Landon Smith leads Mount Baker against Tenino as four Whatcom teams advance to playoffs
.jpg "Mount Baker linebacker Jesse Sande (22), left, moves in as teammate Landon Smith (2), on the ground at right, attempts to stop Lynden Christian tight end Kade Eldridge (44) during their 2021 Division 1A conference game in Lynden. Friday, Nov. 10 seed Mount Baker meets No. 7 seed Tenino at Tenino Stadium at 7 p.m. in the 1A state round of 16 playoff.")
Facing a tougher path to the state tournament than in any of Mount Baker’s previous nine consecutive appearances, the Mountaineers turned out to have an appropriate quarterback to lead them.
Even though he is a first-year starter at quarterback as a senior, following broken bones in his previous two seasons, Landon Smith wasn’t fazed by Baker’s four losses in its first seven games this season. All four were especially painful because Baker led at halftime in each.
Nor was he shaken by the fact that the Mounties had to win two games in a row, including against top-ranked Lynden Christian, just to have a chance to qualify for state in a unique three-way Northwest Conference Class 1A playoff among tri-champions Mount Baker, Lynden Christian and Nooksack Valley last week.
After all, not many current seniors had endured the challenges Smith faced just to play his senior year. Now he’s set to lead the Mounties (5-4) against Tenino (9-1) Friday at 7 p.m. at Tenino in the State Round of 16.
“Landon brings high energy and some charisma to our team,” Baker coach Ron Lepper said. “He’s a likable kid. He’s hard working and knows how we like to do things at Baker, since his father (Galen) played here and was a senior in 1994 (Lepper’s first year at Baker as an assistant).
“Landon has matured well and is a great role model in the classroom and around school as well as on the field.”
Smith knows many of Whatcom County’s players, so he’s especially proud that 3A Ferndale, 2A Lynden and 1A Nooksack Valley have also qualified for the state playoffs.
Smith credits his parents, Galen and Laura Smith, for first teaching him what hard work really means on the family’s dairy farm.
To help his eighth-grade team, Smith was required to shift from running back, a position he loved, to quarterback. He discovered it wasn’t so bad and called signals for Baker’s junior varsity as a freshman in 2019.
But Smith was not only a member of that unlucky freshman class when COVID-19 struck in March 2020. That delayed his sophomore season in 2020, then abbreviated the season to six games in February and March of 2021 after public schools reopened. But halfway through, he sustained a broken collarbone and played in only a couple of JV games.
Lepper, having long since evaluated Smith’s considerable potential, told him that he would start at quarterback as a junior in a normal fall season in 2021. But Smith recalls that two days before the opener, he broke his thumb in practice and there was no way he could throw as a junior.
But he could run and he could tackle, and he toughed out the final five games as a starting safety with his thumb protected, including Baker’s first-round state loss to powerful Toppenish.
“I was definitely itching to get in, but the rules said I had to go through 10 practices first,” he said.
The 6-foot-2, 195-pound multi-sport athlete was finally ready to play both quarterback and safety as a senior co-captain.
Despite a lineup filled with other players coming back from injuries, along with several other first-year starters, Smith had his own considerable self-confidence along with the phenomenal senior running back Marcquis George.
The result was an offensive explosion following a freak 26-25 non-league loss to La Center in Week 6 after the Mounties led 25-0 about midway through the third quarter.
“We did just what we had to do,” said Smith, referring to Baker’s 41-6 win over a Meridian team that finished 6-4 and a 48-34 victory over previously unbeaten and top-ranked Lynden Christian.
The explosion continued in a winner-to-state Kansas Tiebreaker on Nov. 3. George’s 20th touchdown of the season, a typically remarkable tackle-busting 21-yard touchdown, beat Nooksack 6-0 — after Smith’s five-yard gain on an equally noteworthy five-yard scramble on second-and-11 from the 21-yard line. (The Pioneers qualified for state with a 3-0 win over Lynden Christian.)
“Yeah, I guess I would agree that run was the biggest play of my life,” said Smith, who actually ran a lot more yards to escape several tacklers before he was brought down at the 21 for a manageable third-down.
Smith says playing with George — plus other good backfield runners and blockers in Wilhelm Maloley and Brady West — has been an experience he will always remember.
“We’ve been together for a long time,” Smith said. “Watching Marcquis is amazing. He sees the field like no one else, unlike anyone I’ve played with. I’ve told him he can play in college.”
Smith, who has a 3.3 grade-point average, says he loves football too much to stop now.
“I love football and I definitely want to play in college,” said Smith, also a basketball starter. He’s considering baseball, too, since so many of his buddies are on that team, too.
“I’m looking at Butte College in Northern California,” said Smith, speaking of the community college where future pro football Hall of Fame quarterback Aaron Rodgers got his start (there are no JC football teams in Washington or Oregon). “I have a friend from Baker, Aiden Corning, who is playing on the line there.”
Smith has passed well when needed for a predominantly running team, with nearly 650 yards and nine touchdowns.
So far, Smith says “learning how important the relationships with teammates are and learning how to trust them 100%” are what he has enjoyed most. Likewise, he says Wenatchee camp this past summer is a favorite memory.
STATE ROUND OF 16
3A
Friday, Nov. 11
No. 10 seed Ferndale vs. No. 7 Kelso at Civic Stadium, 7 p.m.
2A
Friday, Nov. 11
No. 1 seed Lynden vs. No. 16 Black Hills at Civic Stadium, 3:30 p.m.
1A
Friday, Nov. 11
No. 10 seed Mount Baker vs. No. 7 seed Tenino at Tenino Stadium, 7 p.m.
Saturday, Nov. 12
No. 3 seed Nooksack Valley vs. No. 14 Riverside (Spokane area) at Civic Stadium, 5 p.m.
This story was originally published November 10, 2022 at 5:00 AM.
