Four Whatcom football teams headed for playoffs, but Ferndale’s season ends in first round
And then there were four.
Whatcom County’s surviving football teams — Lynden and Squalicum (2A) and Lynden Christian and Mount Baker (1A) — all will have home games as they will go directly to the Round of 16 in the State Playoffs on Friday and Saturday, Nov. 12-13.
The Class 3A State Playoffs began, as usual, with the Round of 32 and Ferndale saw its season end with a 20-7 loss to Garfield on Saturday at Seattle at Memorial Stadium.
As the tears of several emotional seniors showed, what will survive is their appreciation of each other.
“We were a huge brotherhood, a second family,” said third-year running back Ryan Pelton, eyes glistening with love for his teammates. “I won’t ever forget these guys. They will always have a place in my heart.”
The speed and quickness of Garfield (6-3) showed why the Bulldogs gave perennial Seattle powerhouses tough games in losses to Eastside Prep 16-14 and to O’Dea 21-14.
The Golden Eagles (7-3), a tri-champion in the Wesco 3A North, trailed 20-0 into the final seven minutes, but they were more competitive than that score indicated.
The Bulldogs used the speed and brilliant moves of Jacolby Cochran and the polish of 6-foot-2 sophomore quarterback E.J. Caminong to produce that bulge.
Cochran used his multitude of talents to race 64 yards to the 1-yard line on the game’s first play. Following the first two of Garfield’s 15 penalties, Rowley Canale caught a 9-yard touchdown pass. Star kicker Marcus Merkelbach booted the extra point to begin a day when he would kick two field goals of more than 30 yards to thwart a generally strong Ferndale defensive effort.
Five minutes into the second quarter, Cochran cut and weaved his way to a 44-yard touchdown on a short pass from Caminong.
The Golden Eagles did not seem discouraged, responding with an 88-yard drive from their 6-yard line to Garfield‘s 6, all on 11 rushes. But on the 11th rush, the Bulldogs recovered a fumble after the ball carrier, J.J. Nowak, had made the long push possible with 52 yards on his first six rushes of the game.
Cochran took advantage with a 74-yard run before the only Ferndale player fast enough to catch him, senior Thomas Broselle, saved a touchdown at the 23. The Eagles held but Merkelbach kicked a 33-yard field goal for a 17-0 advantage 39 seconds before halftime.
The Bulldogs used a game-clinching 20-play drive lasting more than eight minutes to set up Merkelbach’s 36-yarder for 20-0 with 6:58 left.
Ferndale quarterback Mark Schlichting suffered an interception on the next drive, but he came back with a 5-yard scoring pass to junior Damien Toney with only 3:46 remaining. It was Schlichting’s 15th touchdown pass.
“I definitely did not play my best today,” said Schlichting, who completed 5 of 19 passes for 57 yards while battling pressure and the sheer speed of Garfield’s defense.
“I’ll always remember this team,” he said with obvious emotion. “I’ll never forget how exciting this season was. These guys made the season a lot of fun.”
Ferndale coach Jamie Plenkovich made no excuses, but it was likely no coincidence that two of Ferndale’s losses came without stellar junior running back Isaiah Carson, out with a knee injury.
“We made two critical mistakes and that Number 6 (Cochran) is a heck of a player,” said the longtime coach, who noted how many good times he will recall with his team.
Garfield amassed 360 yards to Ferndale’s 257. Broselle had the Golden Eagles’ best day with 94 yards on 10 rushes and Nowak finished with 76 yards on 11 carries.
STATE PLAYOFF SEEDS SET
Since all four surviving Whatcom County teams are in the top eight seeds for the State Playoffs Class 1A and 2A Round of 16, there will be doubleheaders Friday and Saturday, Nov. 12-13, at Civic Stadium.
On Friday, No. 3 1A seed Lynden Christian (5-2) will face No. 14 Granite Falls (7-2) at 4 p.m. No. 4 2A seed Squalicum (6-2) will meet No. 13 Highline (8-2) at 7 p.m.
On Saturday, No 8 1A seed Mount Baker (5-3) will play No. 9 Toppenish (10-0) at 4 p.m. No 2 2A seed Lynden (8-1) will face No. 15 Fife (4-5) at 7 p.m.
All four local teams had byes in Week Ten.
SATURDAY’S OTHER GAME
QUILCENE 61, LUMMI 38: In an eight-man state elimination game at Quilcene — part of a series to get the state field down to 12 teams — junior Richie Wilson and Duncan Toby each turned three passes by freshman Tucker Rawlins into long touchdowns for Lummi (6-2). Coach Jim Sandusky credited Rawlins with nearly 500 yards passing and Wilson with close to 200 yards receiving.
But Quilcene (8-1), a 28-22 loser to Lummi on Sept. 17, took advantage of numerous Lummi injuries and showed why the coast team has averaged 50 points per game.
“Our backups gave us a good effort but we must have had 25 penalties,” said Sandusky, whose teams have qualified for the postseason 18 consecutive years.
FRIDAY’S GAMES
SEHOME 28, BURLINGTON-EDISON 27: Trailing 20-0 at halftime at Burlington, the Mariners inserted senior quarterback Jovyn Sangha and he responded with 14-for-20 passing for 231 yards and touchdowns of 10 yards to Luke Evans and 17 and 30 yards to Zach Chisholm in the final game for all three.
Sophomore Lucas Ortega’s 4-yard touchdown run and senior Aidan Andrews’ game-winning conversion kick were the game’s final points with 6:58 to play, capping a series made possible by Derrick Heyward’s recovery of an onside kick.
Sehome (3-6, 1-5) produced the biggest upset of the Northwest Conference 2A season by holding the Tigers (6-3, 3-3) to an offensive shutout in the second half.
Burlington’s only score after intermission was a 43-yard interception return by Calvin Absten, giving the Tigers a 27-14 lead with 10:34 to play.
But Sehome responded with Chisholm’s 17-yard scoring catch, set up by Sangha’s 21-yard pass to Braddock Duckworth. After Heyward’s onside kick recovery, Evans made a 30-yard grab and Lucas produced a pair of 4-yard runs, including the eventual game-winner on third down.
After quarterback Carson Neff, called “Boom” by teammates, punted 31 yards to Burlington’s 18 with 2:04 left, the Mariners successfully defended seven of Tigers’ quaterback Zach Watson’s last eight passes. Watson found Absten for 55 yard to the 27 on fourth down to create a tense last minute.
Chisholm enjoyed the game of his life with eight catches for 153 yards, all but one catch in the second half.
The Mariners celebrated wildly and soon heard coach Kevin Beasley tell them, “I couldn’t be prouder of you guys.”
Adding that he was “super proud,” Beasley was pleased with “what a great moment for all of us” that his players and staff could celebrate
“I’m glad for our team to go out like this,” said Neff.
Watson ran for 161 yards for the Tigers, with touchdowns of 52 and 47 yards, and Marquise Pressley scored from the 9 to help produce the 20-0 lead. Watson finished 10 for 29 for 169 yards, with five passes to Absten for 97 yards. Watson was intercepted by Sehome sophomore Alden Jacobs early in the fourth quarter.
MERIDIAN 51, SULTAN 10
When athletic directors ruled that the scheduled Meridian at Lynden Christian league game was not needed in Week Ten, the Trojans (6-4) quickly hustled up a road game at Sultan.
The result was spectacular, with Bryce Johnson catching touchdown passes of 82, 33 and 3 yards from Tucker Harrison, who went 16 for 26 for 290 yards. Johnson caught seven passes for 127 yards, including a first-half 12-yard scoring passes from freshman Jaeger Fyfe.
Meridian’s other scores were a 3-yard run by junior Taye Binta, a 15-yard run by freshman Josh Elmer, a 1-yard burst by junior Hunter Jones and a 50-yard blocked punt return by Armit Nagra for his first varsity touchdown.
“We had six seniors on the field by the end of the season, also including (two-way backfield standout) Daniel Short and three solid lineman, Issac Iredale, Jack Bernardy and Josh Groen,” said Trojans coach Patrick Ames. “Our two deep included at least a dozen freshmen who earnedvarsity letters.”
“On a lot of levels this was a very rewarding season,” said Ames, whose team played only two games in the abbreviated winter season. “We had only one confirmed case of COVID all season.”
NOOSACK VALLEY 33, CASCADE 20: The Pioneers (4-5) dominated a Class 3A opponent at Everett Memorial Stadium.
Senior Jordan Silva went out with touchdown runs of 10 and 5 yards, while sophomore quarterback Joey Brown scored on a 6-yard run and freshman Colton Lentz had a 4-yard touchdown burst.
Dawson Kimball capped his career with a 50-yard touchdown return of a blocked punt.
“I think we grew up a team,” said Nooksack coach Craig Bartl. “I’m proud of our seniors for enduring our ups and downs and for helping to lead our younger players.”
GRANITE FALLS 46, BELLINGHAM 6: State 1A qualifier Granite Falls (7-2) limited the young Bayhawks (2-7) to one touchdown, a connection of about 75 yards from quarterback Max Rasset to Johnny Twedt.
“The kids were great all season,” coach Robb Myhre said of his team’s attitude. “We lost about 10 kids to concussion protocols but most came back. And we had no positive COVID tests all season.”
The Bayhawks played an independent schedule instead of in the 2A division of the NWC.
Schedule
2A: No. 2 Lynden vs. No. 15 Fife, 7 p.m. Saturday at Civic Stadium.
1A: No. 8 Mount Baker vs. No. 9 Toppenish, 4 p.m. Saturday at Civic Stadium.
This story was originally published November 8, 2021 at 5:00 AM.
CORRECTION: The playoff game schedule was updated Monday, Nov. 8, 2021.
