Lions roll past Cougars

That’s more like it.

It’s a phrase all Lynden fans who traveled to Seattle last week must be saying after the Lions’ 53-0 drubbing against non-league opponent Lakewood on Friday, Sept. 11, at Rollie DeKoster Field.

No remnants of play from Lynden’s season-opening loss to King’s showed up against the Cougars, as the No. 8-ranked Lions bounced back in impressive fashion.

“We were so hungry,” Lynden senior Noah King said. “Last week was embarrassing, and it really stung. We just used it as motivation, and every day at practice we just went hard the whole time, and it showed.”

It sure did. Lynden coach Curt Kramme was on record saying a team’s biggest growth occurs from Week 1 to Week 2, and the Lions proved it.

After struggling last week, starting quarterback Sterling Somers was perfect, literally, perfect. He completed all nine of his passes for 137 yards, threw first-quarter touchdowns of 15 and 25 yards and ran for a 10-yard TD before being pulled with 8:29 to go in the second quarter.

The Lions’ run game was also much improved from last week. Lynden followed its 34-yard effort with 165 yards, much of which came from backup QB Jacob Hommes’ 79.

“Sterling had a great game, threw some nice balls,” Kramme said. “The receivers caught the balls when thrown to. Obviously, blocking out there, our quarterback didn’t get pressured, so just much better overall.”

King caught four passes for 44 yards, including a 25-yard score on a beautiful double move, Davis Bode made a fine grab for a 15-yard TD and Nui Labat-Alconcel and Hommes added first-half rushing scores.

The Lions put the game away quickly.

An interception by Dalton Ohligschlager on the Cougars’ opening drive set up Lynden’s first score. Then two plays after a Lakewood turn-over-on-downs, Somers gave the Lions a 14-0 edge with his 25-yard strike to King.

A pair of safeties combined with a Bode TD catch put Lynden in front 25-0 by the end of the first quarter.

Most of the starters were out before the first half ended, and a Hommes score with 40 seconds left in the half put Lynden in front 46-0, prompting the running clock.

“We made a ton of mistakes, and the kids saw that on video,” said Kramme of last week’s performance. “I think we are going to find this video is a lot cleaner. And obviously when you execute, block, tackle, throw, catch, all those things, it’s a lot more fun to be a part of.”

Jordan Wittenberg led Lynden’s receivers with three catches for 64 yards. Hommes completed 6 of 9 passes for 27 yards in backup duty, ran for a team-high 79 yards and two TDs on 10 carries and threw a touchdown to Ben Colwell.

This story was originally published September 11, 2015 at 10:29 PM with the headline "Lions roll past Cougars."