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Okay, let's keep it brief as Mariner has yet to play a game and we really don't know all that much about them at this point.
Let's stick to what we do know:
- Lake Stevens won on the road at Mariner to open last season 36-34, and showed at least some ability to stop the Mariner Wing T attack.
- Most of the players that scored touchdowns for either team that game are gone.
- The coaches and systems remain the same.
Mariner returns a total of four offensive and five defensive starters from a 6-4 playoff team. Without a doubt, the biggest name on the team is 6-2, 245 pound TE/DE Mychael Tuiasosopo, the 763rd Tuiasosopo to play for Mariner in the last decade. Tui hasn't shown much in the way of ball skills - Mariner removed him from the field on nearly every passing play last year - but he is a beast on the line of scrimmage. Last year he continually gave problems to Lake's All League tackle Sean Stickney. We can look for more of the same this year as the Marauders use Tui at the point of attack to clear holes for their multiple ball carriers.
Other expected contributers include new quarterback Josh Thompson - a 5-10, 175 pound senior who is expected to keep the ball on the ground at least 80 percent of the time.
That's about all we have on this year's Mariner squad - aside from the fact that the Wesco coaches poll has them third in the south behind Jackson and E-W, which means that the general consensus is that the Marauders are once again a borderline-playoff team and a formidable opponent in any case.
We will have more on what we can expect from Friday's in our Friday preview - in which we will unveil our prediction for the Viking contest. All other Wesco predictions will go up tomorrow.
All for now.