LYNDEN - The good news is the Lynden football team is blessed with an amazing amount of depth on its roster this year.

The bad news - they've already had to put that depth on the field quite a bit during the first three weeks of the 2012 season.

Already without all-state receiver/safety Zach Vis since the second day of practice, the Lions had starting running back Luke Christianson join him on the sidelines with a bone bruise in his knee when Lynden hosted Mount Baker on Friday, Sept. 14.

Reserve running back Trent Postma stepped up exceptionally, though, as he rushed for 62 yards and two first-quarter touchdowns to help the Lions claim a 55-14 non-league victory over the Mountaineers. Postma was one of five Lynden ball carriers to rush for a touchdown in the game.

"Trent's a great player for us," Lynden coach Curt Kramme said. "He's really good on the defensive side of things, too."

It wasn't like Postma hadn't had some time in the Lynden backfield already this year - he rushed for 106 yards and a touchdown a week earlier at Anacortes. The sophomore also starts along Lynden's defensive line.

But Friday marked his first start at tailback.

"I was a little nervous at first," Postma said. "Once I got a couple of runs in, I felt like I got in the flow of things. Plus, running behind that big offensive line was awesome. They opened so many holes."

Postma did a good job of exploiting those holes, as he averaged 6.2 yards per carry, before he, too, went down with a dislocated knee cap in the second quarter. He re-emerged on crutches for the second half to chants of "Trent" from the Lynden student section.

"It (the knee cap) popped back in, which is encouraging," Kramme said. "Hopefully he won't be out too long, but those things can be kind of tricky."

Jaremy Martin picked up right where Postma left off, as he rushed for 57 yards and a pair of touchdowns.

"I thought Jaremy ran the ball really good, too," Kramme said. "He is a load to bring down."

But by the time Martin, who also starts at linebacker, got his first carry, the game had already been decided.

In fact, the first quarter hadn't even expired before Lynden had this one well in hand.

One minute into the game, quarterback Josh Kraght got the Lions on the board with a 25-yard keeper around right end.

It took only 64 more seconds for Lynden to double that lead, as Caleb Newman recovered a Mount Baker fumble and returned it to the Mountaineers' 19. Two plays later, Postma scored from 14 yards out.

"It felt good to come out and execute the way we did," Postma said. "We knew that Mount Baker was going to be a tough opponent, and we just came out ready to go. It feels good when everything is going like that."

And it kept going and going.

Kraght, who accounted for 234 of the Lions' 308 yards through the air, hit Jalani Phelps on a fade pattern, and Phelps turned it up the sideline for a 69-yard touchdown, before Postma scored from 3 yards out to make it 28-0 with 3:28 left in the first quarter.

"Every defense has strengths and weaknesses," Kramme said. "I thought our guys did a good job of exploiting what we saw as weaknesses in their defense."

Lynden's offensive onslaught slowed a little in the next three quarters, but the Lions still managed to get touchdown runs from reserve quarterback Cameron Wainwright, two from Martin and a fourth-quarter score from Dimitriy Telega.

About the only thing that didn't go Lynden's way was a fumble on a sack that Chase Toctocan recovered on a strange play that saw teammate Dylan Howard take the ball out of Toctocan's arms and take it the rest of the way for a touchdown.

Jake Schleimer also finished with 135 yards on 15 carries and scored a third-quarter touchdown for Mount Baker.

"We played a really good team tonight, and they whopped our (butts)," Mount Baker coach Ron Lepper said. "We've got a big decision to make this week. We've got to decide if we want to put this one behind us and get ready for the rest of the season, or if we want to find a place to hide. I hoping we get back on track."

Reach David Rasbach at david.rasbach@bellinghamherald.com or 360-715-2286.

Mount Baker 0 7 7 0- 14

Lynden 28 7 7 13- 55

First quarter

Lyn - Josh Kraght 25 run (Alex Otano-Guenther kick)

Lyn - Trent Postma 14 run (Otano-Guenther kick)

Lyn - Jalani Phelps 69 pass from Kraght (Otano-Guenther kick)

Lyn - Postma 3 run (Otano-Guenther kick)

Second quarter

Lyn - Cameron Wainwright 16 run (Otano-Guenther kick)

MB - Dylan Howard 17 fumble return (Edgar Zavala kick)

Third quarter

Lyn - Jaremy Martin 1 run (Otano-Guenther kick)

MB - Jake Schleimer 2 run (Zavala kick)

Fourth quarter

Lyn - Martin 2 run (Otano-Guenther kick)

Lyn - Dimitriy Telega 3 run (kick failed)

MB Lyn

First downs 12 25

Rushing Att-Yards 34-182 40-190

Comp-Att-Int 8-18-1 19-24-1

Passing yards 53 308

Penalties-yards 3-25 3-15

Fumbles-lost 2-1 3-1

Individual leaders

RUSHING - Mount Baker: Izaiha Schwinden 8-24, Jake Schleimer 15-135, Kaleb Brownfield 2-6, Joey Walton 3-14, Andrew Zender 5-3, Dylan Howard 1-0. Lynden: Trent Postma 10-62, Josh Kraght 1-25, Cameron Wainwright 8-25, Jaremy Martin 10-57, Clay Tevelde 4-5, Colby Spady 2-1, Jesse Fremolaro 2-6, Dimitriy Telega 3-9.

PASSING - Mount Baker: Andrew Zender 8-18-1-53. Lynden: Josh Kraght 11-13-1-234, Cameron Wainwright 8-11-0-74.

RECEIVING - Mount Baker: Kaleb Brownfield 1-16, Zan Roman 4-17, Dalton Munsell 1-13, Izaiha Schwinden 1-4, Joey Walton 1-3. Lynden: Dak Shagren 5-89, Jalani Phelps 4-128, John Shine 2-23, Hudson Gratton 2-9, Jaremy Martin 2-30, Scooter Hastings 1-11, Jordan Sterk 1-6, David Gallegos 2-12.

Reach DAVID RASBACH at david.rasbach@bellinghamherald.com or call 715-2271.