Sports - Sports News

POSTED: Friday, Nov. 20, 2009

PREP FOOTBALL: Pioneers rally past King's to advance to Class 2A state semifinals

SHORELINE - Trailing by 20 points at halftime, it would have been easy for the Nooksack Valley football team to give in and start thinking about packing up the bus for the drive back north.

The Pioneers had yet to stop King's, other than when the Knights missed a 27-yard field goal in the second quarter, and there was little sign that they would be able to for the rest of the second half of their Class 1A State Quarterfinal on Friday, Nov. 20, after King's stretched the lead to 27 early in the third quarter.

But just when things looked their darkest, momentum started to swing Nooksack Valley's way.

Tyler Perry scored the game-tying touchdown just more than a minute into the fourth quarter, and Anthony Reese gave the Pioneers their first lead of the game on a 40-yard end-around with 6:29 to play - a lead they would not relinquish in 54-47 thriller at King's Woolsey Stadium.

"The coaches just told us not to give up and go out and take care of what we could control," Reese said after the game.

With the victory, the Pioneers (11-2) advance to the state semifinals for the first time since 1975 and will play their first playoff game at the Tacoma Dome at 1 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 28. Nooksack Valley will play the winner of Cascade Christian vs. Montesano who play Saturday, Nov. 21.

"It feels great," Reese said. "This program has come a long ways."

It had to go even further in the second half on Friday.

King's dominated the first half from the start, when Nick Swanson returned the opening kickoff 83 yards for a touchdown. Things only got worse from there, as Thomas Vincent and the high-powered Knights offense moved up and down the field with big play after big play.

Vincent finished the half with 189 yards and three touchdowns passing and another 80 yards and a TD on the ground.

It looked even more hopeless for the Pioneers when Vincent and Swanson hooked up for a 32-yard TD on King's first offensive possession of the second half to make it 40-13.

But hard running from Nick deGrasse, who ran for 239 yards and four touchdowns on 37 carries, and some key onside kicks got Nooksack rolling. Two short TD runs by deGrasse got the Pioneers back in the game at 40-26.

After the Knights tacked on another 23-yard TD run by Vincent, Perry and Reese took over from there.

Perry scored on a 2-yard TD run and then hooked up with Reese on a 14-yard score to make it 47-40 with 14 seconds to play in the third quarter.

Perry then scored on a 2-yard keeper with 10:54 to play to tie the game for the first time.

King's tried to answer, and drove to the Nooksack 10, before Reese intercepted Vincent in the end zone.

"We were in Cover 4, and I was playing in the flat," Reese said of the play. "I just kind of laid back and tried to play the ball, and I was able to get it."

Nooksack Valley, which seemingly couldn't be stopped in the second half, quickly drove down the field and took the lead on Reese's 40-yard end-around to the right side. He picked up a key block from deGrasse allowing him to turn the corner and head up field.

"That was just a great team effort," Reese said. "Trevon Myhre is a great blocker, and Tyler Perry got out front and made some key blocks down field."

The Pioneers made the lead stand, when Tito Nolasco made a nice over-the-shoulder interception and Nooksack Valley was able to run out the clock with two key fourth-and-2 conversions.

Nooksack Valley 6 7 27 14-54

King's 20 13 14 0-47

First quarter

K - Nick Swanson 83 kickoff return (Swanson kick)

NV - Nick deGrasse 1 run (kick failed)

K - Thomas Vincent 50 run (Swanson kick)

K - Swanson 43 pass from Vincent (kick failed)

Second quarter

K - Curtis Clauson 5 pass from Vincent (kick failed)

NV - deGrasse 5 run (Travis Benner kick)

K - Clauson 4 pass from Vincent (Swanson kick)

Third quarter

K - Joseph Jaeger 32 pass from Vincent (Swanson kick)

NV - deGrasse 2 run (kick failed)

NV - deGrasse 1 run (Benner kick)

K - Vincent 23 run (Swanson kick)

NV - Tyler Perry 2 run (kick failed)

NV - Anthony Reese 14 pass from Perry (deGrasse pass from Perry)

Fourth quarter

NV - Perry 2 run (Benner kick)

NV - Reese 40 run (Benner kick)

NV K

First downs 36 20

Rush att.-yards 61-391 16-167

Cmp.-Att.-Int. 15-22-0 19-33-2

Pass yards 163 282

Penalties 4-28 9-96

Fumbles 2-1 0-0

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING - Nooksack Valley: Nick deGrasse 37-239; Tyler Perry 17-58; Trevon Myhre 4-12; Anthony Reese 3-82. King's: Thomas Vincent 14-138; Ben Welch 2-29.

PASSING - Nooksack Valley: Tyler Perry 15-21-163-0, Trevon Myhre 0-1-0-0. King's: Thomas Vincent 19-33-2-282.

RECEIVING - Nooksack Valley: Nick deGrasse 3-11, Kyle Handy 3-39, Anthony Reese 6-84, Trevon Myhre 2-24, Luke VanderVliet 1-5. King's: Nick Swanson 8-133, Joseph Jaeger 3-58, Curtin Clauson 7-82, Caleb Taylor 1-9.