PREP FOOTBALL: Squalicum's size advantage too much for Meridian

"Our offensive line did a great job," Squalicum coach Reed Richardson said. "We were a little leery, because we had a lot of young guys - just one returning starter - but man, they just pounded it. That was kind of our game plan, we wanted to pound them a little bit and see what happens. Until they started stopping us, we really weren't going to go away from it."

"They did everything they wanted to," Meridian coach Bob Ames said. "I haven't seen very many talented teams. I mean, you see stuff in the paper and then come out and actually see them; whoa. That's a college team, physically and athletically. The physical mismatches were traumatic."

The Storm rarely deviated from its ground-first approach, as quarterback Zach Victor threw only four passes. Squalicum rushed for 415 yards on 58 carries, with much of success coming via the fullback trap (one of which Fenton took 82 yards for a TD) and off-tackle blasts by Miller and Parmar.

Miller, Parmar and Eric Schacht each get about the same number of reps at tailback in practice, Richardson said, and rotating them during the course of Friday's game was in the Storm's plan.

Squalicum was forced to alter that scheme a bit when Schacht suffered an ankle injury on the first series. But the Storm's offensive line, led by Spencer Tietz, Shawn Willis, Max Trickett, Alek Olney and Garrett Kirchman, was punishing enough that the dual-tailback plan was plenty.

"Actually we came into the game not knowing what the size (difference) was going to be like. It worked out pretty well," Trickett said.

"The line did their job, made some really big holes. It was all the line, and our running back Coach (Rick) Ellis, too," Parmar said. "We just had our offensive and defensive game plan, and did what the coaches told us to do."

Squalicum made an emphatic statement on its first possession, going 72 yards on 13 plays. Victor capped the drive with a 1-yard quarterback sneak.

Both teams had their share of first-game mistakes (Squalicum had 75 yards in penalties, the Trojans had 70), but Meridian had one of the most critical on its first possession.

On the Trojans' first play, the snap to Max Crook was high, it eluded the senior quarterback and was recovered by Squalicum. Six plays and 23 yards later, Parmar's 1-yard run increased the Storm's lead to 14-0 at the 3:01 mark of the first quarter.

Squalicum increased the lead to 28-0 at halftime and went up 35-0 with a 1-yard run by backup quarterback Quin Moore. Meridian answered with a 19-yard pass from Crook to sophomore tight end Mitchell Tripp, one of Tripp's seven receptions.

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