Prep Football Roundup: Lynden knocks off Archbishop Murphy; Lions, Pioneers clinch play-in
Colton Lentz can rattle off praise for his Nooksack Valley offensive line seemingly as fast as the record-breaking running back can burst through the holes they create for the swift senior.
Lynden coach Blake Van Dalen verbally nailed the significance of his team’s biggest victory of the season as hard as his remarkable defense can hit.
Lentz graciously made a point of crediting his line for the 20 points he scored in Nooksack’s 29-0 homecoming win over Meridian on a most miserable Friday night, especially since Meridian’s defense was far from a slouch against him much of the night.
Van Dalen called Lynden’s 7-3 upset of previously unbeaten Archbishop Murphy “one for the ages” at Rollie DeKoster Field.
Following Week 7 results, the Pioneers (3-0 NWC 1A, 6-1 overall) and Lions (4-1 NWC 2A, 6-1 overall) became the first Whatcom County teams to claim spots in new play-in rounds in Week 10 for the right to advance to the state tournaments.
Six other local teams — Sehome, Squalicum, Lynden Christian, Meridian, Blaine and Ferndale — retained hopes of qualifying for Week 10 loser-out games as well.
Nooksack 29, Meridian 0: The Trojans came in with 220 points in their first six games but the Pioneers played their most effective defense, limiting Meridian (1-1, 5-2) to 181 total yards.
The Trojans entered the red zone only once. When they drove 44 yards on 12 plays to the Nooksack 13, Tristan Kamphouse knocked down a fourth-down pass on the last play of the first half, with the Pioneers up 7-0.
When Lentz perfectly picked a hole on the right side and burst 25 yards to score and Tyler Martin kicked the extra point ten seconds into the second quarter, it showed how mentally tough Lentz and his line were. The Trojans had held him to 10 yards on his first eight carries.
Lentz himself set up the touchdown when he knocked down a fourth-and-5 pass at the Meridian 42-yard line. Two plays later, junior quarterback Evan Brown found Cory Olney for 22 yards on third-and-13, setting up the first scoring opportunity for Lentz.
On Nooksack’s first series of the second half, the Pioneers pushed 59 yards on nine plays, scoring on a 14-yard Lentz power run and a Lentz two-point conversion for 15-0. The key play was Brown’s 17-yard scramble to Meridian’s 25.
Sophomore Max Lautenbach recovered an ensuing onside kick at Meridian’s 40. Lentz immediately raced 32 yards, setting up a 6-yard touchdown run by Colby Martin and the second of Tyler Martin’s three conversion kicks.
On Meridian’s ensuing series, the Trojans could not make a first down on fourth-and-7 and surrendered the ball at the 33, from where Lentz immediately scored. 18 seconds into the fourth quarter.
Lentz carried 27 times for 170 yards, giving him 570 yards in a three-game span and making him the tenth Whatcom County rusher to surpass 4,000 yards, according to county historian Tyler Anderson.
Lentz described his linemen this way:
“Brady Ackerman, my cousin, has been blocking for me since Day 1 at Nooksack, my ride or die. He’s the best O-lineman in the state.”
“Lance Vanberkum has also been playing with me since pee wee football. One of the hardest workers I know and put in a ton of work in the offseason to become one of the top linemen in our classification.”
“Adlei Whitworth, ever since he transferred to Nooksack, he has been a dawg offense and with a super high motor on defense.”
“Cohen Hofferd is a big physical mauler of an offensive lineman and we couldn’t ask for a better center.”
“Gabe Snyders didn’t miss a workout all summer long. He took full advantage of his opportunity due to injuries, and he’s now a big, physically dominant guard and defensive tackle.”
“Dane Ackerman is a huge part of our blocking scheme, even though he’s a tight end. It’s fun to see my baby cousin grow into his own. I give all credit to our offensive line. The way they dominate up front and how they play the game, makes it easy for me.”
Coach Craig Bartl noted that “I’m very proud of our line. And I’m proud of Cole Coppinger and Cole Bauman. They normally play well on offense but because of the elements, we had to go to a run package and they were great teammates and didn’t complain. They placed the team first.”
“Other guys who never get any credit are the JV players on the scout team. Because of the work and effort that they put in during the week, they gave us a good look at opponents and we’ve had the opportunity to be successful.”
Because NWC 1A will get three spots in the Week 10 State Round of 24 elimination games, Nooksack is already in. Lynden Christian and Meridian are the only other teams that can still win three of four league games. LC will play Meridian and Nooksack, and Meridian will finish in Week Nine against Blaine.
Lynden 7, Archbishop 3: Since the Lions beat Archbishop, Anacortes beat Lynden, and Archbishop beat Anacortes, all three teams have only one loss with two weeks to go and are assured three of the four NWC 2A Round of 32 spots.
Quarterback Brant Heppner scored on a 1-yard run and the Lions held the Wildcats to a field goal with their best defense of the season.
“Our defense was amazing,” Van Dalen said. “We had five three-and-outs against a great team. Our defense was really dialed in. They were all outstanding and we were led by sophomore linebackers Malachi Koenen and Landon Tolsma in his first start. They were both in on 14 tackles and Isaiah Oudman was in on eight tackles.”
Van Dalen described the Lions’ long scoring drive as “about 25 yards by Max Assink, about 26 yards by Heppner, plus Brant’s key passes of 14 yards (to Samm Puello Arango) and 15 yards to Isaiah.”
Heppner ran 19 times for 82 yards and completed nine of 20 passes for 116 yards and no interceptions. Assink carried 14 times for 45 yards in the mud and Oudman caught three for 44 yards.
“On our closeout drive in Archbishop territory, we shifted Oudman to quarterback (for wildcat snaps) and he ended the game with four carries for 18 yards and a first down.”
Sehome 27, Bellingham 7: In their first football meeting in six years, Sehome improved to 4-2, 5-2 as junior quarterback Nolan Wright made the most of five completions in horrible weather
Wright threw touchdown passes of 38 and 15 yards to Andre Watson, who came into the game with a county career record of 168 catches, according to historian Anderson. Wright has the school career record for TD passes with 54, including 18 this season.
Watson caught three passes for 63 yards, improving his school career receiving yardage record to 707 yards.
Coleby Chambers, a standout defensive back in his first start at running back, scored on a 15-yard run and Wright added a 2-yard touchdown to finish with eight carries for 74 yards. Grady Evans kicked all three of his conversion tries.
“Our defense played really well, and our three-back rotation worked well,” said Wright of Chambers, Solomon McAlister (60 yards) and Nicky Smith.
Wright suffered his first pick six of the season when Bellingham (0-5, 1-6) star Joe Harwood returned a pass 20 yards and Cameron Boak kicked the extra point. Harwood ran 21 times for 71 yards and Calvin VanHofwegen also made an interception for the Bayhawks.
Hudson Neff made his second touchdown of the season for the Mariners, who meet Squalicum on Friday night at Civic Stadium, with the NWC’s fourth State Round of 32 berth likely on the line.
Squalicum 22, Port Angeles 0: “This was a good game to have in preparation for the Sehome game,” said coach Nick Lucey of the Storm (3-3, 4-3). He was especially proud of the defensive excellence he will need to stop the Mariners.
“They only got to the edge of the red zone one time. Laki Fagaautau, Zach Watts and Malachi Smith led our defense, which shot down their running game (on a night when passing was a tough option in a storm),” Lucey said.
Marcus Nixon scored the first touchdown on a 48-yard run and finished with 122 yards on 13 carries.
Sophomore Hunter Calloway scored his first varsity touchdown with a 47-yard return of a fumble forced by Avery Weener. Sophomore kicker Slade Kaiser’s second conversion kick made the halftime score 14-0.
Smith scored the final touchdown on a 9-yard run and finished with 77 yards on 13 carries. Cole Burke completed 9 of 17 passes for 57 yards with no interceptions in heavy rain and also threw a two-point conversion pass to Ansen Asbjornsen.
Squalicum faces Bellingham in Week Nine, while Sehome meets playoff contender Archbishop Murphy. The winner of the Squalicum-Sehome game will hold the tiebreaker for the fourth spot.
Squalicum endured a six-hour bus ride home from Port Angeles on Friday night, Lucey said, due to a bridge closure in the storm.
Lake Stevens 63, Ferndale 6: Sophomore Elliot Lenssen scored on a 3-yard run against the 4A powerhouse, which improved to 6-1.
Ferndale (3-2 Wesco North 3A, 3-4 overall) next faces Sedro-Woolley on Friday night at Ferndale.
“No matter what happens Friday, we will advance (to the Week 10 State 3A Round of 32) if we win our crossover game (against a Wesco South opponent) in Week Nine,” said Ferndale coach Jamie Plenkovich.
In other Wesco North 3A games, Mount Vernon beat Sedro-Woolley 14-6; Stanwood overwhelmed Marysville-Getchell 56-0; and Oak Harbor defeated Snohomish 33-7.
In other NWC 2A games, Anacortes shut out Lakewood 43-0 and Burlington-Edison blanked Marysville-Pilchuck 34-0.
Blaine 36, Friday Harbor 13: Jaiden Paez rushed 23 times for 316 yards and scored four touchdowns in the non-league home game for the Borderites (0-2, 5-2), who have won two more games than all last season.
According to historian Anderson, Paez moved into the No. 15 spot for single-game rushing in county history. The fleet senior ran for scores of 5, 24, 47 and 55 yards and now has 1,200 yards in seven games.
Colby Shipp scored from the 3 after a 60-yard catch by Kai Kerwin from Colin Davis, who completed five of seven passes for 117 yards with no interceptions in the rain.
Logan Villarreal had an interception and ran twice for two-point conversions on in-game “fire drills, and also kicked two conversions.
The remaining NWC 1A league games are Lynden Christian at Meridian and Blaine at Mount Baker in Week Eight, followed by Nooksack at Lynden Christian and Meridian at Blaine in Week Nine.
Nooksack can do no worse than 3-1 and already has one of the league’s three spots in the Week 10 State Round of 24 to determine the 12-team state playoff field.
The maximum number of games the other four teams can win is four for LC, three for Meridian, two for Blaine and one for Mount Baker. If Blaine beats both Mount Baker and Meridian, Blaine would hold the tiebreaker for the third spot.
Lynden Christian 13, Mount Baker 7: The Lyncs (2-0, 4-3) preserved its playoff hopes while snappling a scoreless tie at halftime against the Mountaineers (0-3, 4-3).
A fumble recovery by Hollis Owen set up a 10-yard touchdown by sophomore Chris Kooiman. LC’s second score was a 16-yard pass to Jayden Huleatt for his only catch of the game.
Maberry coped as well as could be against heavy rain and win with 8-for-21 passing for 111 yards and one interception, including 4 passes for 79 yards to Boyce Robertson.
Baker scored the game’s final touchdown with a little less than 10 minutes left on a 10-yard pass from Luke Smith to Dean Allred, followed by Enoc Smith’s conversion kick. It was Baker’s only pass completion.
Brady Bruland gained 97 yards on 16 carries for Baker, but the Lyncs limited the rest of the runners to a total of 67 yards, as per the Whatcom Preps website.
Jacob Penner, who kicked the first extra point, and Kaden Veldman recovered fumbles for the Lyncs in the fourth quarter.
Neah Bay 44, Lummi Nation 0: The young Blackhawks fell to 0-6 with a road loss to Neah Bay (7-1), which is among the state 2B eight-man title favorites.
It was Lummi’s first shutout loss of the season. The Blackhawks play host to Charles Wright of Tacoma on Friday at 6 p.m. In week nine, Lummi visits state power Crescent on Nov. 2.
This story was originally published October 21, 2024 at 5:00 AM with the headline "Prep Football Roundup: Lynden knocks off Archbishop Murphy; Lions, Pioneers clinch play-in."
