The numbers don’t lie; this Whatcom County football team will get ‘a second shot’
Put down the calculators, it’s official. Despite a lopsided loss to a Class 4A school on Friday night, the Lynden football team is officially moving on to the postseason.
The athletic directors of the Northwest and Sea-King districts released the final RPI rankings for Class 2A football teams early Saturday, and Lynden checked in with a 0.37846, which was sixth-best overall and, more importantly, third best among the group of “South” teams made of the Cascade Conference, Kingco 2A and Wesco 2A and the fourth-place team from the 2A NWC (Lynden).
With Lynden among the top three from the “South” the 2A NWC will send four teams to the Week 10 2A Bi-District Playoffs next week – Sedro-Woolley, Burlington-Edison, Lakewood and Lynden. They will be joined by Archbishop Murphy and Liberty to play three winner-to-state games on Friday.
As the South No. 3, Lynden will face the top seed from the North – Sedro-Woolley – in a 7 p.m. game Friday at Sedro.
The Lions (4-5) entered Week 9 ranked behind Granite Falls in the RPI race, but the Tigers’ 22-21 Cascade Conference loss to Sultan in overtime allowed Lynden to move ahead despite a 42-7 non-league loss at Eastlake. Granite Falls finished with an RPI of 0.35993.
By advancing, the Lions get an opportunity to play for a trip to state for the 11th time in the past 12 years. The one time they didn’t make it to state? It was Sedro-Woolley that knocked them out in the district playoffs with 21-17 loss in 2015. Lynden also will get a chance to avenge a 34-20 loss to the Cubs on Sept. 22.
“The big theme of our season has been missed opportunities and wanting a second shot,” Lynden coach Blake Van Dalen said Friday night. “It looks like we may get that shot.”
Playoff bound
With Lynden advancing to the Class 2A Bi-District Playoffs, Whatcom County will send six teams to the postseason. Lummi receives a bye next week, but here’s a look at what the other five teams are facing in Week 10:
Class 3A District Playoffs
▪ Metro No. 7 (Nathan Hale or Blanchet) at Ferndale, TBD
Class 2A Bi-District Playoffs
▪ Lynden at Sedro-Woolley, 7 p.m. Friday
Class 1A Northwest District Playoffs
▪ Bothell Cedar Park Christian at Meridian, 7 p.m. Friday (at Anacortes)
▪ King’s at Mount Baker, 7 p.m. Friday
▪ Nooksack Valley at Sultan, 7 p.m. Friday
This story was originally published October 28, 2017 at 12:10 PM with the headline "The numbers don’t lie; this Whatcom County football team will get ‘a second shot’."