Sports - Sports News

POSTED: Thursday, Nov. 05, 2009

PREP FOOTBALL: Statham voted Athlete of the Week

Blaine running back Caleb Statham has been voted the Football Athlete of the Week, sponsored by Aaron Dickson of Rice Insurance, in an online poll.

Statham received 75.6 percent (87 votes) of the 115 votes cast at TheBellinghamHerald.com/sports, beating out Ferndale's Willy Scott and Meridian's Mitchell Tripp.

Statham rushed for 186 yards and a season-high four touchdowns on 15 carries - all in the first half - of the Borderites' 51-0 victory over Bellingham on Thursday, Oct. 29, at Civic Stadium. The big game helped him cement his Northwest Conference leads in rushing yards (1,229 this season) and points scored (108).

"Caleb did an outstanding job of following his blockers," Blaine coach Jay Dodd said. "There is usually an unblocked player that the running back has to make miss, and he made that player miss a few times in our Bellingham game."

Blaine travels to Cedarcrest for a Class 2A Northwest District playoff game at 7 p.m. on Friday, Nov. 6, hoping to earn its third straight trip to state and its sixth overall

Check the Saturday, Nov. 7, Sports section to see which local football players were nominated for their outstanding performances in Week 10 and go to TheBellinghamHerald.com/sports throughout the week to cast your vote for the Football Athlete of the Week.