FOOTBALL
2013 Season
As a freshman, Kortlever threw his first varsity passes in a game against Mount Baker. He completed both passes that he attempted for a total of 14 yards.
2014 Season
In his sophomore season, he entered the season as the backup quarterback to Nate Kramme, and got a decent deal of playing time.
In week one he threw a few passes against Kelowna, BC, and he completed a 20-yard pass in week two against Granite Falls.
In week four at Sehome, he completed a 33-yard pass to Marcus Potts in the second quarter on a fake punt. Blaine scored two late touchdowns to come back and win the game 20-19.
He completed a couple passes at home against Sedro-Woolley in the fourth quarter when the game was out of hand, and a few weeks later at Burlington-Edison, he came in during the second quarter and played the rest of the game. In his first extensive varsity action at quarterback he completed four passes for 51 yards. He also threw his first varsity touchdown, a 20-yarder to classmate Anthony Ball.
In his final game of the season, he completed a seven yard pass against Squalicum.
Although a backup, Kortlever got some great experience that would prove valuable as he entered his junior season as the starting quarterback.
2015 Season
Now a junior, the job behind center was his, and he proved that he belonged.
In week one he completed eight passes for 234 yards and three touchdowns in a 55-20 win over New Westminster, BC. He then turned around and tossed four touchdown passes in week two in a 48-0 win over Granite Falls.
It was a tough Ferndale team in week three, but Kortlever held his own as he threw for 165 yards and two scores, but the Golden Eagles came out on top 34-20.
The Borderites rallied back the following week with a 37-7 win over Sehome in which Kortlever passed for 206 yards and two touchdowns. It was the fourth week in a row in which he threw multiple touchdown passes.
That streak ended the following week against Sedro-Woolley when he completed seven passes for 88 yards and a score.
In the following week he helped his team beat Anacortes 35-28 behind 181 yards passing and three touchdowns, but it was the final win of season for the Borderites who dropped their final three games of the season, against Squalicum, Burlington-Edison and Lynden.
Kortlever still put up good numbers in the final three contests, as he posted 489 passing yards and four touchdowns.
He finished the season with 1511 passing yards and 19 passing touchdowns, the second most touchdown passes in a single season in school history.
2016 Season
As a senior, he led a strong class of athletes that had an eye on the postseason. The only weakness the team had was playoff experience, and will long be remembered as one of the most balanced, and best, teams in school history.
Game one was shootout at home against Nooksack Valley which was led by junior quarterback Casey Bauman. Kortlever matched him throw for throw, and ended up having the best game of his high school career as he completed 20-of-29 passes for 287 yards and four touchdowns. All were career highs and Blaine came out on top, 35-21.
Blaine went on the road the following week to take on Meridian, and junior quarterback Simon Burkett. It was another shootout, and Kortlever reigned supreme once again as he threw for 224 yards and four touchdowns.
It was the first time in history that a Blaine quarterback began the season with back-to-back games of four passing touchdowns. He also did it against two great teams that had QB’s that went on to play division one football at the next level.
A tough loss to Sedro-Woolley, despite Kortlever throwing for 167 yards and a touchdown, put a damper on the high expectations, but Blaine bounced back the next week to defeat Bellingham 24-17 behind his 199 yards passing.
Kortlever was extremely efficient in the following week against Anacortes as he completed 12-of-16 passes for 229 yards and two scores in a 28-21 win, which set up the big matchup at Lynden the following week.
In one of the closest games Lynden had all season, the Lions bested the Borderites 31-23.
The next two games didn’t require Kortlever to go to the air very often as Blaine handled Lakewood 44-7, and then Sehome 48-0. In the two games combined, he completed just 16 passes and four of them went for touchdowns.
A 17-12 loss the following week to Burlington-Edison forced Blaine to play in a postseason play-in game against Liberty.
It was a heart-breaker for the orange and black, who fell 27-24 to the team that eventually ended up as the runner up for the 2A State Championship.
Kortlever was named All-NWC 2A Second Team at quarterback, and he finished with a 55.2% completion percentage (the third highest in school history for a season), 1707 passing yards (the fourth highest in school history) and 16 touchdowns.
Football Career
When putting together Blaine’s All-Time team, it would be hard to not have Kortlever as your quarterback. He finished near the top of almost every career passing category in school history. 427 pass attempts (2nd), 211 pass completions (2nd), 3372 passing yards (2nd), 36 touchdown passes (2nd) and 7.9 average yards per pass attempt (4th). His efforts landed him at Benedictine College in Kansas as a quarterback.
CAREER OFFENSIVE STATISTICS
BASKETBALL
2013-14 Season
Kortlever received a decent amount of playing time with the varsity as one of just two freshman on the team.
His first varsity bucket came in game two, an 84-50 victory over Coupeville.
He then had four points in a win over BC Christian Academy, and three against Tamanawis, another Canadian school.
His playing time grew later in the season when a few players went down with an injury.
He scored six points against Lynden, seven against Sedro-Woolley and nine against Burlington-Edison, but all were in losing efforts.
The Borderites made the district tournament, but were eliminated after two games.
Kortlever finished the season with 35 points in 13 games, averaging 2.7 points per game. Of all the freshmen in the county, he had the fifth highest scoring average. Behind only Damek Mitchell of Squalicum, Marcus Montag of Sehome, T.J. Bass of Mount Baker, and his own teammate, Anthony Ball.
2014-15 Season
It was another disappointing season for the Borderites, who had lost their best player when Josiah Westbrook transferred to Squalicum. It was a team that relied on a few seniors and some talented underclassmen to put up numbers.
Kortlever showed that he was ready for the challenge.
He was a consistent scorer all season, and had his top scoring games against what were perhaps the two best teams in the county.
He had 12 points against Lynden Christian, and he scored 11 against Sehome.
Blaine failed to make the postseason, but Kortlever averaged 5.6 points per game, which was fifth on the team.
2015-16 Season
It was a much more successful season as a team in his junior season which saw big wins against opponents that they hadn’t beat in a while, as well as overtime wins against Sedro-Woolley and Nathan Hale.
Kortlever had his best season yet, and he really turned on his offense in the second half of the season.
Through the first 10 games he averaged 4.6 points per game, but he broke out for 19 points in the overtime win over Sedro-Woolley, and he followed up with three more double-digit scoring performances to close the season.
Blaine finished the regular season with a 10-10 record, and returned to the district tournament after a one-year absence. However, they were promptly eliminated after two games, the second one being a heart-breaking 69-67 overtime loss to Cedarcrest.
Kortlever finished with 136 points scored, and was one of just two players on his team to play in all 22 games. He averaged 6.2 points per game.
2016-17 Season
In his senior season, the Borderites lacked overall height as a team. As a result, Kortlever was forced to play out of position and fill a role in the post.
Although Blaine won just five games, they provided excitement and averaged nearly 60 points per game.
Kortlever adjusted his game, and ended up leading the team in blocked shots and he was second on the team getting to the foul line.
He finished with 98 points in 18 games for an average of 5.4 points per game. He also averaged 3.3 rebounds per game, 1.2 steals per game and 1.1 assists per game.
Basketball Career
Despite playing all four years of varsity basketball, his career had a lot of twists and turns. Playing multiple positions led him to have different styles, but he always remained as someone that you could depend on.
CAREER STATISTICS
BASEBALL
2014 Season
His natural ability earned him a starting nod from day one his freshman year.
He patrolled the middle of the infield all season, usually playing second base, and occasionally some shortstop.
He picked up his first varsity run batted in during his first game, against South Whidbey, and he picked up his first varsity hit two games later against Ferndale.
He had a pair of hits, including a double, against LaConner in the first game of a double header, and he had another multi-hit game later in the season against Squalicum.
He finished the season with 10 runs scored, eight hits, two doubles, four runs batted in, two stolen bases and a .148 batting average.
Blaine finished with a record of 5-17 but it was a young team, and improvement was quickly on its way.
2015 Season
It was a big jump for Kortlever, as well as the entire team, which had been near the cellar of the Northwest Conference for three straight years.
Kortlever’s offense began to show, which went along with his defense which was already fantastic.
The Borderites were now a team that others had to contend with, and Kortlever, who was now hitting in the top-half of the lineup, was a big part of it.
Despite the fast start, Blaine faltered down the stretch, and was unable to reach the postseason. The Borderites finished with a record of 8-12, and Kortlever finished with 16 hits, 10 runs scored, 10 runs batted in, four stolen bases, two doubles and a .258 batting average.
2016 Season
Improvement kept rolling on for the Borderites who turned an average season into a memorable postseason run.
Now one of the definite leaders of the team, Kortlever was a fixture at shortstop and in the second spot of the batting lineup.
Blaine opened by dropping four of its first five games, but then rattled off three straight one-run wins over Meridian, Squalicum and Nooksack Valley.
That kicked off a 10-game winning streak that culminated with a 20-1 clobbering of Mount Baker.
Blaine started to feel pressure late in the season, and were 10-runned by Anacortes, Sehome and Ferndale before reaching the district tournament as the eight-seed.
Kortlever provided a walk and a single in the first round against the top-seeded Burlington-Edison Tigers, which helped the Borderites pull off the upset win and move into the semifinals.
Waiting for them was Cedarcrest, which won 4-1 to knock Blaine into the consolation round where it had to face Anacortes, who had rocked the Borderites earlier in the season.
Kortlever doubled and knocked in a run against the Seahawks as the Borderites won 6-1, and lived to play more baseball.
He did it again in the final game of the tournament, with a single, a run batted in, a run scored and a walk to help Blaine defeat Archbishop Murphy 9-2 and help Blaine advance to the regional round of the state tournament for the first time in six years.
The magic ran out, however, against Fife in the regional round, who won 3-0. Blaine was held to just three hits, with Kortlever getting two of them.
The Borderites finished with a 15-10 record, while posting 25 hits, 13 runs scored, 10 runs batted in, three doubles, two stolen bases and a .352 batting average.
2017 Season
All eyes were on the Borderites after finishing the season extremely strong the season before, and Blaine opened up in a big way.
The Borderites began the season with a 12-game winning streak, in which Kortlever totaled 17 hits in those games.
He had his third three-hit game of the season in late April 10-0 win over Lynden Christian. It was the 16th win of the season for the Borderites, and that became the most wins in a season for Blaine in 12 years.
Blaine fell to Burlington-Edison and Archbishop Murphy in the district playoffs, and the season came to a surprisingly sudden close.
Despite the rough finish, the Borderites finished with a 17-5 record. It was the last time the Blaine baseball team had just five losses in the complete season since 1983.
Kortlever was named All-Northwest Conference 1st Team at shortstop. He also finished with 24 hits, 19 runs, 11 runs batted in, five doubles, five stolen bases and a batting average of .381.
Baseball Career
It was a tremendous four-year career for Kortlever who is regarded as one of the top infielders Whatcom County of the 2010’s. Since 2014, only Chase Abshere collected more career base hits for the Borderites than Kortlever, who finished with one more career base hit than Axel Puls.
CAREER BASEBALL STATISTICS
