LONGVIEW – Mark Morris High School employed a new defensive strategy to stop Interlake’s high-flying offense.

Keep them off the field.

The Monarchs rushed for 361 yards and chewed up over 34 minutes of clock on offense, knocking off Interlake 35-21 in the first round of the Class 2A playoffs at Longview Memorial Stadium.

Seven different players rushed the ball for the Monarchs (10-1) and the Interlake offense barely even got a chance to get going.

“This is a tough one,” said Interlake coach Sheldon Cross. “Their best defense was to keep our offense on the sideline. I know that leaving this game, we had a lot more points in us.”

Mark Morris drove the ball down the field on the game’s opening possession, chewing up more than five minutes of clock time before junior Jeremy Wolf scored on a 6-yard touchdown run.

The Saints responded in just over a minute, as a 41-yard run by Brett Kirschner set up Matt Malos’ 19-yard touchdown strike to Matt Mwangi.

Then the Monarch’s offense went back to work – and set a workman-like pace by eating up more than 13 minutes of clock in the remainder of the half with touchdown runs by Colt Carpenter, Travis Kinder and Nathan Wilson.

“With the depth of our backfield, we’re able to switch guys out to get the job done,” said junior Dan Feeney, who added 68 yards and a second-half score for Mark Morris. “We just run smash-mouth football, we keep pounding it and pounding it.”

The Saints (8-4) were able to cut the halftime deficit to 28-14 when Malos hit Dylan Amell on a 9-yard score with just 3:34 remaining in the second quarter.

But the Monarchs continued to employ long drives in the second half – holding onto the ball for more than 16 minutes.

“My theory is that if they don’t have the ball, they can’t score,” said Mark Morris coach Shawn Perkins. “Especially a team like that, you got to keep them off the field. We had the long drives to do that.”

“Our coach was preaching time of possession,” added Wolf, who led Mark Morris with 135 yards on 14 carries. “It was really important for us tonight to make sure their offense stayed off the field.”

Interlake capitalized on the Monarch’s lone mistake when Mwangi picked off Mark Morris quarterback Scotty Kirkpatrick in the end zone. Six plays later, Kirschner broke loose for a 37-yard score – part of his game-leading 161.

“We don’t doubt whether or not we can score,” Cross said. “The one thing we’re concerned about is if we can make some stops. They just ate too much clock.”

Mark Morris didn’t give Interlake another chance, holding on to the ball for all but two minutes in the fourth quarter. The Monarchs ran out the clock as part of a nearly-five minute drive to end the game.

“The vital things just didn’t go our way at the right times,” Cross said, noting a first half touchdown by Jordan Todd on a long pass called back due to holding as well as a fourth-down conversion negated by offensive pass interference. “Their offense is big and strong and we couldn’t stand our ground today.”

The Monarchs advance to face No. 1 Ellensburgh in the second round.

It was the second year in a row the Saints lost in the first round, as they lost to Lynden last year.