Redmond Football Starts Season with Loss to Juanita

It didn't take long for things to turn dismal in 's football season opener at Juanita High School on Friday.

The Redmond kickoff team forced a fumble on the game's opening possession. Juanita recovered, but it seemed to give the Mustangs some early momentum.

Seven minutes later, they were staring at an insurmountable deficit.

Juanita scored four touchdowns in the first 6:30 of the game and easily dispatched Redmond 48-16 in a non-league matchup on Friday night at Juanita High School in Kirkland.

The game was a rematch of the 41-7 Juanita victory that opened the season in 2010 and quickly took on the same lopsided feeling. Two plays after nearly forcing a turnover on the opening kickoff, Redmond watched Juanita running back Travis Marshall scamper 56 yards down the right sideline to put the Rebels up 7-0.

Juanita went on to score on its first four possessions, taking advantage of two Redmond fumbles and botched punt coverage, to take a 28-0 lead with 5:30 remaining in the first quarter.

"They're bigger, faster and more experienced," Redmond head coach Jeff Chandler said of Juanita. "So we just have to do a better job of coaching."

Redmond continued to battle, but was flummoxed by the rushing attack of the Rebels. Juanita picked up 243 rushing yards on just 19 carries in the first half. Leading the way was Marshall, a track star making his first high school football appearance. Marshall added a 61-yard touchdown run to his night, while Trayon McNairy added a 75-yard score in what amounted to a running free-for-all for the Rebels.

"We're young and inexperienced," Chandler said. "We have just a handful of seniors, and more than half our team is sophomores. So a lot of the mistakes we made were just a lot of kids who haven't been playing a lot of football."

The Mustangs battled back the rest of the way, putting together two impressive scoring drives after a Chris Schumacher 34-yard field goal gave them their first points late in the second quarter. Redmond got into the end zone late in the second quarter, when Brady Anderson found a wide-open Nickolaj La Cour open on a short slant. La Cour got a good block and did the rest himself, out-sprinting the Juanita defense for a 78-yard touchdown.

Anderson added a second score late in the third quarter, hitting Jordan Hall from 10 yards out to finish the scoring on the night. Anderson finished his night completing nine passes for 128 yards and two touchdowns. Garrett Dow also took some snaps and threw for 98 yards and had two nice scrambles late in the game.

"I saw a couple of guys out there who need to get, overall, a better handle on what it is that we're doing," Chandler said. "I liked the heart they both showed, though. They didn't give up at all...quarterbacks have to show leadership, and I think they both showed a little bit of leadership."

The game was one of what will be many tough tests for the young Redmond squad, which features only 10 seniors on its roster. But if the way the Juanita game ended—with Redmond players cheering and excited for the prospect of one more touchdown—is any indication, the Mustangs will be fighting the whole way. 

"Nobody quit," Chandler said of his team. "It didn't matter early in the game or late in the game when it got away from us, our kids still played hard. Our goals are to get better, become a team and have fun. We know where we're at, and we'll be getting better."

Redmond next hosts Lake Washington at 7 p.m. on Sept. 9.