Lummi downs rival Neah Bay, heads to state title game

Lummi finally relieved itself from the weight of a nine-game losing streak to rival Neah Bay, and the improbable win came at the most opportune time.

Blackhawks coach Jim Sandusky began game planing for Neah Bay the moment Lummi lost to the Red Devils by 50 six weeks ago, and Sandusky’s inventive play-calling and Lummi’s execution proved crucial.

But perhaps no one, except for the Blackhawks themselves, expected Lummi to physically dominate the Red Devils during its thrilling 26-20 Class 1B State Playoff semifinal win Friday, Nov. 27, at the Tacoma Dome.

“I can’t describe it, the pride that’s in me for my team, lighting them up and not letting the runs,” junior two-way starter Raven Borsey said. “It’s the first time Neah Bay’s run game has been stopped like that in years, and that’s what we were focused on.”

The win snapped Neah Bay’s 34-game win streak and advances Lummi to the Class 1B title game, where it will play either Liberty Christian or Almira-Coulee-Hartline at 4 p.m. Friday, Nov. 27, at the Tacoma Dome.

Lummi, which near traditionally every year meets Neah Bay once in league play and once in the state playoffs, hasn’t beat the Red Devils since a regular-season 2011 victory.

The Blackhawks’ defense extended its state playoff scoreless streak to 11 quarters before Neah Bay scored its first touchdown in the fourth quarter, and Lummi yielded only 179 rushing yards on 47 carries.

Free Borsey was credited with a game-high 15 tackles, and Hank Hoskins, who was questionable to play with a leg injury, racked up 10.5 tackles.

“It’s great to come in that big of underdogs and really believe,” Sandusky said. “It was a really strange feeling before we came out. I asked the guys if they were nervous. They said, ‘No, coach, we know exactly what to do, and we know what they are going to do.’”

Free caught two first-quarter touchdown passes, Trazil Lane caught two TDs, threw for one and logged 143 receiving yards on six catches and Hoskins rushed for 67 yards.

The Blackhawks, Sandusky said, engineered their strongest start of the year, and the scoring began with one of two double passes.

Hoskins connected with Free, who was wide open, after receiving a pitch for a 36-yard touchdown on a fourth-and-4. A little more than two minutes later, Lane received a lateral from QB Jonathan Casimir and threw a strike to Free for a 29-yard touchdown on a fourth-and-12, giving Lummi a 12-0 edge with 3:11 to go in the first.

The Blackhawks’ defense meanwhile came up with critical fourth-down stops over-and-over and bottled up last year’s 1B State Player of the Year, Cole Svec.

“We got outcoached and outplayed today, and that’s just the way it is,” Neah Bay coach Tony McCaulley said. “Lummi came out and were more physical, and I never thought they would. They outphysicaled us, and that is what we get.”

Lane extended Lummi’s lead to 18-0 with 1:34 to play in the third after catching an out-route from Casimir, breaking a tackle and running 33 yards for a touchdown.

Neah Bay ended the Lummi defense’s 132-minute streak of not allowing a point in the state playoffs on the first play of the fourth quarter with a 39-yard TD pass from QB Rwehabura Munyagi to Kenrick Doherty Jr.

Lummi responded with a shovel pass from Casimir to Lane that went for a 57-yard score, but back-to-back Neah Bay TDs cut the score to 26-20 with 1:48 to play.

But the Blackhawks recovered the onside attempt and ran the clock out.

“Last year we had seniors say (2014) was the last year if we don’t beat Neah Bay, no one will,” Raven said. “That gave us motivation to work out, to do all those workouts with my brother, and now we are here.”

This story was originally published November 27, 2015 at 6:35 PM with the headline "Lummi downs rival Neah Bay, heads to state title game."