LAKE STEVENS — Greg Dailer will take an old-fashioned blowout any day of the week over a slugfest.

Unfortunately for the Arlington head coach, that’s what happens when two teams playing high caliber football like the Eagles and Lake Stevens Vikings do when they get together.

“I don’t like (close games),” Dailer said. “But it definitely was a heavyweight bout.”

In a seesaw Wesco North contest between two unbeaten teams Oct. 1, Arlington outlasted host Lake Stevens 36-28 to remain undefeated in conference (2-0).

Two wins are just the start of the Wesco season, but the Eagles now have wins over both Marysville-Pilchuck (1-1) and Lake Stevens (1-1), who finished Nos. 1 and 2, respectively, in the conference the past two years.

“It’s a good start for us,” said Dailer. “Obviously every game in the conference is big, but to start out by beating those two means a lot for this team.”

The Eagles closed out a game that went down to the wire, as a pair of fumbles were exchanged late in the fourth quarter, which could have given either team a better chance of winning.

Instead, Colton Hordyk’s 38-yard field goal in the middle of the quarter ended up being the insurance that Arlington needed.

And it took a team effort from the Eagles, who couldn’t rely solely on any one part of their offense. Senior quarterback Blake McPherson finished the game with 225 yards, completing 13 of 22 passing attempts, including TDs of 12 and 58 yards.

Riley Cobb, who has helped carry Arlington so far this season, finished with 69 yards and opened the game with a 3-yard TD run.

“They did a really good job with Cobb, so we had to balance it out through the air, and Blake was able to do a nice job with that,” said Dailer.

Helping Arlington’s cause were a pair of interceptions, one of which was returned by Hordyk for a 90-yard score. Skylor Elgarico got the other interception and also stepped in for McPherson to throw a touchdown in the third quarter.

Bo Brummel finished with three receptions for 110 yards, including a 58-yard score and Griffin Ginnis had five receptions for 81 yards and two scores.

Arlington now focuses on the Stilly Cup against Stanwood Oct. 9.

“We’ll come up with some things to counter their linemen, but Stanwood always gets up to play,” said Dailer. “This should be a good game.”

With the win over Lake Stevens, Arlington is tied with Monroe for first place in the conference.