QB, goal-line defense lead Meridian to season-opening win at Centennial
Meridian High football coach John Zamberlin had a simple but poignant message for his team after a 21-6 win Friday at Centennial.
“Enjoy this win because wins are hard to come by,” said Zamberlin, hovering over his kneeling players, who had just opened their season in front of a stadium bereft of fans.
Friday’s game had the usual trappings of a season opener: Turnovers, struggles on special teams and penalties galore.
Meridian quarterback Malakai Martinez was in midseason form, though. The junior had a hand in all three of the Warriors’ touchdowns, throwing two and running for one, but he knows there is still a lot of season to be played.
“Like coach was saying, we’ve got to raise our expectations for this season and keep moving forward,” said Martinez, who completed 7-of-13 passes for 146 yards.
After teammate Zachary Webb recovered a fumble in the first quarter, Martinez got the Warriors on the board with a 23-yard touchdown pass to Davis Thacker.
“We’ve been preparing for this and knew what we had to do,” Martinez said. “Davis made a good catch, and as a team, we came out here and did what we expected to do.”
Martinez capped a 12-play scoring drive in the second quarter with a 3-yard touchdown run to send Meridian into halftime with a 14-0 lead.
“He’s just a hard-working kid,” Zamberlin said. “He leads by example whether he’s in the weight room, practice or playing basketball. He’s a competitor, and that’s what you’ve got to love about him.”
In the fourth quarter, Martinez got a little help putting the game out of reach from wide receiver Blaze Tokioka. With 8:46 to play, Tokioka caught a short pass and slipped countless tacklers on the way to a 79-yard touchdown, which gave Meridian its 21-6 lead.
“We needed that, and Blaze is a guy who isn’t going to go down easy,” Zamberlin said.
Centennial showed some life early in the second half after Mark Peters pounced on a fumbled punt. Seven plays later, quarterback Peyton Allen found receiver Mike Shulikov on a 32-yard touchdown pass, but the extra point was blocked. Shulikov, a 6-foot-5 senior, finished the game with five catches for 116 yards.
“I think the guys just had belief in themselves and played with great energy,” first-year Centennial coach Matt Greene said. “It wasn’t the prettiest performance, but we fought and we’ll grow from this.”
The Patriots’ offense found its footing in the fourth quarter, twice driving inside Meridian’s 10-yard line, but the Warriors’ defense turned them away without points both times.
On Centennial’s first long drive of the final quarter, which made it as far as Meridian’s 3, quarterback Keyon Horton got dropped for a loss on third down and couldn’t find Shulikov with a pass to the corner of the end zone on fourth down.
The second drive ended on the Warriors’ 7 after Roc Dixon got in the backfield on fourth down and hit Horton for a 5-yard loss.
“That was a great game-changer,” Martinez said. “Our defense carried us this whole game.”
