BLAINE – The Borderites have improved greatly in each of their four games this season. They also improved with each quarter on Thursday night when they faced Nooksack Valley. Down 18-6 in the fourth quarter, Blaine scored 20 unanswered points to win its first game of the season, 26-18.
Both teams traded punts and turnovers in the first half, but the Pioneers put together a strong drive near the end of the half which was capped off by a 2-yard touchdown run by senior Scout Whittern. The Borderites managed just 24 yards of total offense in the first half.
The second half would be a different story.
Blaine marched down the field to begin the third quarter, and junior quarterback Cole Thomas found junior wide receiver Scott Baldwin on a 40-yard touchdown pass to tie the game.
Nooksack Valley struck quickly after Blaine’s score when the Pioneer “Do-Everything” senior, Whittern, sniffed out a quick pass to the outside, intercepted it, and took it 54 yards for a touchdown.
Junior running back Jordan Silva then scored from a yard out on the first play of the fourth quarter, which brought the Pioneer lead to 18-6. Blaine’s desire burned heavily throughout the rest of the contest.
All of a sudden, junior Gabe Cranford was breaking tackles, and he helped the Borderites move the chains. Thomas then found fellow junior Jaxon Kortlever on a 5-yard touchdown pass to bring Blaine within one score. Kortlever finished with four receptions for 52 yards.
The Borderites defense stepped up again, and forced Nooksack Valley to punt on the following drive. A defensive penalty, followed by a deep pass play from Thomas to Kortlever, set up Blaine in the red zone. Thomas then rolled right and hit senior tight end Braden Stanovich on a 14-yard touchdown pass. The play gave the Borderites the lead for the first time of the game, as well as the season.
Down by just one, 19-18, Nooksack Valley began to ramp up its passing game, but a deep to the right side of the field was intercepted by junior cornerback Aiden Vezzetti. But the work still wasn’t done.
Cranford, who kept getting stronger as the game wore on, ripped off a 54-yard touchdown run up the middle that caused the dozens of Borderite fans in the stand to cheer like they hadn’t cheered all season. Cranford ended with a career-high 123 yards rushing on 25 carries.
The Pioneers would get to midfield on the final drive of the game, but simply ran out of time.
Defensively, senior defensive lineman Tyson Kirk led the Borderites with 12 tackles, two sacks and a forced fumble. Kortlever chipped in with 7.5 tackles. For Nooksack Valley, it was the defensive line of Nick Dykstra, Duke Halaapiapi, Alex Clawson and John Stremler that combined for 4.5 tackles behind the line of scrimmage.
Blaine (1-3) will be at Anacortes (1-3) on Tuesday, and the Pioneers (1-3) will host Oak Harbor (0-4) on Tuesday. Both games are at 7:00.
Nooksack Valley 18
Blaine 26
NV 0 6 6 6 – 18
BLA 0 0 6 20 – 26
NV – Whittern 2 run (kick blocked)
BLA – Baldwin 40 pass from Thomas (kick failed)
NV – Whittern 54 interception return (run failed)
NV – Silva 1 run (pass failed)
BLA – Kortlever 5 pass from Thomas (King kick)
BLA – Stanovich 14 pass from Thomas (run failed)
BLA – Cranford 54 run (King kick)
NV BLA
42-247 Rushing Att-Yards 25-123
5-14-1 Comp-Att-Int 13-21-2
67 Passing yards 176
Individual Leaders
RUSHING – NV: Silva 14-90, Whittern 10-83, C. Coppinger 18-74. BLA: Cranford 25-123.
PASSING – NV: C. Coppinger 5-14-1-67. BLA: Thomas 13-21-2-176.
RECEIVING – NV: Kingma 2-34, Silva 2-15, Kimball 1-18. BLA: Kortlever 4-52, Arps 4-42, Baldwin 2-54, Stanovich 3-28.
