BLAINE – It’s been two and a half years since the Red Raiders picked up a varsity football win against a Whatcom County opponent. Before this season, it had been almost twice as long since Trevor Johnson had played organized football. The 6-foot-1 180-pound senior did a little bit of everything to help Bellingham topple the Borderites 30-19 on Friday night.
Johnson scored two touchdowns and passed for another, a 5-yarder to 6-foot-3 senior Kyle McColl, in the first half alone. He also kicked all three extra points as well as a 42-yard field goal into the wind that would have been good from at least 50 yards.
The Red Raider senior finished the game by completing 20-of-34 passes for 321 yards while rushing for 121 yards on 26 carries.
“It felt good out there tonight,” Johnson said. “The last few weeks were a little rough, especially against LC. It felt good to get some confidence back”
Bellingham looked very strong in the first half, and was up 24-0 at one point. Blaine was able to put a strong drive together late in the second quarter and junior Gabe Cranford was able to score from 13 yards out to make it 24-6 at halftime. Cranford finished with 101 yards on 17 carries.
The Borderites received the second-half kickoff and marched down the field quickly. They were aided by a 23-yard run by junior Peyton Dixon, who then followed it up with a 1-yard touchdown run. Preston King’s extra point then put the game at 24-13.
The Red Raiders answered quickly on the following drive when Johnson threw a deep pass down the left sideline that was caught by wide receiver Johnny Twedt. The 6-foot junior then made a move on his defender and found his way into the end zone.
Blaine scored again in the third quarter when junior quarterback Cole Thomas found junior slot receiver Seth Zuch on an 11-yard corner route. The Borderites had another strong drive in the fourth quarter but a fumble in the red zone turned Blaine’s chances into hopes and dreams when Red Raider junior defensive lineman Nathaniel Gass recovered the ball.
Bellingham went into a ball-control offense for most of the fourth quarter, with Johnson getting the bulk of the carries.
“In our offense, the quarterback should be the leading rusher,” said Bellingham coach Robb Myhre after picking up his first Red Raider victory. “We have so many new guys, including our quarterback and three of our starting receivers, that have never experienced this offense before 15 practices ago.”
Defensively, Bellingham was led by juniors Daniel Reyes, James Quinlan and Finn O’Malley. Reyes finished with eight tackles, a sack and a forced fumble. Quinlan had six tackles, two passes broken up and a fumble recovery, and O’Malley totaled five tackles, 1.5 tackles for loss and a sack. Twedt and senior Manny DePalma also had interceptions.
For Blaine it was seniors Will McKinney, Taylor Olson and Tyson Kirk, along with juniors Avery Dohner and Zuch that led defensively. McKinney had 7.5 tackles, two tackles for loss, a sack and a forced fumble, while Olson and Zuch had interceptions and Kirk and Dohner made numerous plays at, or behind, the line of scrimmage.
As of now, the Red Raiders (1-2) do not have a scheduled game next week, and the Borderites (0-3) will host Nooksack Valley (1-2) on Thursday at 7:00.
Bellingham 30
Blaine 19
BELL 7 17 6 0 – 30
BLA 0 6 13 0 – 19
BELL – Johnson 1 run (Johnson kick)
BELL – Johnson 42 FG
BELL – K. McColl 5 pass from Johnson (Johnson kick)
BELL – Johnson 20 run (Johnson kick)
BLA – Cranford 13 run (pass failed)
BLA – Dixon 1 run (King kick)
BELL – Twedt 44 pass from Johnson (kick blocked)
BLA – Zuch 11 pass from Thomas (kick blocked)
BELL BLA
36-158 Rushing Att-Yards 33-158
20-34-2 Comp-Att-Int 5-16-2
321 Passing yards 97
Individual Leaders
RUSHING – BELL: Johnson 26-121, DePalma 5-26, Twedt 1-6, Quinlan 4-5. BLA: Cranford 17-101, Dixon 4-30, Creasey 4-14, Thomas 7-11, B. Vazquez 1-2.
PASSING – BELL: Johnson 20-34-2-321. BLA: Thomas 4-9-1-66, McKinney 1-7-1-31.
RECEIVING – BELL: Twedt 6-109, K. McColl 5-103, DePalma 5-57, Quinlan 3-40, M. McColl 1-12. BLA: Kortlever 2-48, Zuch 2-18, Arps 1-31.
