E-Mail
Print
tool name
closeBELLINGHAM - Football is just like a marriage - if you don't take care of the little things, they'll snowball into something big.
"It's the little things that will kill you," Lynden Christian coach Dan Kaemingk said after watching his team fall 54-0 to Sehome on Saturday, Sept. 6, at Civic Stadium. "A missed block there, a missed read there and a couple missteps, and you can see what happens."
What happened was Sehome taking advantage of just about every little or big mistake Lynden Christian committed in the season opener for both teams, making the Lyncs pay with seven scoring plays of 45 or more yards. Six of those plays came in the first half, as the Mariners took control of the game early.
Justin Thomsen scored on a pair of long runs, and Cory Boyd returned two interceptions more than 50 yards for scores to highlight the day for Sehome.
"We've been building towards this since June," Sehome coach Kevin Johnson said. "When we got together for spring practices, we knew we could have a special team this year."
The Mariners certainly looked special early Saturday, as Thomsen got the scoring started when he broke through the line on a third-and-1 play and raced the rest of the 45 yards to the end zone untouched 1 minute, 30 seconds into the game.
"Justin made it to the finals of the 100 meters at state," Johnson said. "So we told him to head straight up the field if he ever got free like that."
Thomsen did that a second time with 2:05 to play in the half, this time from 58 yards out, making the halftime score 48-0.
"My line did a great job of opening some big holes for me, and that made it easy to get into the open field," Thomsen said.
Justin Santos also made good use of the open field after Sehome recovered a fumble on the ensuing kickoff. He scored Sehome's shortest TD of the day - 13 yards - on a running play almost two minutes into the game. Santos also returned a punt 76 yards for a touchdown less than two minutes later to give the Mariners a 21-0 lead.
Boyd made the first-quarter advantage four TDs, when he returned the first of his two interceptions 53 yards.
"We played good defense today," Boyd said. "We were making them pass a lot, and I just got an opportunity to get the ball."
The Sehome defense held Lynden Christian to eight yards rushing in the first half on 15 carries and forced four turnovers in the game.
Boyd picked off LC's Daniel Ten Broek for a second time midway through the second quarter, this time returning it 56 yards for the touchdown.
"We knew Cory had quite a bit of talent, but he just didn't have the size you would like to see," Johnson said. "He has dedicated himself during this past year building up his body, and now I think you see he's got the varsity football body. Plus he won the state championship with the soccer team last year, so I think you can see that gave him a lot of confidence."
Sehome also got long touchdowns on a 52-yard pass from John Groen to Ryan MacDonald in the second quarter and a 55-yard run by Matt Fazio in the third.
The Mariners now hope to carry the momentum from Saturday's win into a Friday, Sept. 12, game against defending state runner-up Burlington-Edison - something they were unable to do last year after a Week 1 win.
"I think these guys realize that next week is a whole new game, and we better bring our 'A' game against Burlington," Johnson said.
Lynden Christian likely realizes the same thing, as it prepares to host Lakewood on Friday.
"We had 10 guys that had not started for us on defense before and nine guys that had not started for us on offense, so there's obviously some things we're going to need to clean up," Kaemingk said. "I think we learned some things today that practice can't teach."
Reach David Rasbach at david.rasbach@bellinghamherald.com or 715-2271.
-
Production Floor Lead
Absorption Corporation -
Payroll & Human Resources Assistant
Smith Gardens -
NAC's
Highland Care Center -
District Secretary position
Whatcom County Fire Protection Dist. #14 -
Open Positions
SKAGIT VALLEY HOSPITAL
@Nyx.CommentBody@