The door was as thick as a bank vault. But Mark Morris kicked it down anyway. And now the Monarchs plan on introducing themselves — with blow-horn in hand — to the elite crowd of surviving football teams waiting on the other side.

Junior Jeremy Wolf rumbled for 136 yards on 15 carries, and five different running backs scored touchdowns as seventh-ranked Mark Morris wore down eighth-ranked Interlake 35-21 in a Class 2A state first-round matchup under a gun-barrel gray sky at Longview Memorial Stadium on Saturday.

After falling to Bellingham and Blaine in the first round in 2007 and 2008, respectively, the ’09 Monarchs have taken the program “to that next level,” said head coach Shawn Perkins.

The MM boss had tears in his eyes as he stood near midfield watching his players bellow out the school’s fight song. Either that, or the rapidly decreasing wind chill was finally getting to him.

“It’s an emotional thing. My heart was working overtime. But I think it’s starting to slow down now,” he said. “This is a big deal for us, because we always talked about taking that next step up to that next level. Now we’re out of our comfort zone — and we have to be brave as a team.”

The next step for Mark Morris (10-1) is a road trip to the eastside for a quarterfinal showdown with top-ranked Ellensburg (11-0), which struggled to a 45-35 win over Clarkston on Friday in its state opener. Clarkston entered the playoffs with four losses.

Although Ellensburg is the home team, the game likely won’t be played there. Yakima is a possible venue, maybe the Tri-Cities.

At this point, Perkins and his Monarchs aren’t concerned with travel itineraries.

“Ellensburg is the No. 1 team in the state and they have a great quarterback (Ethan Sterkel). We’ll have to watch some film and see what we’re up against,” Perkins said. “But like I told the kids, you have to beat the best to be the best.”

Senior running back Travis Kinder, whose 17-yard touchdown gave MM a 20-7 lead with 9:02 left in the first half, said there’s no telling what the Monarchs can accomplish now that they have crashed the Elite Eight party.

“We plan on going all the way,” Kinder said, as several hundred postgame well-wishers gathered around the team to offer handshakes and hugs. “We’ve been in this position the last two years, but just haven’t gotten the job done. It’s different this year. Winning this game was huge.”

Fullback Braydon Poole said playing his final home game at Longview Memorial — and winning it — was “definitely a special thing.”

“It’s sad to know I won’t be playing here again. But at the same time, it’s pretty exciting to be moving on,” Poole said. “Getting past this game, in the first round, is all we’ve been thinking about. That team we played was fast. But our defense made stops when we had to and our offensive line was pushing them back 4 yards on every play.”

The Monarchs implemented their customary offensive game plan against the Saints (8-4), rushing 69 times for 390 yards with seven different players toting the ball. Although Wolf was the most dazzling, showing off his speed on the outside, it was the dirty work in the trenches that led to consistent gains by Poole, Dan Feeney (15 carries, 69 yards), Kinder, Colt Carpenter and Nathan Wilson.

By the time the final horn sounded, Interlake had endured a methodical beatdown from the Mark Morris offensive line that led to first-half touchdowns by Wolf (5 yards), Carpenter (6), Kinder (17) and Wilson (1), and a 5-yard game-clincher by Feeney with 10:56 remaining in the fourth quarter.

The Feeney score capped an 11-play, 63-yard drive that included a 6-yard run by go-to guy Wolf on fourth-and-5 from the Saints’ 47.

Actually, Wolf ran for 5 yards and a few inches, as referee Bob Rose had to crouch down close to the chain to make the call.

The touchdown came after Interlake chopped MM’s 28-14 halftime lead to 28-21 on a 37-yard gallop by Washington State-bound running back Brett Kirschner. Although Kirschner finished with 178 yards, he did it on only 15 carries as the Saints failed to utilize him with any consistency.

Instead, they put the ball in the air 22 times, with junior quarterback Matt Malos completing nine attempts for 106 yards. Malos threw touchdown strikes to Matt Mwangi (19 yards) and Dylan Amell (10 yards) in the first half, but had a difficult time finding any lasting success against the MM secondary.

Midway through the fourth quarter, trailing by two TDs, the Saints went for it on fourth-and-13 from their own 29. Malos was flushed out of the pocket by a host of Monarchs, scrambled for his life — ala Fran Tarkenton — and heaved a wild pass that was intercepted by Josh Larsen.

“I thought our defensive backs made the plays when they had to,” Perkins said. “They (the Saints) did a lot of different things that put us in conflict. They had speed and that No. 1 (Kirschner) was a stud. He was very tough to tackle. We have some things we have to shore up before we play Ellensburg, but we’ll get it done.”

Mark Morris electrified the partisan crowd just six plays into the game when Perkins decided not to punt on fourth-and-6 from the Interlake 45-yard line. Quarterback Scotty Kirkpatrick rolled out to his right, saw that all of his receivers were blanketed and took off.

The senior signal-caller’s 8-yard scramble kept the opening march alive, and Wolf scored five plays later with a leaping 5-yard TD run to make it 7-0.

Leading 19-7 after Kinder’s score, the Monarchs recovered an onside kick and went to work at the Saints’ 49. Kirkpatrick found tight end Nolan Burnett for 26 yards on first down, and Wilson made it 28-7 two minutes later with his 1-yard dive.

At that point, MM had run 33 offensive plays to Interlake’s nine.

Kirkpatrick, who completed 4-of-5 passes for 56 yards and an interception, said the Monarchs’ domination of the clock and Interlake’s defensive line paved the way.

“That’s pretty much the way we play,” he said, after receiving a postgame hug from his sister. “There was no way we were going to lose our last game on this field. I remember how it felt after last year’s playoff loss here.

“We’ve been dreaming of this since we were freshmen,” he added. “It’s huge for the program to make it to the next level. We don’t want it to end.”

Monarchs 35, Saints 21

Interlake                7        7       7       0 — 21

Mark Morris        13      15      0       7 — 35

MM — Jeremy Wolf 5 run (Owen Baird kick)

Int — Matt Mwangi 19 pass from Matt Malos (Erik Fergerstrom kick)

MM — Colt Carpenter 6 run (kick failed)

MM — Travis Kinder 17 run (Baird kick)

MM — Nathan Wilson 1 run (Carpenter run)

Int — Dylan Amell 10 pass from Malos (Fergerstrom kick)

Int — Dan Kirschner 37 run (Fergerstrom kick)

MM — Dan Feeney 5 run (Baird kick)

Total yards: MM 446, Interlake 388