Bauman leads Nooksack Valley’s thrilling win over Meridian
On a night he threw five touchdown passes, Nooksack Valley quarterback Casey Bauman proved he could run.
In a wild game in which Colton Kautz caught three scoring passes, gained 156 yards on four catches and ran for a touchdown while gaining 125 yards on 21 carries, the running back showed how well he could throw for the first time.
Such were the developments in Nooksack Valley’s wild 47-34 win over Meridian in a Class 1A Northwest Conference game Friday, Sept. 30.
Bauman, the 6-foot-5 junior prospect, completed 14 of 25 passes for 282 yards, including scoring passes of 82 and 63 yards to Kautz in the second half.
The 63-yarder clinched the win at 47-27 for the Pioneers (3-2, 1-1 1A NWC) with less than three minutes remaining.
Bauman rushed for 160 yards on 20 carries and scored on a 4-yard run, putting Meridian (2-3, 1-1) in a 28-12 hole in the first series of the second half.
KAUTZ’S BIG THROW
Bauman’s touchdown run came on the next play after the first pass of Kautz’s varsity career – a 29-yarder to Michael O’Bryan on a trick halfback option play.
“The coach (Robb Myhre) called it,” Kautz said. “It was a good call.”
‘IT WAS TENSE’
As Myhre congratulated Meridian’s players following the nearly three-hour thriller, he summed up the game perfectly: “It was tense.” He didn’t need to say much more than that beyond expressing immense pride in his squad, which went 1-9 last year.
BURKETT TRIES HARD
Meridian quarterback Simon Burkett, like Bauman a junior, completed 19 of 35 passes for 272 yards and one interception – a big second-half theft by Nooksack’s Kyle Veldman, who also caught Bauman’s first two touchdown passes on first-quarter throws of 10 and 9 yards. T.J. Dykstra caught eight passes for 92 yards.
Burkett threw a 13-yard scoring pass to Dawson Logan, cutting Nooksack’s halftime lead to 21-12. Burkett also scored on a 48-yard run in the third quarter and Cole Roberts ran for two 5-yard scores in the fourth period as the Trojans fought to catch up. Tony Schleimer scored Meridian’s other touchdown on a 9-yard second-quarter run.
Meridian | 0 | 12 | 7 | 15 | — | 34 |
Nooksack | 13 | 8 | 20 | 6 | — | 47 |
First quarter
NV – Kyle Veldman 10 pass from Casey Bauman (Jordan Veening kick)
NV – Veldman 9 pass from Bauman (kick failed)
Second quarter
Mer – Tony Schleimer 9 run (kick failed)
NV – Colton Kautz 5 pass from Bauman (Veldman pass from Bauman)
Mer – Dawson Logan 13 pass from Simon Burkett (run failed)
Third quarter
NV – Bauman 4 run (Veening kick)
NV – Kautz 7 run (kick blocked)
NV – Kautz 82 pass from Bauman (Veening kick)
Mer – Burkett 48 run (Nick Sebastian kick)
Fourth quarter
Mer – Cole Roberts 5 run (Roberts run)
NV – Kautz 63 pass from Bauman (kick failed)
Mer – Roberts 5 run (Sebastian kick)
Mer | NV | |
First downs | 26 | 25 |
Rushing Att-yards | 28-167 | 49-305 |
Comp-Att-Int | 19-35-1 | 15-26-0 |
Passing yards | 272 | 311 |
Penalties-yards | 3-15 | 7-45 |
Fumbles-lost | 2-1 | 2-0 |
Individual statistics
RUSHING – Meridian: Tony Schleimer 15-69, Simon Burkett 6-55, Cole Roberts 7-43. Nooksack: Casey Bauman 20-160, Colton Kautz 21-125, Tre Silva 8-20.
PASSING – Meridian: Simon Burkett 19-35-272-1. Nooksack: Casey Bauman 14-25-282-0, Colton Kautz 1-1-29-0.
RECEIVING – Meridian: T.J. Dykstra 8-92, Logan Dawson 3-68, Andrew Logan 3-56, Tony Schleimer 2-24, Lucas Hemenway 1-15, Dawson Phillips 2-17. Nooksack: Kyle Veldman 5-68, Colton Kautz 4-156, Tre Silva 1-24, Michael O’Bryan 1-29, Jeremy Dykes 2-30, Jordan Veening 1-4, Austin O’Bryan 1-0.
This story was originally published September 30, 2016 at 10:56 PM with the headline "Bauman leads Nooksack Valley’s thrilling win over Meridian."