Lummi defense fixes early struggles for better second half
Lummi’s defense has been incredible throughout the Class 1B State Playoffs this season.
Two shutout wins, 11 straight quarters without a point allowed until a late Neah Bay rally in last week’s semifinal and the Blackhawks’ D was playing like it was the best in 8-man football.
So it was a bit surprising on Friday, Dec. 4, when Almira-Coulee-Hartline on the back of do-it-all quarterback Dallas Isaak was able to drop 38 first-half points on the Blackhawks on the way to a 46-42 Class 1B State Championship win.
Isaak ran, threw and carved up Lummi on his way to five first-half touchdowns and 267 total yards — 177 passing and 90 rushing.
“He’s a good player,” Lummi two-way junior Free Borsey said after the game. “He’s fast, pretty strong and is tough running up the middle, because you can’t really contain him, because he has some speed.”
The question at halftime, of course, was how the Blackhawks were going to stop Isaak. They hadn’t even forced a fourth down yet in the game, as all five of the Warriors’ first-half drives went for touchdowns.
Lummi switched the Borsey twins to defensive end and went back to the gameplan coach Jim Sandusky had given the team before the game.
“We just did what our coach told us in the beginning,” senior Hank Hoskins said. “Us players changed it up in the first half, but in the second half Coach told us we are sticking to our game plan, and we came out and did it.”
The result was a scoreless third quarter for ACH, when the Warriors tallied just 29 yards, as the Blackhawks rallied back from a 38-28 deficit to take a 42-38 lead.
Isaak was held out of the end zone in the second half as Lummi recovered a fumble and forced two turnovers on downs on the next three Warriors’ possessions.
“We had big old Hank (Hoskins) and Jordan (Revey) on the line with the Borseys,” junior Trazil Lane said. “They were just getting in there so quick so he wouldn’t have time to throw it.”
It wasn’t until ACH’s 99-yard game-winning drive that the Blackhawks’ defense allowed another score, reverting back to the first-half struggles, and it came at the worst time.
Still, the Blackhawks’ defense can hang its hat on what it was able to accomplish for about 20 minutes in the second half.
It kept Lummi in the game, but this time, it wasn’t quite enough.
This story was originally published December 4, 2015 at 8:53 PM with the headline "Lummi defense fixes early struggles for better second half."