Islanders Playoff-Bound First Time in 11 Years With 45-6 Win Over Sammamish

From the opening whistle, the Islanders showed no mercy on Homecoming Night at that featured a festival atmosphere thanks to some scheduling snafus that somehow managed to all come together in the Mercer Island win, 45-6.

The win guarantees the Islanders (6-2, 5-1 KingCo) a spot in post-season play for the fist time in 11 years and will face either Ferndale of Mount Vernon of the Northwest Conference on Friday, Nov. 4.

In one of the opening plays of the game, Islanders quarterback Jeff Lindquist ran the ball in for a touchdown to set the tone for the game. On consecutive posessions for Mercer Island, Lindquist hit a 32-yard pass to Connor Bernal, 10-yard touchdown pass to Brent Tsang, and a third touchdown pass for 14 yards to Nick Sinclair. After a 28-yard field goal by Alex Wood, The Islanders headed for the half-time locker room up 31-0.

Back-up QB Higgins took the reins in the second half and set up Phil Frazier for a rushing touchdown. Higgins later completed a 24-yard pass to Eric Stefanchek for another TD. Sammamish managed a consolation score in the final minutes, making the final score 45-6.

For a comprehensive rundown of the game, please click here for MIHS senior Ryan Rouillard's write-up in The Islander.

Before the game, the classical-themed "Romecoming" parade brightened up a rainy afternoon and sporting the MIHS royalty and class floats. The parade started a bit earlier than usual, 4:30, to allow for the band members to get back to the high school for the Pizza Pig Out, the music department's annual fundraiser. 

Choir Director Tom Cox said they thought they were substantially over-ordering pizza, but still ran out and had to order more. The lines were the longest in history for this event, circling the entire MIHS Commons. He attributed the increased numbers at the band's largest fundraiser of the year to holding it at the same time as Homecoming.

Before the football game started, the Senior football players were honored for Senior Night, with more than 20 strong graduating this coming Spring. And All-Island Band Night featured some of the youngest musical talent up to the MIHS Marching Band for the halftime show.

The Islanders next face Lake Washington in Kirkland Oct. 28 at 7 p.m. for their final regular-season game.