These Whatcom County high school football players, coaches honored by Northwest Conference
As if dealing with the coronavirus and the rainiest three-month stretch in recorded Whatcom County history were not enough, the entire Lynden Lions’ 92-player roster was asked to keep a vital season-long secret.
“Yeah, we had to impose a gag order on everyone,” coach Blake VanDalen said with an admiring chuckle about the Class 2A state champion Lions, who were the county’s first state champions since their 2013 title. “Nobody outside our team family could ever know that Cade Slayton could not throw because of his shoulder problem.
“If word ever got out that Cade could only run, it would have caused problems for us.”
Indeed, the word never did get out. As a result, Slayton turned out to be the most important backup quarterback in Lynden history.
“We’ve never had any of our many outstanding running backs score three touchdowns in a state championship game,” VanDalen said of the nine state titles the Lions have won, including their 21-7 stunner over defending champion and top-seeded Tumwater last Saturday, Dec. 4, in Puyallup.
Slayton, who earned second-team All-Northwest Conference 2A honors at tight end, used his special power-running talents to amass a game-high 88 yards on 17 carries and the three scores on short keepers.
Juniors Kaidan Hermanutz at quarterback and Lane Herringa and Campbell Nolte at running back and all-league senior wide receiver Kaleo Jandoc provided the starting backfield speed that the Lions (12-1) needed to set up Slayton’s scores.
Northwest Conference displays talent
The Northwest Conference showed just what a rugged conference it is in the state semifinals and finals.
The Thunderbirds (10-3) — who lost only close games to two teams in higher classifications — came into the semifinals with 522 points. Their lowest output came in a 28-26 loss to Class 4A state quarterfinalist Camas.
Even so, the Squalicum Storm shut out Tumwater in the second half of the Thunderbirds’ 14-3 win in the semifinals. The Lions blanked Tumwater in the final three quarters and held the T-Birds to 101 total yards after their game-opening drive.
“I’m happy for Blake,” said Squalicum coach Nick Lucey, whom VanDalen lauded for the film and tips Lucey shared. “He and his staff did a great job. Tumwater is a really talented team. But our league is a real gauntlet. Our league really prepared our two state qualifiers so well for the playoffs.”
The Lions won the 2018 and 2019 Northwest Conference 2A titles and went 4-0 against 2A teams in the abbreviated 2021 winter season, then went 6-0 in the seven-team conference this season. Although none of the current starters saw regular duty as freshmen on the 2018 state finalists, the current seniors helped the program produce a 40-6 record.
When informed that Whatcom County’s 11 schools finished 49-27 against out-of-county opponents, including 9-5 for the six postseason qualifiers, Lucey wasn’t surprised.
“That speaks to the quality of football all over Whatcom County,” said Lucey, whose team gave him his sixth state qualifier in seven opportunities and his first state semifinalist.
Local honors
VanDalen, whose five-year record is 45-12, was voted Northwest Conference 2A coach of the year and Squalicum defensive coordinator Brian Young was chosen assistant coach of the year. Player of the year honors went to Burlington-Edison quarterback Zach Watson.
Mount Baker’s Ron Lepper was Northwest Conference IA coach of the year and senior linebacker Davin Beason was defensive player of the year. Blaine senior Jaxon Kortlever was offensive player of the year.
Witman’s defense praised
Lynden defensive coordinator Blake Witman came in for praise from player after player in the hour-long post-game celebration, which may have set a school record for hugs.
“This was our best defensive state championship game (including the seven titles won by the late coaching legend Curt Kramme) I’ve ever seen in 25 years of coaching at Lynden,” said VanDalen, a Lynden lifer who has long credited Kramme with so much of what he has learned as a player and coach.
All-league seniors Taivin VanDalen and Collin Anker shared Lynden’s defensive player of the game honors. VanDalen had 14 tackles and finished with 130 this season by Lynden’s figures. Anker had two interceptions, one that led to a second-quarter touchdown and the other that capped the win midway through the fourth quarter. Lucas Gunderson also did solid work on the defensive line.
“Collin Anker (two interceptions) and Kobe Baar (one pass theft) were obvious standouts, but our seniors Ryan Kleindel and Kole Antypas were also vital in our defensive backfield,” Blake VanDalen said. “All told, our defensive backfield was tremendous.”
The Lions got a kick out of seeing senior co-captain Max Moore throw a 36-yard touchdown pass to Jandoc, even though the trick play was nullified by an alignment penalty. After sustaining a serious shoulder injury early in the season, the talented Moore was limited to serving as an emergency quarterback because his shoulder remained fragile, but he also acted as a student coach, VanDalen noted with gratitude. Moore played on special teams in the state title game.
Whatcom is among the state’s few current counties to have two different teams in a title game in three consecutive playoffs: 2018 (Lynden lost to Hockinson 42-37); 2019 (Lynden Christian lost to Royal 26-22); and 2021. There were no playoffs in the 2020-2021 school year.
Dealing with COVID, rain
Very few local games were canceled because of COVID-19 and few players tested positive during the season. Meanwhile, the 23½ inches of rain recorded at the Bellingham International Airport from September through November was by far the rainiest three-month period in Whatcom County history, making for tough practice conditions as well as in numerous games.
Of the 98 games scheduled involving Whatcom County teams, 91 were played, although in a few cases the local squad had to quickly find a different opponent in order to get a non-league game in. County teams suffered a cancellation only three times because of their own virus exposure.
“Our district has done a great job with testing and tracing protocols right from the start of the school year,” said VanDalen, whose Lions played all 13 games as they were scheduled (they had a bye in week 10), including a 35-25 loss to state 3A qualifier Ferndale in week two.
“Our kids followed our advice to avoid situations in which they might likely be exposed to COVID,” VanDalen said “I’m really proud of how seriously our players took their obligations.”
Ferndale (7-3) also played all of its games as scheduled. One of the league’s finest juniors, running back Isaiah Carlson, recently underwent knee surgery and hopes to attract college recruiters next season.
Other county teams with winning records were state semifinalists Squalicum (8-3) and Lynden Christian (7-3), along with Mount Baker (5-4), which qualified for the Round of 16. Lummi (6-2), Meridian (6-4) and Blaine (4-3) also had winning records, giving the county eight winning squads. Nooksack (4-5) displayed considerable improvement with a very young team, as did Meridian.
Sehome (3-6) enjoyed perhaps the regular season’s biggest upset, a 28-27 stunner over Burlington-Edison in week 10. Bellingham (2-7) played an independent schedule but had its moments.
Whatcom County All-League Players
Wesco North Class 3A (Ferndale honors)
First-team offense: Landon Hatchett, junior, OL; Jake Mason, junior, OL Isaiah Carlson, junior, RB.
First-team defense: Landon Hatchett, junior, DL; Jake Mason, junior, DL.
Second-team offense: Mark Schlichting, senior, QB; Conner Walcker, sophomore, WR; Xander Castleberry, TE.
Second-team defense: Ryan Pelton, senior, LB; Thomas Broselle, senior, DB.
Northwest Conference 2A
First-team offense: Ben Schlenbaker, Squalicum, senior, RB; Kaleo Jandoc, Lynden, senior, WR; Dane Gatterman, Lynden, junior, OL; Gavin Ortega, Sehome, senior, OL.
First-team defense: Bryson Lamb, Squalicum, senior, LB; Gavin Ortega, Sehome, DL; senior; Case Zweegman, Lynden, senior, DL; Lane Herringa, Lynden, junior, LB; Taivin VanDalen, Lynden, senior, LB: Collin Anker, Lynden, senior, DB; Kai Posey, Squalicum, senior, DB; Troy Petz, Lynden, junior, kicker and punter.
Second-team offense: Lane Herringa, Lynden, junior, LB; Bryson Lamb, Squalicum, senior, OL; Colby Lewis, Squalicum, sophomore, OL; Cade Slayton, Lynden, senior, TE; Kai Posey, Squalicum, senior, WR.
Second-team defense: Ben Schlenbaker, Squalicum, senior, LB; Kole Antypas, Lynden, senior, DB; Zach Chisholm, Sehome, senior, DB.
Player of the year: Zach Watson, senior, Burlington-Edison.
Coach of the year: Blake VanDalen, Lynden.
Assistant coach of the year: Brian Young, Squalicum.
Northwest Conference 1A
First team choices voted only.
Blaine: Jaxon Kortlever, senior, WR and DB; Spencer Dalry, senior, OL; Jon Puha, senior, OL; Preston King, senior, K; Lawrence Creasey, junior, RB.
Lynden Christian: Will Colwell, senior, QB; Tyler Sipma, junior, WR and DB; Roman Meenk, senior, OL and DL; Andrew Tanner, OL; Matthew Burrows, LB.
Meridian: Josh Groen, senior, OL and DL; Daniel Short, senior, WR and DB; Bryce Johnson, senior, TE; Tucker Harrison, senior, LB.
Mount Baker: Jesse Sande, senior, RB and DB; Marques George, RB, junior; Thayer Brown, senior, OL and DL; Joel Robles, junior, OL; Davin Beason, senior, LB; Wyatt Pettigrew, senior, DB.
Nooksack Valley: Jordan Silva, senior, RB; James Triplett, senior, LB; Caleb Kingma, senior, WR, LB and punter; John Stremler, sophomore, DL; Duke Halapiapi, sophomore, DL.
Offensive MVP: Jason Kortlever, WR, Blaine.
Defensive MVP: Davin Beason, Mount Baker.
Coach of the Year: Ron Lepper, Mount Baker.
Northwest 8-Man League (Lummi honors)
First team choices voted only.
▪ Duncan Toby, senior, WR and DB.
▪ William Elzey, senior, RB and LB.
▪ Samson Bumatay, senior, TE and DE.
▪ Tucker Rawlins, freshman, QB and DB.
