Jayden Limar, fourth-ranked Lake Stevens rebound in big way over Eastlake, 41-16

LAKE STEVENS, Wash. - The Lake Stevens football team traveled to Oregon to take on powerhouse West Linn two weeks ago looking to make a statement.

Instead, the Vikings were blown out - and standout senior running back Jayden Limar was forced to leave the game with a concussion.

On Friday, they had another opportunity to make a statement - this time against the team they beat in the Class 4A semifinals last November.

And Limar was back, this time giving out the headaches, not getting them.

He rushed for 180 yards and scored five touchdowns as the No. 4 Vikings got back in the win column with a dominating 41-16 performance over the No. 9 Wolves.

"He’s been doing it for years," Lake Stevens coach Tom Tri said. "He’s a senior leader. He wants it as much as anybody. He puts the work in, and the time in. He watches film. We root for him all the way because he deserves it. He does get all the accolades, but he earns it. We just have to find different ways to get him the ball."

The Vikings (4-2) found plenty of ways on Friday, Limar found the end zone on his first carry of the game – a great start to one of the more efficient performances of his career.

Limar, a Notre Dame commit, made several key plays, but the biggest was an 82-yard touchdown late in the fourth quarter that all but sealed the game for the Vikings. Limar took a handoff from sophomore quarterback Kolton Matson, broke it to the right side and outran the entire Eastlake (4-2) defense to all but put the game away for Lake Stevens.

The run was up there with the finest plays Limar has made in his high-school career.

"That one was a jaw-dropper," Tri said. "That’s the longest run of his career, and that’s the fastest I’ve seen him run. He’s had some pretty amazing runs, so that should tell you. That was one of most spectacular runs I’ve seen in his four years here at Lake (Stevens)."

With Limar’s speed, it doesn’t take much to turn what looks like a short gain into a game-changing play.

"If I got through the first level, the outside cut kept being there," Limar said. "I knew it was going to be there. I hit it, and I saw they had the angle on me, but I knew if I could beat them to the sideline, I’d be fine. I don’t know how fast I was running, but I must’ve been moving pretty fast because everyone was saying it looked like it."

In addition to Limar’s 82-yard scoring run, he added touchdowns of 1, 27, 12 and 16 yards.

The running game wasn’t the only thing working for the Vikings, who have had a shaky passing attack in recent weeks.

That wasn’t a problem on Friday.

Matson finished 14-for-17 for 188 yards and one touchdown. He also didn’t turn the ball over.

"(The passing game was) much better tonight," Tri said. "He calmed down a little bit back there, and our receivers are doing a better job of getting open. He’s making good decisions with the ball. We stuck with Kolton tonight, and I was pleased with the way he played."

The Vikings are a perennial 4A powerhouse in Washington state, but they’ve been tested by their schedule this season. The Vikings have played Garfield, Bellevue, Federal Way, and now Eastlake this season, in addition to the game against West Linn and victory over Jackson by forfeit.

"I think (the schedule) will help us tremendously," Limar said. "Usually, you come out and you have a few easy games to get everyone’s adrenaline up. We came out and played the hardest schedule in the history of Lake Stevens High School. It kind of gave us that edge. We know what losing feels like, and we don’t want to feel that ever again."

The Vikings are now in the home stretch of their regular-season schedule, playing Mariner next week and Kamiak the following week before setting up a matchup against Glacier Peak to conclude the regular season. That game against the Grizzlies will likely decide the Wesco 4A league championship, which has been won by the Vikings for the past 10 seasons.

"We’ve got Mariner next week, and then Kamiak." Tri said with a smile. “Yes, I know (Glacier Peak) is on the horizon, but we’ve always been about be 1-0, be 1-0, so our next 1-0 is against Mariner, and then we’ll focus on Kamiak.

"We know what’s going on with Glacier Peak, and we’re excited to get ready to play them, but we’ve got some other work to do before we focus too much on Glacier Peak."