ONALASKA – It was the air raid against the heavy run game, and fortunately for Meridian, the air raid came out on top as the Trojans defeated previously unbeaten Onalaska 41-22 on Friday night.
Pinpoint passing by senior quarterback Trey Alexander, coupled with a sure-tackling defense led by senior linebacker Ethan Valich’s career-high 16.5 tackles, Meridian was able to get off to a hot start which was highlighted by a pair of touchdown passes from Alexander to senior wide receiver Kasey Brennan.
The Trojans led 14-0 after the first quarter, and extended it to 21-0 when junior running back Jaxson Pfannenstiel plunged into the end zone from a yard out early in the second quarter.
The Loggers, who ran the ball 60 times, are not built for coming back, and stayed the course on the ground. They were able to punch it in from two yards out for their lone touchdown of the first half, but it would be answered with Brennan catching his third touchdown of the first half.
The dynamic receiver finished with 11 receptions for 165 yards, both career-highs.
Meridian led 27-8 at the half, and the two completely different styles of offenses were such a large contrast from each other that the local weather system couldn’t even handle it as a dense fog came completely covered the field for the entire second half.
It didn’t deter Alexander, however, as the senior quarterback continued to throw darts all over the field, and he would even go on to complete his last 16 pass attempts in a row to finish the game. One of them was a 9-yard touchdown to senior Pierce Brzozowski.
Brzozowski also had a 3-yard touchdown run in the fourth quarter.
Onalaska was able to score twice more in the second half, but time was quickly running out on the ground-oriented home team.
The Trojans (2-2) will begin conference play on Friday when they travel to Lynden Christian (3-1) to take on the Lyncs at 7:00.
Meridian 41 Onalaska 22 MER 14 13 7 7 - 41 ONA 0 8 14 0 - 22 MER - Brennan 34 pass from T. Alexander (Kulhanek kick) MER - Brennan 3 pass from T. Alexander (Kulhanek kick) MER - Pfannenstiel 1 run (Kulhanek kick) ONA - 2 yard touchdown run (2pt run good) MER - Brennan 19 pass from T. Alexander (pass failed) ONA - 8 yard touchdown pass (run failed) MER - Brzozowski 9 pass from T. Alexander (Kulhanek kick) ONA - 3 yard touchdown run (2pt run good) MER - Brzozowski 3 run (Kulhanek kick)
MER ONA 20-60 Rush Att-Yards 60-382 26-32-0 Comp-Att-Int 2-6-0 378 Passing Yards 31 Individual Leaders RUSHING - MER: T. Alexander 10-39, Brzozowski 4-13, Nguyen 3-6, Pfannenstiel 2-2, Valich 1-0. ONA: N/A. PASSING - MER: T. Alexander 26-32-0-378. ONA: N/A. RECEIVING - MER: Brennan 11-165, J. Alexander 5-82, Brzozowski 4-46, Culp 3-38, Crabtree 2-25, Nguyen 1-22. ONA: N/A.
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