Marauders open with a decisive victory

Mariner shakes off a sluggish start, beats Foster 39-14

by DAVID PAN reporter @ yourbeacon net

It was just the season opening g ame, but new Mariner coach Tyler Tuiasosopo was upbeat about what he saw on the field.

The 4A Marauders shook off an early 6-0 deficit to score six unanswered touchdowns to cruise to a 39-14 victory over 2A Foster in a nonconference football game Friday, Sept. 2, at Foster High School in Tukwila.

“We have things that we need to clean up, but I’m very, very happy with how we performed,” said Tuiasosopo, a 2008 graduate of Mariner.

Junior Isaiah Cuellar shook off an early first-quarter interception that led to the Bulldogs’ first touchdown to throw for a TD and run for another score in his first career start.

“It feels really good,” Cuellar said. “I was kind of nervous. As the game went along, it just slowed down for me. I just started getting my team involved, and we started growing.”

Senior Damien Bagley also saw action at quarterback, and he also had one of his passes picked off. But Bagley also settled down after that and did not throw another incompletion the rest of the night.

“I was pleased with the way our quarterbacks played,” Tuiasosopo said. “Our quarterback didn’t come out very strong. But as he battled the game started to slow down for him a little bit – you start to get in the flow, and it started to work out. Damien Bagley came in and did a great job.”

Tuiasosopo has yet to decide on who will be his starting quarterback. But he reiterated his plan to have both players on the field at the same time.

“It’s up in the air right now because it’s what we have to do,” Tuiasosopo said. “I’ve been telling everybody that everybody’s got to play every position. … We’ve got to play our best athletes. That puts us in the best position to win – having all of our best ath-