Mount Baker looking to reach state for fourth straight season

While most Whatcom County residents celebrated the Seattle Seahawks’ NFC Championship miracle come-from-behind win over the Packers last January, Mount Baker coach Ron Lepper felt for Green Bay.

More than two months had passed since the Mountaineers were left reeling from a numbing 29-28 Class 1A State Playoff quarterfinal overtime loss to Eatonville.

But watching the Packers’ collapse evoked a painful sting Lepper had witnessed first hand months prior.

“It didn’t really hit me to be honest with you until I watched the Seahawks-Packers game, and I knew exactly how the Packers felt,” Lepper said. “That was tough. That was tough right there, but that was last year.”

The past is in the past, and 2015 welcomes plenty of reasons for the Mountaineers to be optimistic, as Baker, which is ranked No. 8 to start the season, will look to reach the Class 1A State Playoffs for the fourth consecutive season.

Lepper doesn’t plan to deviate from the team’s physical, run-first style, even with the loss of lead back Liam Short.

Mount Baker brings back standout offensive linemen Paul Lebedev, Chad Cohn and Kolten Zender, senior starting quarterback Mason Bass returns and Jed Schleimer, who proved his potency last year running for 830 yards and nine TDs, is back for his junior season.

Joining Schleimer will be Jeremiah Cronk and Thomas Barbo, and they will need to produce if Baker hopes to get anywhere close to the 281.7 rush yards per game it averaged last fall.

“He’s probably going to be a little bit of the focal point coming into the season,” Lepper said of Schleimer. “What’s helped us in the last few years is we’ve had some success in spreading the ball around a bit.”

Defensivley, Baker brings back four starters, and Lepper will lean on players such as linemen Lebedev and Cohn and linebackers Zender and Schleimer.

Lebedev, who was a second-team all-state offensive lineman and a two-way all-NWC 1A first-teamer last year, is coming off a nasty knee injury, but Lepper said he seems ready to go.

One of Baker’s biggest question marks will be its secondary. It graduated all four starters, but Lepper is hoping Vadim Kotsyuba, Sam Stargell, William Pilat and Junior Camacho can fill the void.

“We just don’t want to beat ourselves,” Lepper said. “That is kind of our main goal give ourselves an opportunity and come fourth quarter not to beat ourselves and play our style of ball.”

This story was originally published August 30, 2015 at 4:44 PM with the headline "Mount Baker looking to reach state for fourth straight season."