Sports - Sports News

POSTED: Saturday, Oct. 24, 2009

PREP FOOTBALL: Big fourth quarter boosts Lions over Seahawks

LYNDEN - As defending state champions, the Lynden Lions know that each game they have to face their opponent's best efforts. The visiting Anacortes Seahawks did everything they could to keep the potent Lion offense off the field, but a 19-point fourth quarter was all Lynden needed to lock up a 33-6 victory on Friday night.

"We know it's going to be hard, we have a bullseye on our back," Lynden coach Curt Kramme said. "You've got to tip your hat to Anacortes though, they played hard."

Leading 14-6 entering the fourth quarter, the Lion offense took advantage of a tiring Seahawk defense and turned a close game into a blowout victory.

After a holding penalty negated a Blair Bomber 49-yard touchdown reception, Lynden was facing third and 25 from its own 40-yard line. However, on the next play, senior quarterback Jordan Hastings went right back to Bomber, connecting over the middle for a 60-yard catch-and-run touchdown. On the play, Bomber received a huge block from senior wide receiver Ryan Seto springing him for the touchdown.

A block-in-the-back penalty on the ensuing kickoff forced Anacortes to start from its own 10-yard line, and after failing to get a first down, the Seahawks were forced to punt the ball back to Lynden.

Taking over on the Seahawks' 36-yard line, Lynden senior running back Brett Bajema took a handoff up the middle, accelerated past the Seahawk defenders toward the sideline, and finished the 36-yard touchdown run with a dive into the endzone. The score widened Lynden's lead to 27-6 and ended any chance Anacortes had to stage a late-game comeback.

"We tend to wear teams down late in the game," Kramme said. "The way our offense runs, teams can try to blitz but it allows us to break big plays. We just have to be patient enough to let that happen."

Heading into the game, Lynden was coming off its second straight shutout victory and was facing an Anacortes team with only one win on the season. After the first quarter, it was evident the Seahawks were not going to give in and the Lions would have to work hard for a victory.

"We were talking about (ball control) on every play," Anacortes coach Bill Evans said. "We took our time getting plays in and we didn't want to throw the ball before third down."

The Lion offense ran nine plays in the second quarter, but none was bigger than Seto's 95-yard touchdown reception from Hastings with 1:09 remaining in the half.

"They were playing cover zero the entire game and we wanted to take advantage of it," Seto said.

On the play, the 6-foot-5, 230-pound Seto outleapt a Seahawk defender, catching the pass at its highest point, then outraced the rest of the Seahawks defense down the sideline.

But it wasn't even his best play of the quarter.

Earlier, midway through the quarter, the Lion defense got into the Seahawks backfield forcing Anacortes sophomore quarterback Cody Culp to try and dump the ball off to a running back in the flat. However, Seto read the play perfectly, snagged the pass out of the air with one hand and took off down the sideline, scoring on a 33-yard return.

Anacortes 0 0 6 0- 6

Lynden 0 14 0 19- 33

Second quarter

Lyn - Ryan Seto 33-yard interception return (Santiago Lopez kick), 7:42

Lyn - Seto 95-yard pass from Jordan Hastings (Lopez kick), 1:09

Third quarter

Ana - Cody Culp 7-yard run (kick failed), 4:25

Fourth quarter

Lyn - Blair Bomber 60-yard pass from Hastings (kick failed), 10:36

Lyn - Brett Bajema 36-yard run (Lopez kick), 7:57

Lyn - Nolan Gudde 10-yard pass from Nyles Varnier (kick failed), 2:03

Ana Lyn

First downs 13 12

Rushing Att-Yards 48-143 17-118

Comp-Att-Int 7-18-2 10-19-1

Passing yards 86 283

Penalties-yards 1-15 3-20

Fumbles-lost 2-0 0-0

Individual leaders

RUSHING - Anacortes: Daniel Codd 20-60, Cody Culp 4-32, Jerry Pennewell 1-24, Landon Macy 7-11, Faris Diemert 2-5, Mark Medalia 9-4, Andrew Bolton 3-4, Michael Fox 1-4, Jackson Kirkpatrick 1-(minus 1). Lynden: Bajema 5-64, Varnier 2-28, Hastings 6-15, Jake Christianson 2-6, Bomber 2-5.

PASSING - Anacortes: Cody Culp 7-18-2-86. Lynden: Jordan Hastings 8-17-1-256, Nyles Varner 2-2-0-27.

RECEIVING - Anacortes: Si Sharma 2-33, Jackson Kirkpatrick 1-14, Mark Medalia 1-12, Landon Macy 1-11, Daniel Codd 1-10, Faris Diemert 1-6. Lynden: Ryan Seto 3-128, Blair Bomber 3-106, Nolan Gudde 3-32, Blake Groves 1-17.