New star shines for Mount Baker in first week of long-delayed NWC football season
Mount Baker will not have the chance to earn its ninth consecutive state tournament spot in the new abbreviated football season, but the Mountaineers still might be worthy of the honor.
As if the Mounties did not have enough returning standouts from their 2019 Northwest Conference Class 1A co-champion, they unveiled yet another in their season-opening 26-0 win over Nooksack Valley on Friday at Nooksack.
Jesse Sande, a 194-pound junior running back, amassed 71 yards on 13 carries and scored Baker’s first touchdown of their delayed five-game season with a nifty, shifty 22-yard run. He broke at least three tackles to cap a 59-yard, seven-play drive on Baker’s first possession.
Sande nicely complemented quarterback Mason Jacoby and receiver Ayden Rodriguez, who combined for touchdown passes of 53 and 14 yards for a 20-0 halftime lead, and fellow senior running back Toby Jefferson, who scored on a 16-yard run.
“I’m really happy after such a long wait,” said Jacoby in a socially distanced 30-second interview at the end of the handshake line. “I expected this.”
COVID-19 restrictions have eliminated playoffs this spring. The state rules limited people in the stadium to 200, including players, cheerleaders, coaches, officials and other participating adults along with a few dozen fortunate fans.
Seconds after the game ended, everyone was instructed to “leave immediately to avoid congregating.” So the usual celebrations and condolences were not possible, taking much of the tradition away.
For all you hundreds of Baker fans who could not attend, though, rest assured this team may be just as explosive as last year’s squad, which finished 10-2 and reached the state quarterfinals.
“We really appreciate the support of all our fans in the NWC even though most of them can’t get into the games,” Baker coach Ron Lepper said Sunday.
Jacoby looked every bit as good as advertised. The personable 6-3, 204-pound leader completed 7 of 14 passes for 142 yards without an interception.
He fired a bullet that would have impressed any college coach to Rodriguez, who made the catch in full stride for the 53-yard score, driving the Baker sideline wild with enthusiasm.
Junior linebacker Davin Beason, a 221-pound returning standout, quickly followed that play with a 23-yard interception return to the Nooksack 17-yard line. Rodriguez’s 14-yard catch — which Lepper also thought was outstanding — made it 20-0 with five seconds left in the first half.
Beason made at least a dozen tackles and was perhaps the best player on the field, with all due respect to Baker’s offensive stars.
From Lepper’s standpoint, the highlight was the performance of the offensive line, because Beason, Wyatt Thomas, Aiden Corning, Joel Robles and Ethan Larson are playing new positions.
The young Pioneers debuted under new coach Craig Bartl with a promising 6-2 freshman quarterback, Joey Brown, who also suffered interceptions by Rodriguez and Caleb Horsmon, but otherwise displayed potential.
Brown completed 9 of 14 passes for 66 yards while at times looking like anything but a freshman facing fearsome Baker.
Returning senior standout Scott Whittern played well on both sides of the ball and gained 39 yards on 11 rushes and 36 yards on three receptions.
Baker limited the Pioneers to 109 yards while the Mounties amassed 195 rushing and 337 in all.
OTHER GAMES
In other NWC openers (full statistics were not always available pending film studies):
LYNDEN 27, MOUNT VERNON 13: Quarterback Baylor Ayres led the Class 2A Lions to a 13-0 first-half lead with a 21-yard scoring pass to Kaleo Jandoc and a 5-yard run. Running back Caleb Wheeler scored from the 5 and 10 yard lines in the second half and finished with more than 100 yards rushing.
“Our highlight was our goal-line stand on four downs from the 1 on Mount Vernon’s first series of the second half,” Lions coach Blake VanDalen said. “Then we drove 99 yards to score and I think Caleb had about 80 of them. Our offensive line dominated and made us feel comfortable.”
VanDalen was also excited by two sophomores in their first game, kicker Troy Petz and holder Isaiah Stanley, working with senior line leader Matthew Furdyk as snapper.
“They work so hard and they shanked their first extra point try but they came back with three perfect kicks,” said VanDalen.
The coach also cited Taivin VanDalen for an onside kick recovery and a 25-yard interception return to the 1-yard line as the first half ended.
FERNDALE 41, OAK HARBOR 7: “We have lots of positive things to build on,” said coach Jamie Plenkovich of preparation for Friday’s annual showdown with rival Lynden at Ferndale.
Returning senior quarterback Haiden Rasmussen threw touchdown passes of 40 and 47 yards to junior Thomas Broselle, who also scored on an 80-yard run in the firs half at Oak Harbor.
Sophomore Isaiah Carlson ran for scores of 9 and 1 yard and junior Ryan Pelton provided the capper with a 39-yard touchdown sprint. Carlson finished with 121 yards rushing while Broselle had 106 rushing and 88 receiving and Pelton had 95 rushing (carries and catches not available).
Plenkovich praised senior safety Andrew Monks, who calls the defensive plays, for an excellent effort and “a couple of big plays early” to help produce a 28-7 halftime lead,
“I thought we did a good job of tackling and getting to the ball,” said Plenkovich, whose Golden Eagles were among six NWC 2019 state tournament qualifiers to win their openers (the seventh, Meridian, had a bye).
SEHOME 42, BURLINGTON-EDISON 19: Senior quarterback Jacob Kaepernick scored on runs of 11 and 5 yards and threw touchdown passes of 38 yards to sophomore Max Malo and 28 yards to Eli Ashmann, a senior transfer from Oklahoma, for a 28-7 halftime lead in the first game at Class 2A Sehome‘s new home field.
Senior running back Craig Dorsch clinched the win with second-half scores of 3 and 2 yards, the second with 1:19 to play. He highlighted a game-clinching drive of more than eight minutes..
“I’m very much pleased,” said Mariners coach Kevin Beason. “The effort and energy were just so good. Out team executed better than I thought they would for a first game. We played with enthusiasm and really embraced the moment” to begin a five-game season.
“Craig Dorsch was just outstanding in the second half,” the coach added.
SQUALICUM 36, SEDRO-WOOLLEY 14: Junior Kai Posey caught three touchdown passes from returning senior quarterback Mason Binning at Sedro-Woolley.
Junior Ben Schlenbaker, the NWC’s most highly recruited prospect, scored twice on runs characteristic of what produced more than 2,000 yards last season for the first time by a county sophomore.
Binning completed 17 of 20 passes for 256 yards and Posey caught six for 120 including scores of 34, 31 and 15 yards. Schlenbaker was credited with 141 yards rushing.
Storm coach Nick Lucey said the defense was led by senior Billy Scammell and juniors Jaymeson Thompson and Bryson Lamb, all juniors.
“All in all, we’re really happy with this win,” said Lucey, whose team has returned to Class 2A after several years in 3A. “It provides us with a great jumping off point.”
LYNDEN CHRISTIAN 55, BLAINE 0: The Lyncs, second at Class 1A state last year, took a 41-0 halftime lead at Blaine and seven different players scored touchdowns, with two by Jackson Apol.
Senior quarterback Logan Dykstra set the tone with a 15-yard scoring pass to junior Kayden Mellema and Dykstra then scored on a 1-yard run.
Shale Whittern scored from the 8 and Devonta Bootsma cracked over from the 1, followed by Apol’s 60-yard punt return and a 25-yard reception from Dykstra.
In the second half, sophomore Tyler Sipma scored on a 20-yard run and Cody Bajema on an 8-yard scamper. Lucas Von Hofwegen kicked 7 of 8 extra point tries.
“We hadn’t had any football since we left the field against Royal (in December 2019), so I was really proud of the kids,” said coach Dan Kaemingk. “There was just so much pent-up energy. And (Blaine coach) Jay Dodd’s kids had a lot of fight in them.”
ANACORTES 33, BELLINGHAM 7: The young Bellingham squad was tied at the half 7-7 in coach Robb Myhre’s first game with his new team after 20 seasons at Nooksack Valley.
Manny Depalma scored Bellingham’s touchdown on a 4-yard run and sophomore safety Liam Poulton-Claypool “was real aggressive on defense,” Myhre said.
Both Anacortes and Bellingham are Class 2A in sports but will play in the seven-team Class 1A Division this short season. The other eight schools from Whatcom, Skagit and Island counties will play in the 2A/3A division.
The season will run through March 20 with either five or six games planned for every team.
Games of Friday, Feb. 26
Lynden at Ferndale, 7 p.m.
Lynden Christian vs. Bellingham at Civic Stadium, 7 p.m.
Squalicum at Mount Vernon, 7 p.m.
Mount Baker at Blaine, 7 p.m.
Sehome at Oak Harbor, 7 p.m. (time may be moved up)
Game of Saturday, Feb. 27
Nooksack at Meridian, 1 p.m.
This story was originally published February 22, 2021 at 5:00 AM.
