BY MAKAYLA SPARKS – For Whatcom Preps
BLAINE – If there’s been one narrative that’s come out of Blaine during the preseason, it’s that they’re building something new and leaving last year’s losing season long behind them.
On Saturday afternoon, they proved that they’re doing just that with a game that they dominated against 3A Renton even more so than the 42-20 final score showed.
Jaiden Paez, Blaine’s senior running back, was at the forefront of the Borderite offense.
Paez gave his team a 14-point advantage in the first five minutes by scoring rushing touchdowns on both of Blaine’s first two drives. He then completed his hat trick of offensive touchdowns just over a minute into the second quarter on a long touchdown from inside Blaine territory.
He finished with a game-high 137 yards on just eight carries.
A minute and a half later, he scooped in a loose ball on defense, after senior defensive end Zi Yu sacked the quarterback forcing the ball to come out, and powered 44 yards into the end zone for his fourth touchdown of the afternoon and a 28-0 Borderite lead.
With the Renton Red Hawks struggling to get something going on either side of the ball, Blaine senior quarterback, Colin Davis decided it was his turn to get in on the fun. Racing down the near sideline, Davis tacked his own six points onto the scoreboard, carrying the ball into the end zone from 27 yards away.
Blaine entered the half up 35-0 and the Borderite defense was yet to allow a positive rushing yard.
Just over a minute into the second half, senior Colby Shipp activated the running clock when he powered down the sideline and to the house for a 62-yard rushing touchdown.
Soon after the Borderites rotated in their freshmen players, the Red Hawks showed signs of life scoring on an 80-yard touchdown reception to end the third quarter. Renton would score two more times, once on a 45-yard reception and another on a one-yard run, before the game ended but Blaine maintained its lead and took home the 42-20 victory.
Yu showed his dominance on defense with 6.5 tackles, three sacks, 2.5 tackles for loss and two forced fumbles. Senior defensive end Blake Koreski added 5.5 tackles, 2.5 sacks, two tackles for loss and two forced fumbles.
The Borderites (1-0) will host Cedar Park Christian (1-0) on Friday at 7:00.
Blaine 42 Renton 20 REN 0 0 6 14 - 20 BLA 14 21 7 0 - 42 BLA - Paez 16 run (Villareal kick) BLA - Paez 1 run (Villareal kick) BLA - Paez 59 run (Villareal kick) BLA - Paez 44 fumble return (Villareal kick) BLA - Davis 27 run (Villareal kick) BLA - Shipp 62 run (Villareal kick) REN - 80 yard touchdown pass (run failed) REN - 45 yard touchdown pass (run failed) REN - 1 yard touchdown run (2pt run good) REN BLA 31-(-20) Rush Att-Yards 25-208 8-13-0 Comp-Att-Int 3-9-0 193 Passing Yards 27 Individual Leaders RUSHING - REN: N/A. BLA: Paez 8-137, Shipp 4-84, Kerwin 1-15, Villareal 2-2, Heer 3-0, Davis 4-(-2), Johannassen 1-(-4), Brown 2-(-24). PASSING - REN: N/A. BLA: Davis 2-4-0-20, Brown 1-5-0-7. RECEIVING - REN: N/A. BLA: Kerwin 1-20, Johannassen 1-7, Paez 1-0.
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