Schleimer leads Mount Baker into state playoffs
With an exception to a first-quarter blown coverage, one would be hard pressed to find a blemish within Mount Baker’s Class 1A District Playoff performance against Sultan.
The Mountaineers employed their physical brand of ball, junior back Jed Schleimer set a new school single-season rushing record and Mount Baker earned its fourth consecutive trip to the 1A State Playoffs with a 56-7 beat down of Sultan on Friday, Nov. 6, at Civic Stadium.
“We wanted to come out and be physical and establish our type of game, and I thought we did that,” Mountaineers coach Ron Lepper said. “The O-line, I thought, played really well, and our running backs made it happen for us.”
And Schleimer played the protagonist.
The 6-foot-2, 196-pound hard-running back accumulated 270 yards and scored on touchdown runs of 1, 4, 25 and 76 yards on 16 carries. His 76-yard, second-quarter dash surpassed Mount Baker’s old rushing record of 1,880 that Schleimer’s brother, Joe Schleimer, set in 1993. Jed finished the night with a season total of 1,998 yards.
But Jed was more focused on what’s to come than any individual accolade.
“Well, between me and my brother that’s kind of special, but other than that, that’s not really a big deal to me — just kind of bragging rights between me and him,” Schleimer said.
Carson Engholm chipped in 74 yards and a touchdown on seven rushes, and quarterback Mason Bass completed 6 of 10 passes for 100 yards and threw touchdown passes to Thomas Barbo and Schleimer.
The win earns Mount Baker (9-1) District 1’s No. 2 seed and will send the Mountaineers next week to face Kalama in a state playoff opening-round contest where Baker will put its nine-game win streak on the line.
Mount Baker built a quick 14-0 lead over Sultan before adversity struck for really the only time Friday night.
A blown coverage in the Mountaineers’ secondary led to a 52-yard Sultan touchdown pass, but Baker responded by tacking on four second-quarter touchdowns for a 42-7 halftime edge.
“I liked it a lot,” said Lepper of how Mount Baker bounced back. “We knew it’s one of those things that happen, ‘OK, let it go, we still have the lead let’s go put some more points on the board,’ and we did that.”
Baker’s defense was as dominant as its offense, yielding Sultan’s Wing-T offense 53 yards of rushing on 23 attempts.
“It feels pretty good to go to the state playoffs for four years in a row,” Jed said, “but we got a lot of work ahead of us, but this feels pretty good.”
Sultan | 7 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | 7 |
Mount Baker | 14 | 28 | 14 | 0 | — | 56 |
First quarter
MB — Jed Schleimer 15 pass from Mason Bass (Jonathan Ehlers kick)
MB — Thomas Barbo 28 run (Ehlers kick)
Sul — Zack Zornes 52 pass from Tanner Belcher (kick good)
Second quarter
MB — Schleimer 1 run (Ehlers kick)
MB — Schleimer 4 run (Ehlers kick)
MB — Schleimer 76 run (Ehlers kick)
MB — Vadim Kotsyuba 50 pass from Bass (Ehlers kick)
Third quarter
MB — Carson Engholm 25 run (Ehlers kick)
MB — Schleimer 25 run (Ehlers kick)
Sul | MB | |
First downs | 5 | 22 |
Rushing Att-yards | 23-53 | 39-428 |
Comp-Att-Int | 3-13-2 | 6-10-0 |
Passing yards | 101 | 100 |
Penalties-yards | 2-20 | 6-45 |
Fumbles-lost | 0-0 | 2-0 |
Individual leaders
RUSHING — Sultan: Andy Sam 8-23, Tanner Belcher 9-19, Jamell Carroll 5-14, Zack Zornes1-(-3). Mount Baker: Jed Schleimer 16-270, Carson Engholm 7-74, Jeremiah Cronk 4-17, Thomas Barbo 1-28, Vadim Kotsyuba 1-17, Jay Allen 5-19, Junior Camacho 1-5, William Pilat 1-1, Mason Bass 3-(-3).
PASSING — Sultan: Tanner Belcher 3-13-2-101. Mount Baker: Mason 6-10-0-100 .
RECEIVING — Away: Zack Zornes 2-93, Dalton Miller 1-8. Mount Baker: Thomas Barbo 2-24, Jed Schleimer 2-14, Vadim Kotsyuba 1-50, T.J. Bass 1-12.
This story was originally published November 6, 2015 at 11:06 PM with the headline "Schleimer leads Mount Baker into state playoffs."