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Some early miscues didn’t help Edmonds-Woodway in its Wesco 3A crossover/seeding game against Squalicum.

The Storm took advantage of a short field in the first half to score two touchdowns and went on to defeat the Warriors 28-7 Friday, Nov. 1, at Civic Stadium in Bellingham.

Edmonds-Woodway (5-4 overall), the Wesco No. 4 seed, faces South Sound Conference No. 2 seed Yelm (6-3) in a winner-to-state game at 7 p.m., Friday, Nov. 8, at Yelm High School.

The Warriors’ lone touchdown was a 73-yard fumble return by Ryan Fahey in the fourth quarter.

“We had some opportunities in the first half we didn’t take advantage of,” Edmonds-Woodway coach John Gradwohl said. “We had a couple turnovers that hurt. One of the biggest things was field position. They had the short field the first half. They were bigger than us up front. They kind of wore on us as the game wore on.”

The Edmonds-Woodway defense had a goal line stand in the first half and then shut down Squalicum after a long kickoff return gave the Storm the ball deep in Warrior territory.

“We did some good things but we made too many mistakes,” Gradwohl said. “I thought the defense played a great game. The offense didn’t do a good job of keeping the defense off the field.”

The Warrior had negative overall yards on the ground, while Squalicum finished with 201 yards. Edmonds-Woodway quarterback Read Carr completed 14 of 29 passes for 118 yards. Steele Swinton caught four passes for 38 yards and Ben Grimes had three catches for 32 yards.

Squalicum’s Ben Schlenbaker scored on touchdown runs of 51 and 16 yards in the second quarter. In the second half, quarterback Mason Binning found Dedrick Mitchell on TD passes of 29 and 37 yards.

Gradwohl wants to see less mistakes from the Warriors.

“We have to do a better job of eliminating our mistakes,” he said. “We have to focus on what we can control.”

Edmonds-Woodway also is playing a lot of sophomores.

“Every week is a learning curve,” Gradwohl said. “They’re getting better. It’s a great learning experience.”