Nooksack Valley’s Friday night rout of Mount Baker preserves a potential playoff berth
Coach Craig Bartl figured a little trash talk among friends would loosen up his Nooksack Valley team in time to stay in the scramble for a state playoff spot.
“Yeah, I played scout team quarterback in practice this week and I did some trash talking,” Bartl said with a grin while talking about what a solid week of workouts the Pioneers had.
The result was Nooksack’s must-have 49-19 win over Mount Baker on Senior Night Friday at Sid Lambert Field, featuring career highs of four touchdowns and 167 yards rushing on only seven carries by inspired senior Skyler Whittern.
“This was a good bounce-back,” said Bartl, who was Sehome’s quarterback in 1989 and 1990, while talking about “the two days” the Pioneers needed to recover emotionally from their 21-20 last-minute loss to Lynden Christian a week earlier.
Senior quarterback Joey Brown was obviously ready, as were all 13 seniors, who participated in only six plays in the second half for Nooksack Valley (5-2, 2-1 NWC 1A).
Yet they all trotted out to the field with six minutes remaining, as though they couldn’t resist one more play. Then, holding hands in comradeship, they immediately came trotting in to an ovation.
‘That was my favorite moment of the night,” said Brown, who completed 9 of 13 passes for 196 yards. The 6-foot-4 senior leader improved his season touchdowns total to 16 with pretty scoring passes of 23 yards to junior Cole Bauman and 64 yards to junior Cory Olney, plus Brown’s 8-yard scoring scramble to make it 42-6 at the half.
Brown was thrilled for Whittern, who came in with 547 yards rushing and four touchdowns, according to the Whatcom Preps website.
“Skyler Whittern is the most underrated athlete I’ve ever seen,” Brown said.
“Our line just blew it up,” said Whittern, who was also pleased to see county rushing leader Colton Lentz surpass 800 yards with 55 yards on 11 carries. “I was just running.”
“This was up there,” Bartl said of the caliber of performance by his offensive line of seniors Cian Coppinger, John Stremler, Dalton Hickey, Duke Halaapiapi and junior Brady Ackerman.
Nooksack has a league bye this week and will not play a non-league game. Mount Baker (2-5, 1-1) still could finish in a three-way tie for first by beating Meridian and LC. That would necessitate a three-team tiebreaker — yes, like last year with the frustrating Kansas Tiebreaker — to determine the 1A league’s maximum two possible state playoff spots.
Whittern’s 28-yard touchdown run gave the Pioneers a 7-0 lead, but Mount Baker made it 7-6 on Dylan Moa’s 3-yard scoring burst after Tanyen Staton’s 84-yard kickoff return. Nooksack kicker Jorgen Vigre saved a touchdown by tackling Staton, but Vigre soon had to leave to get stitches for a bleeding right arm.
“Jorgen will be back,” said Brown, who filled in and made three of four conversion kicks after Vigre made two to give himself 39 makes in 40 chances. “For a kicker, he’s a tough guy.”
Bauman’s 23-yard catch from Brown for his first varsity touchdown made it 14-6.
“That was a perfect pass,” said Bauman, who got his first start because senior Wayne Silves is out with a leg injury. ‘Time just seemed to stop for a moment.”
Whittern’s 73-yard scoring run made it 20-6 and Olney’s 64 yard touchdown catch and Lentz’s two-point conversion run made it 28-6. Whittern’s 3-yarder, Brown’s 8-yarder and Whittern’s 2-yarder for scores capped 512 yards of total offense despite a running clock most of the second half.
Nooksack now has 334 points in seven games. Brown, who has played more than one or two series in the second half in only two games, has 758 yards passing and nine touchdowns.
Moa’s 13-yard touchdown run and sophomore Brice Cooper’s 50-yard for his first varsity touchdown were the second-half scores for Baker.
FRIDAY’S GAMES
FERNDALE 49, MOUNT VERNON 14: Junior running back Talan Bungard scored a career-best four touchdowns as the Golden Eagles (5-2, 3-2 Wesco 3A North) remained in contention for the league’s No. 2 spot behind North champion Arlington and a guaranteed berth in the state’s Round of 32 in Week Ten.
Bungard, who now has 12 touchdowns, scored on runs of 1, 6 and 8 yards and on an 8-yard pass from Bishop Ootsey at Ferndale for Ootsey‘s fifth touchdown toss.
Phoenyx Finkbonner scored on runs of 8 and 3 yards to help Ferndale take a 35-7 halftime lead and sophomore quarterback Nolan Boleak scored his first varsity touchdown.
Standout safety Conner Walcker returned from a one-game absence due to injury.
“Our second and third touchdowns were set by interceptions deep in our territory by Kevin Woods and Kellan Lafave,” Ferndale coach Jamie Plenkovich said, noting how important those key plays were by the two seniors.
Junior kicker Kaden Eldridge made all seven conversion attempts.
“Phoenyx Finkbonner is playing hard in the backfield both ways for us and Kaden showed he can give us fresh legs as a kicker,” Plenkovich said.
Finkbonner has nine touchdowns and has provided noteworthy support for Bungard, so now neither has to carry the ball too often.
Ferndale remained tied for second place with Marysville-Getchell (5-2, 3-2), a 21-20 winner over Stanwood (3-4, 2-3). Marysville-Pilchuck (4-3, 3-2), a 21-7 non-league winner over Glacier Peak, is also tied for second. Arlington (7-0, 6-0) remained unbeaten with a 45-6 win over Oak Harbor.
A total of seven winners from the Week Nine crossover games between North and South divisions will qualify for the Round of 32 — both No. 1 and 2 teams along with the winners of the two No. 3 vs. No. 5 games and the winner of the No. 4 games.
SEHOME 24, ARCHBISHOP MURPHY 21: Nolan Wright threw touchdown passes of 17 and 20 yards to Andre Watson in the third quarter to overcome Sehome’s 21-10 halftime deficit.
“Brad Duckworth was awesome with eight or nine catches,” Watson said of one of only three starting seniors for Sehome (4-3, 2-3 NWC 2A). Duckworth scored on an early pass from Wright, a sophomore who improved his touchdown pass total to 17, including six to Duckworth. Watson has nine touchdowns and 45 catches.
Grady Evans, a junior, kicked a field goal of 30-plus yards and all three extra points.
“Grady missed a field goal last year that would have beat Lynden. I told him this season that he would kick a big-time field goal and so he did,“ said first-year Sehome coach Brian Young. “And Archbishop Murphy (3-4, 2-3) had no answer for Brad.”
Cole Turrell, a sophomore lineman, played an outstanding defensive game, contributing three tackles for loss on one second-half series alone.
“We lost our left-side linemen Miles Gifford and Baxter Arps with injuries and young linemen stepped up,” said Young. “Tommy Banasick (a 270-pound freshman) was a bulldozer in the second half.”
LYNDEN 2, BURLINGTON-EDISON 0 (FORFEIT): Lynden (6-1, 5-0) and Anacortes (7-0, 5-0) have clinched state playoff spots and will meet in Week Nine at Lynden for a top seed at state and the league title.
“It was planned to be Senior Night,” Lions coach Blake Van Dalen. “So we turned it into Lions Pride Night and invited everyone to the party. We had seven-on-seven games, music from our band, honors for our seniors and their parents and fun all the way around.
The forfeit was a disciplinary measure for Burlington (0-7, 0-5).
A school website posted the following in part: “Due to violations of the Burlington-Edison High School Athletic Code by multiple student-athletes on the football team, we are making the difficult decision to forfeit Saturday’s game against Lynden High School. Decisions about the last two games of the season are pending the outcomes of the ongoing investigation. As the violation involve disciplinary action and individual students, we are unable to share additional details or more specific information.”
Burlington is scheduled to meet Anacortes and Archbishop Murphy.
LYNDEN CHRISTIAN 40, MERIDIAN 13: The Lyncs (5-2, 2-0) continue to lead NWC 1A.
Junior Hollis Owen scored on runs of 9 and 49 yards and finished with 13 carries for 104 yards. One of Owens’ touchdowns was set up by an interception by Jayden Huleatt off a tip from Mick Owen.
Quarterback Jeremiah Wright scored on keepers of 7, 3 and 1 yards and finished with 59 yards on nine carries along with 7-for-14 passing for 91 yards.
Dawson Bouma tallied LC’s third touchdown with a 78-yard punt return. Kayden Stuit contributed a 50-yard interception return.
Meridian scored the first and last touchdowns, on a 1-yard run by Landen Downey and on a 21-yard pass from junior Jaeger Fyfe to James Hedahl. A interception by Kasey Brennan and a 44-yard pass from Fyfe to Cohen Fuller set up the first score.
Fyfe completed 21 of 43 passes for 200 yards and now has 1,206 yards and 11 touchdown passes, according to Whatcom Preps. Downey caught a career-high 10 passes and now has eight touchdowns and 66 points overall, plus 29 catches.
“Our defense played really well and we had some young line substitutes step up when they were needed,” LC coach Greg Terpstra said. “Patrick Ames did a really good job preparing Meridian (3-4, 0-3) to face us. I was really impressed with Fyfe.”
Hollis Owen improved his rushing totals 494 yards and six touchdowns.
BELLINGHAM 40, BLAINE 23: Josh Leonard completed 20 of 27 passes for 333 yards and five touchdowns, all to senior track standout Wyatt Stephan, who caught seven passes for 197 yards and touchdowns of 20, 31, 55, 34 and 49 yards, as the Bayhawks (4-3) won their fourth in a row.
Josh Tolle caught 11 passes for 76 yards, increasing his totals to a county-leading 48 catches for 760 yards. Tyler Frost scored on a 15-yard run and finished with 66 yards rushing.
Leonard increased his totals to a county leading 24 touchdown passes for 1,957 yards. Historian Tyler Anderson noted that Wyatt tied the county single-game touchdown catch record and Leonard became the 19th quarterback in county history to reach 40 career scoring passes.
For Blaine (2-5, 1-1), Hunter Vezzetti scored on an 80-yard kickoff return and Tyler Bouma turned a pass from Colin Davis into a 72-yard touchdown, Davis’ 11th of the season. Matt Hayes kicked a 28-yard field goal.
Davis scored on a 1-yard run to help keep Blaine within 27-17 at halftime. Jaden Paez rushed 22 times for 110 yards and Bouma caught three passes for 105 yards from Davis, who completed 13 of 30 passes for 138 yards.
Davis became the fifth county quarterback to surpass 1,000 yards passing this season.
ANACORTES 34, SQUALICUM 13: Laki Fagaautau scored on an 8-yard pass from Marcus Nixon and Malakai Smith scored on a 53-yard run for the Storm (3-5, 1-5).
It was the 15th touchdown produced running and passing by Nixon, a converted running back.
Smith led the Storm with 88 yards on 11 carries.
Squalicum will meet city rival Sehome Friday at Civic Stadium.
QUILCENE 57, LUMMI 0: The young Blackhawks (1-5, 0-4) beset by injuries, also lost three days earlier at Crescent 58-0 in a makeup game.
“We just have a young squad but our kids battled every play,” Lummi coach Watiko Leighton said. “We had some very impressive moments from our young core group.”
WEEK EIGHT
Friday
Sehome vs. Squalicum at Civic Stadium, 7 p.m.
Blaine at Lynden Christian, 7 p.m.
Meridian at Mount Baker, 7 p.m.
Stanwood at Ferndale, 7 p.m.
Lynden at Lakewood, 7 p.m.
Bellingham at Friday Harbor, 6:30 p.m.
Lummi at Neah Bay, 5 p.m.
Nooksack Valley, league bye
