MARYSVILLE — Arlington High School’s varsity football team had a rough time fending off the Tomahawks on Friday, Aug. 31, and lost the season opener to them with a final score of 42-14.

Although the game was the first of the season, it was a non-league competition as Marysville-Pilchuck was recently reclassified as a 3A school. Arlington’s head coach Greg Dailer said before the game that he didn’t think that the reclassification would affect Marysville’s level of competition — and it turns out that he was right.

The Tomahawks came out strong in the first half with two touchdowns scored by junior quarterback Jake Luton and one touchdown scored on a 9-yard rush by sophomore running back Austin Joyner.

Arlington’s first touchdown came toward the end of the second quarter when senior running back John Decker completed a 2-yard touchdown run. Decker proved to be a strong part of the otherwise relatively young team, finishing with 141 yards rushing on 21 carries.

Despite the efforts of both Decker and junior quarterback Austin Wells, Arlington’s offense was slow to respond to the Tomahawks’ dominance on the field during the first part of the game and they went into halftime trailing 35-7.

Despite the rough beginning, the Eagles battled back in the second half.

“I thought we played really well in the first half,” said M-P head coach Brandon Carson. “In the second half they kind of held us off a bit more.”

Wells connected with senior Skylor Elgarico who ran 9 yards for a touchdown in the fourth quarter, but it wasn’t quite enough for a comeback.

The Eagles lost a number of players this year, and are starting the season with a comparatively young team, which could explain Friday night’s defeat.

With an 0-1 overall record, the team will host Oak Harbor High School in their first home game of the season on Friday, Sept. 7 at 7 p.m.