Squalicum claims NWC 2A/3A crown with win over Blaine

The Squalicum football team locked up its first Northwest Conference Class 2A/3A championship and secured the No. 1 seed into the 2A district playoffs with its 34-13 victory over Blaine on Friday, Oct. 23 at Civic Stadium.

Both offenses started slow, as it took until the first quarter clock expired for the first points of the game to be scored courtesy of Squalicum’s Triston Smith. Smith took the hand-off from quarterback Garrett Sorenson and bounced it outside for a 6-yard touchdown. From there, Squalicum scored 27 unanswered points.

Sorenson aided the Storm, as he threw for 247 yards and three touchdowns with only six incompletions. Two of his touchdowns were to Damek Mitchell, who he hooked up with for his only touchdown last week.

However, the key to Squalicum’s win was its defense, which despite allowing 305 yards of total offense, stepped up when it needed to.

Three separate times Squalicum allowed Blaine to run the ball with junior Riley Fritsch inside its red zone, and all three times Squalicum’s defense turned up its intensity. Storm coach Nick Lucey said that this “bend-but-don’t-break mentality” was the reason for the Storm’s success.

“They’ve gotten that confidence where they say ‘So what? We’ll give up some plays and some first downs and come back strong,’” Lucey said.

He said the team got the confidence after the 12-7 win over Ferndale two weeks ago.

Fritsch ran the ball 35 times for 185 yards but was kept out of the end zone.

Blaine coach Jay Dodd said his team’s game plan was to keep running the ball to give the Borderites’ defense a break, but that with that strategy “you have to be perfect.”

“I think there were about seven or eight plays where if they would have went our way, the game would have been much, much closer,” Dodd said.

Dodd said that despite the outcome he was proud of the effort his team gave.

“They laid it all on the line, and we’re not done yet,” he said. “We might be mathematically eliminated after tonight from postseason play, but we’re still excited about the future.”

After going into halftime leading 13-0, Squalicum opened the second half with a huge momentum booster. After being pinned inside its own 10-yard line, Sorenson took the snap and pump faked to the right side of the field. On the left side was junior Ben Peterson who ran a stop-and-go route and broke free for an 84-yard touchdown.

Peterson, who also ran for an 8-yard score five minutes later, was quick to credit his teammates and especially his quarterback.

“It was a great team effort tonight and a great throw by Garrett,” he said. “I’m just the guy at the end of the football.”

Squalicum (8-0, 6-0 NWC 2A/3A) wraps up the regular season at Anacortes on Friday, Oct. 30, while Blaine (4-4, 2-4) will travel to Lynden.

This story was originally published October 23, 2015 at 10:56 PM with the headline "Squalicum claims NWC 2A/3A crown with win over Blaine."