Ferndale, Mount Baker, Nooksack Valley and Lynden advance to state football playoffs
.jpg "Nooksack Valley quarterback Joseph Brown (12) stiff arms Meridian defender Jaeger Fyfe (5) as he runs for a touchdown early in the second quarter on Friday evening Sept. 30. Brown and Nooksack have advanced to the state playoffs.")
Jake Mason called Ferndale’s offensive line play “awesome” in one of the fourth-year offensive tackle’s most enjoyable games.
If anything, that was a modest understatement as the Golden Eagles moved into the Class 3A Round of 16 with their hugely impressive 35-14 win over Seattle Prep in the Round of 32 Friday at Civic Stadium.
The linemen did not yet know the numbers in the immediate aftermath, but Mason nailed it when he said, “We just dominated up front.” Their 444 yards rushing proved his point.
The Golden Eagles (8-2) will be joined in the Round of 16 this weekend by Lynden (9-0) in 2A and Mount Baker (5-4) and Nooksack Valley (7-1) in 1A, giving Whatcom County an impressive four spots among the 48 available in the three divisions.
On Sunday, state tournament pairings were announced, with three home games either Friday or Saturday for county teams, with time and site to be announced: In 3A, No. 7 Ferndale vs. No. 10 Kelso; in 2A, No. 1 Lynden vs. No. 16 Black Hills; In 1A, No. 3 Nooksack vs. No. 14 Riverside Spokane. On the road in 1A will be No. 10 Mount Baker vs. No. 7 Tenino.
From the end of the first quarter to early in the fourth quarter, fourth-year Ferndale standout Isaiah Carlson scored on runs of 6, 10, and 4 yards and fast-improving sophomore Talan Bungard tallied on sprints of 1 and 7 yards to fashion a 35-7 advantage. The Golden Eagles crushed it with drives of 79 yards on 11 plays, 82 yards on nine plays, 93 yards on eight plays, 81 yards on 15 plays and 70 yards on 11 plays.
Boring? During that stretch — on which Bungard caught a six-yard pass from slick junior quarterback Bishop Ootsey for the only aerial act of the game — all but eight plays were four yards or more, led by Mason and University of Washington commit Landen Hatchett up front. Camden Raymond, Trevor Fetty, Cooper Herrick and tight end Jordan Mason also contributed their share of power blocking.
Carlson finished with 204 yards on 28 carries and Bungard amassed 172 yards on 20 packs. The other top rushing options — sophomore Zach Nielsen and juniors Conner Walcker and Dylan Moore — combined for 63 yards on 16 carries.
“I think that was my first game over 200 yards this year,” said Carlson, who improved his season totals to more than 1,350 yards rushing and a county-leading 26 touchdowns as Ferndale’s career scoring leader.
“We felt we were dominating, so we just kept running,” said Ferndale coach Jamie Plenkovich, who last year saw his not-so-healthy young team lose to Garfield in Week 10. “Our guys were as healthy as anyone can be in Week 10 … We saw last year what we could have in Talan.”
Carlson said he enjoys “trading tips” with Bungard. “I believed in Talan since Day 1. He really acts like a senior.”
“Our line did just great,” said Bungard, who also would have been over 200 yards had he not lost a long run to a penalty.
The Wesco champion Golden Eagles lost a fumble on their first series, but otherwise were error-free.
Seattle Prep (4-5-1) scored first on a 63-yard pass from Beau Oaksmith to Casey Carlesimo. But other than that play and 85 yards on a game-ending Panther drive, Seattle Prep netted only 88 more yards against Ferndale’s defensive starters.
THREE-WAY 1A PLAYOFF
Three of the state’s strongest 1A teams, Northwest Conference tri-champions Mount Baker (5-4), Nooksack Valley (7-1) and Lynden Christian (8-1), were forced to play a historic Kansas Tiebreaker before a large crowd on a cold, rainy night at Blaine on Thursday, Nov. 3. Only two state playoff spots in the Round of 16 were allotted to NWC 1A. The ball was placed on the 25 to begin each possession.
Mount Baker beat Nooksack Valley 6-0 and Nooksack Valley then eliminated Lynden Christian 3-0. The outcomes reversed league losses by Baker to Nooksack and by Nooksack to LC.
Lynden Christian, top-ranked in the state much of the season, had only one chance to play as the loser of coin flips. Nooksack won its first two flips of the season.
“Everyone knows all three of us deserve to play at state,” said Baker coach Ron Lepper.
“It’s too bad that somebody from our ‘lake house’ has to stay home because all three teams are deserving of state,” said Nooksack coach Craig Bartl.
As frustrating as elimination could be under the strange circumstances, LC coach Greg Terpstra wished the survivors well.
“We are now the biggest fans for Mount Baker and Nooksack,” the first-year head coach said. “We want to offer them a lot of compliments. They were well-prepared to (literally) weather the storm.
Terpstra only wished the playoff had not been a tie-breaker format.
“We would have preferred crossover games (against a different district, so all three teams might have had a state berth) or half-games. That way, great plays are spread out more.”
Baker’s winning play was a 21-yard “walk-off” touchdown run by senior Marcquis George, his 20th score of the season, to end the second round of the tiebreaker following a crucial five-yard gain by Baker quarterback Landon Smith on second-and-11 from the 26.
“Landon’s run was critical, just huge,” Lepper said of Smith, who broke at least half a dozen tackles.
Nooksack junior Jorgen Vigre kicked a perfectly placed 30-yard field goal for Nooksack’s winning points. On a horrible night for field goal kickers, Vigre had missed from 39 against Baker and 34 against LC, while LC’s Braden Kuik, who was a key offensive and defensive player all season, was wide twice on field goal attempts. Nooksack’s Ryan Hughes partly blocked the first attempt.
Nooksack quarterback Joey Brown said Vigre had so much poise that when Brown asked the junior kicker if he was nervous, “He said, no, I’m Jorgen.” Vigre had the chance to make only one field goal in the regular season, although he was solid on conversion kicks.
Brown’s 16-yard run to the 2-yard line ultimately set up Vigre’s deciding kick, although a penalty and a fumble that Nooksack kept pushed the ball back to the 13.
Tyler Sipma, who saved a touchdown on Brown’s big run, gained 13 yards on a sweep on LC’s first play of the second round. Sophomore linebacker Colton Lentz tackled Sipma on the 12 and the Lyncs could get no closer, in part because of an 10-yard penalty.
“I’m pretty proud of the kids,” said Bartl. “They battled hard and they played well. They met adversity and pushed through.
In all, Nooksack netted 62 yards o 19 plays led by Brown‘s 47 yards on 10 carries. Baker had 45 yards on nine plays, and LC netted 35 on 11 plays.
NON-LEAGUE GAMES
SEHOME 48, CASCADE 28: Tommy Funk finished with 210 yards on 14 carries and fellow senior running back and co-captain Carson Neff had 133 yards on eight carries, including touchdowns of 61 and 36 -yards in the fourth quarter as the Mariners (7-3) broke from a 28-28 tie after three quarters Friday at Civic Stadium. Neff also had a 3-yard score, set up by Funk’s 50-yard dash.
Funk scored on runs of 48 and 16 yards and freshman quarterback Nolan Wright completed 13 of 16 passes for 182 yards, including a 29-yard score to sophomore Andre Watson, who caught five passes for 76 yards to go with seven catches for 91 yards by junior Brad Duckworth.
Wright, who also scored on a 3-yard run, finished with more than 1,200 yards and 13 touchdowns. Watson had 13 touchdowns overall and Funk finished with 15 touchdowns and surpassed 1,300 yards.
The Mariners finished with 533 total yards and limited Cascade (8-1) to 313, including only 105 yards and one touchdown in the second half. Grady Evans kicked six extra points and Kai Swanson had an interception with Sehome up 41-28 with 5:15 remaining to wrap up the win.
The Mariners produced Whatcom County’s 27th game of the season with 40 or more points.
“We worried about controlling what we could control,” said Sehome coach Kevin Beason of the Mariners’ frustration of finishing fourth, one place away from a state berth. “It was a real good night. Anytime you get a win in November, it’s a great win. The kids showed they have a lot of pride in our program.”
Rival Squalicum finished 4-5 overall but did not have time to find a tenth game. The Storm had planned to play either Mount Baker or Nooksack Valley if they did not advance to state.
MERIDIAN 22, SOUTH WHIDBEY 8: Junior running back Josh Elmer scored on runs of 3, 25 and 18 runs in the second and third quarters to improve his touchdown total to 14 and his yardage to more than 1,000.
The Trojans finished 6-4 with one of the youngest teams in the area for head coach Patrick Ames — a noteworthy accomplishment in part because it gave seven of the county’s 11 teams winning records.
Landen Downey contributed a pair of two-point conversion runs.
Sophomore quarterback Jaeger Fyfe finished with more than 1,300 yards passing and nine touchdowns. Hunter Jones finished his career with six touchdown catches and more than 500 yards receiving.
CEDAR PARK CHRISTIAN 33, BLAINE 15: The Borderites (1-9) played their tenth full game and senior quarterback Kael Evinger never stopped trying. He finished with more than 1,200 yards and his 70-yard pass to Hunter Vezzetti was Evinger’s 10th scoring toss.
Jaiden Paez scored Blaine’s other touchdown on a 37-yard run and Jack Albright ran for two-point conversion. Matt Hayes kicked the first conversion.
SULTAN 28, BELLINGHAM 6: The Bayhawks (3-7) got a 2-yard touchdown from Logan Steeves against the host Turks (7-4) for their final score of a season as an independent team. Lucas Cousens finished his senior season with a hustling effort in which he caught more than 100 yards worth of passes.
Bellingham had to play without sophomore linebacker Terry Frost, a defensive star who sustained a concussion in the previous game.
This story was originally published November 7, 2022 at 7:00 AM.
