Lynden's defense shuts down Blaine

When Lynden’s offense wavered, the Lions’ defense stayed steady.

Lynden a week ago yielded more than 400 rushing yards during a heartbreaking overtime loss to Sedro-Woolley.

There were no remnants of that rushing defense against Blaine. The Lions recognized what they felt was the Borderites’ strength − standout running back Riley Fritsch − and neutralized him throughout the night.

Lynden defensive linemen Davis Bode, Ben Colwell, Nathan Gomes, Dalton Ohligschlager and Travis VanZanten left little room for Blaine to run, and the Lions overcame three turnovers to earn a 37-14 Northwest Conference win to end the regular season Friday, Oct. 30, at Blaine High School.

“Those guys are our, I don’t want to call them dirty-work guys because they are an integral part of what we do,” Lynden coach Curt Kramme said. “They occupy blockers and destroy blocking schemes.”

Lynden held Fritsch, the NWC’s second-leading, rusher to 49 yards on 25 carries, and whenever the Lions needed their defense to come up with stops the most, the unit answered.

The win gives Lynden (6-3, 5-2 NWC) the No. 2 seed in the Class 2A District 1 Playoffs. The Lions will host Sedro-Woolley either Friday, Nov. 6 or Saturday, Nov. 7 in a rematch of last year’s state title game and a rematch of Week 8’s 32-29 OT thriller the Lions lost.

The loss marked the end of the season for the Borderites (4-5, 2-5 NWC), who don’t have a crossover game scheduled next week.

Lynden receiver Noah King, for the second straight Friday, surpassed the century mark. He caught seven passes for a game-high 104 yards and caught touchdown passes of 38 and 17 yards from QB Sterling Somers, who threw for 219 and three touchdowns with one INT.

Ohligschlager enjoyed his first 100-yard rushing performance of the year, finishing with 101 yards and a touchdown on 16 carries.

Lynden raced out to a 20-0 lead after a Colwell 4-yard TD run with 11:29 left in the second quarter, but Blaine rallied with back-to-back scores.

Fritsch capped a 10-play, 73-yard drive with a 4-yard touchdown run, and the junior back scored from 1 yard out after Josh Fakkema picked off Somers on the following drive. The score trimmed Lynden’s lead to 20-14 with 0:16 left until halftime.

But the Lions’ defense tightened up, and Lynden reeled off 17 unanswered points to seal the game.

“It was a great win for us,” Ohligschlager said. “It’s good to come back from that loss, you know. We battled hard the first half, first quarter, and then the second quarter we kind of struggled, but we kicked it back into gear and did good the second half.”

This story was originally published October 30, 2015 at 10:40 PM with the headline "Lynden's defense shuts down Blaine."