After having a wild celebration along their sideline following
Warren's knock down, the Vikings regained their composure and ran out the
clock.
"Our defense played such a tremendous game that I can't think of a
better ending for them," Rehling said. "That last stand capped a great,
great victory."
With the Marina rush defense holding Poston in containment much of
the night, Charger receiver Brendon Cornell came up with a big game.
The 6-foot-2, 208 senior caught five passes for 152 yards and a
pair of touchdowns in the opening half alone. However, Cornell was
limited to one reception, which totaled nine yards, after the
intermission.
Marina's star fullback, Ray Mietkiewicz, also had a banner night,
rushing for 191 yards on 20 carries, which included two touchdowns.
Mietkiewicz scored on a 38-yard run the first time he touched the
ball (on Marina's second play from scrimmage) to give Marina a 6-0 lead,
then burst for a 29-yard touchdown run early in the second quarter as the
Vikings, who scored a two-point conversion on Turrill Engleman's run,
regained the lead, 14-7.
Mietkiewicz's second scoring run came less than two minutes after
Cornell had taken in a 48-yard scoring pass from Schwartz at the 11:06
mark of the period. But another Schwartz-to-Cornell touchdown pass, this
one covering 53 yards midway through the quarter, brought the Chargers
even at 14-14 at the half.
Marina junior quarterback Beau Brown also had an outstanding
rushing game as he finished with 116 yards on 11 attempts running out of
the option. It was his 25-yard touchdown run on Marina's impressive
76-yard drive to start the second half that gave the Vikings for good,
21-14.
After Edison had closed the gap to 21-20 after three quarters of
play, Mietkiewicz scored on a six-yard run to give the Vikings a 28-20
cushion with 9:14 to play.
