BURLINGTON – The Bayhawks battled back in the second half but just came up short as Burlington-Edison defeated Bellingham 28-21 at Roland Kirkby Field on Friday night.
The Bayhawks were able to force the Tigers to punt on their first drive, and then drove down the field and scored on a 4-yard slant pattern touchdown pass from sophomore Ben Leonard to junior Joe Harward which gave Bellingham an early 7-0 lead.
Explosive plays by the Burlington-Edison offense allowed the Tigers to score three straight touchdowns before Bayhawk senior running back Tyler Frost powered in on a 4-yard touchdown run to make it a 21-14 Burlington-Edison lead.
The Tigers would score once more before halftime, and almost made it twice more, but Burlington-Edison fumbled the ball away inside the 5-yard line, and it was recovered by junior safety Owen Hanstead.
The Tigers held a 28-14 lead at halftime, and had already racked up over 300 yards of offense on just 20 plays. Bellingham’s defense turned it on in the second half, and allowed just 104 yards in the second half, and more importantly, the Bayhawks were able to keep Burlington-Edison out of the end zone.
After a scoreless third quarter, Bellingham was able to score again in the fourth quarter, this time on a 21-yard run by Frost off left tackle, but time eventually ran out on the Bayhawks.
Defensively, Bellingham was led by Hanstead who had eight tackles, and the fumble recovery, as well as junior linebacker Sonny Powell who had two big stops behind the line of scrimmage.
The Bayhawks (1-5) will host Sehome (4-2) at Civic Stadium on Friday at 7:00.
Burlington-Edison 28 Bellingham 21 BEL 7 7 0 7 - 21 B-E 14 14 0 0 - 28 BEL - Harward 4 pass from Leonard (Boak kick) B-E - 1 yard touchdown run (kick good) B-E - 55 yard touchdown run (kick good) B-E - 56 yard touchdown pass (kick good) BEL - Frost 4 run (Boak kick) B-E - 4 yard touchdown run (kick good) BEL - Frost 21 run (Boak kick) BEL B-E 27-62 Rush Att-Yards 36-176 19-33-0 Comp-Att-Int 10-15-0 174 Passing Yards 234 Individual Leaders RUSHING - BEL: Frost 16-49, Harward 3-20, Jackson 2-20, G. VanHofwegen 2-5, Leonard 4-(-32). B-E: N/A. PASSING - BEL: Leonard 19-33-0-174. B-E: N/A. RECEIVING - BEL: Henderson 7-68, Harward 6-71, G. VanHofwegen 3-17, Wright 1-9, C. VanHofwegen 1-7, Hanstead 1-2. B-E: N/A.
