Mounties score quick, run to win over Lynden Christian
Every team wants to be playing its best football come postseason and Mount Baker just might be.
In classic Baker fashion, the Mountaineers pounded the run on offense and stopped it on defense in a 27-15 Northwest Conference victory over Lynden Christian on Friday, Oct. 30.
The Mounties ran the ball for 299 yards – 107 from Jed Schleimer and 115 from Carson Engholm – and limited the Lyncs to just 1.36 yards per carry in a convincing tune-up for the postseason.
“To get a win on the road in this league, it’s a big deal,” Baker coach Ron Lepper said after the game. “Each week since the Sedro-Woolley game, we’ve just been moving forward, moving forward. …We got to where we wanted to get. Now, it’s just go have some fun.”
The Mountaineers (8-1, 6-0 NWC 1A) will take on Sultan on Friday, Nov. 6, at Civic Stadium, while the Lyncs (5-4, 2-4) face King’s on the road the same day.
Mount Baker will surely be looking for the same quick start in the postseason that it got Friday night.
On the Mountaineers’ first series, it took four plays – the first of which was a 51-yard strike from Mason Bass to Vadim Kotsyuba – to put seven points on the board. It came courtesy of a 1-yard run from Schleimer, who found the end zone again early in the second quarter from 4 yards out to make it 14-0.
“I felt like our line did a really good job blocking for us. We just ran the ball really hard,” said Engholm, who scored on a 20-yard screen play to make it 24-8 in the third quarter. “We got some good first downs on fourth down. We converted well, moved the ball well. I think that’s what helped us.
Lynden Christian kept it close for awhile with a 50-yard score from Ty Van Dyken to Nate Hielkema, who finished with 196 yards on eight catches and two TDs.
Hielkema’s second score came late in the game from 14 yards out to make it 27-15. An onside kick failed and the Mounties ran out the clock.
“Give Lynden Christian a ton of credit. Those kids played hard on senior night,” Lepper said. “It’s a good test for us.”
Everything is single elimination from here on out and both teams are well aware. Mount Baker certainly isn’t going to want to let a Northwest Conference 1A crown and eight-game win streak be the end of this season.
“We just got to keep a level head,” Engholm said. “Just try to win games and keep going. We don’t want the seniors to stop playing now.”
Mount Baker | 7 | 10 | 7 | 3 | — | 27 |
Lynden Christian | 0 | 8 | 0 | 7 | — | 15 |
First quarter
MB – Jed Schleimer 1 run (Jonathan Ehlers kick)
Second quarter
MB – Jed Schleimer 4 run (Ehlers kick)
LC – Nate Hielkema 50 pass from Ty Van Dyken (Kyle Tiemersma pass from Jake Poag)
MB – Ehlers 31 field goal
Third quarter
MB – Carson Engholm 20 pass from Mason Bass (Ehlers kick)
Fourth quarter
MB – Ehlers 25 field goal
LC – Hielkema 14 pass from Van Dyken (Poag kick)
MB | LC | |
First downs | 18 | 9 |
Rushing Att-yards | 51-299 | 25-34 |
Comp-Att-Int | 7-16-2 | 9-22-0 |
Passing yards | 85 | 220 |
Penalties-yards | 7-60 | 2-17 |
Fumbles-lost | 0-0 | 0-0 |
Individual leaders
RUSHING — Mount Baker: Jed Schleimer 22-107, Carson Brandland 2-(-2), Mason Bass 3-39, Carson Engholm 16-115, Thomas Barbo 1-3, Vadim Kotsyuba 3-19, Jeremiah Cronk 4-18. LC: Ty Van Dyken 1-(-7), Colby Flint 5-(-7), Jordan Riddle 1-3, Hunter Te Velde 3-9, Gavin Mumford 15-36.
PASSING — Mount Baker: Mason Bass 7-16-2-85. LC: Ty Van Dyken 4-12-0-128, Colby Flint 4-10-0-92.
RECEIVING — Mount Baker: Jed Schleimer 1-(-2), Carson Engholm 1-20, Thomas Barbo 2-10, Vadim Kotsyuba 3-57. LC: Nate Hielkema 8-196, Kyle Tiemersma 1-24.
This story was originally published October 30, 2015 at 10:54 PM with the headline "Mounties score quick, run to win over Lynden Christian."