball over on downs, Whitis threw a 10-yard TD pass to senior wide receiver Campbell Hudson to take a 27-7 lead with 7:41 left in the first half. That’s when it clicked for the Vikings.

After their touchdown, the Vikings compiled a 12-play, 86-yard drive, capping it off with a 3-yard TD pass from Bardue to junior wide receiver Chase Winkler to trim Arlington’s lead to 27-14. The Vikings responded a short time afterwards when, after a bad punt by Arlington, Bardue threw a 5-yard TD pass, his third of the night, to senior receiver Tyler Owen to cut the lead to 27-21 before halftime.

After a scoreless third quarter, Arlington extended their lead in the second half.

When the Eagles get the ball back after  another Bardue interception, Whitis threw his third touchdown pass of the game, as he threw it 66 yards to junior Dylan Simmons to make the score 34-21 after a failed kick with 11:49 left in the game. That’s when Arlington opened the floodgates.

Shortly after yet another Arlington touchdown pass from Whitis to senior Jacob Hubbard to make the score 42-21, Lake Stevens responded with a 5-yard TD run by junior running back Jackson Grafe to cut the lead to 42-28.

Arlington would later respond with touchdown runs of 13 yards  and 1 yard  by Green and Whitis to seal the game up and win 54-21.

Bardue finished the game completing  21 passes in 47 attempts for 287 yards, throwing for 3 touchdowns and 4 interceptions.

Grafe was the top rusher, with 11 attempts for 76 yards and a touchdown, along with Kayshawn Mounarath, with 12 attempts for 93 yards. Austin Murren was the top receiver, with 8 catches for 139 yards.