BELLINGHAM – The route was on early, and junior quarterback Jacob Kaepernick tossed six touchdown passes in the first half as the Mariners shut out West Seattle 40-0 at Civic Stadium on Saturday.
Kaepernick joins Jeff Bennum and Tyler Slesk of Meridian, Chris Bolt of Lynden and Tanner Myhre of Nooksack Valley as the only quarterbacks in Whatcom County history to throw six touchdown passes in a single game.
Sehome’s first touchdown came early in the game when Kaepernick found sophomore Caleb Ryan on a quick dump pass between two defenders for a 3-yard touchdown. After forcing a 3-and-out, the Mariners scored on their next play when Kaepernick tossed a deep pass down the seam that senior Melloy Nelson gathered in and took 76 yards into the end zone.
Kaepernick finished out the first quarter with a perfectly thrown deep pass to junior Tim Malo for a 35-yard touchdown, and a 15-yard TD strike to Nelson.
Ryan was again a recipient of a Kaepernick touchdown on a quick swing pass that showed the speed of Ryan as he galloped around the Wildcat defense and took it in from 34 yards. And, with less than a minute in the first half, Kaepernick found sophomore Derrick Hayward all alone down field and they hooked up for a 56-yard touchdown.
Kaepernick finished with 275 yards on 11-of-20 passing in a steady downpour of rain. Junior Colin Dorsch led the Mariners on the ground with 68 yards on 11 carries.
Defensive linemen Rylie Bair and Gavin Ortega each enjoyed monster games, as Sehome held West Seattle to just 58 yards of total offense. 48 of them came on one play in the second quarter.
Bair was all over the place, with three solo tackles, three assisted tackles, one sack and a blocked punt. He also entered the game late in the fourth quarter when the backup punt team didn’t field enough players. He ran onto the field late, to help the team, and ended up recovering a fumble on the play.
Ortega was in on eight tackles, with multiple stops behind the line of scrimmage.
West Seattle 0
Sehome 40
WS 0 0 0 0 – 0
SEH 27 13 0 0 – 40
SE – Ryan 3 pass from Kaepernick (Nelson kick)
SE – Nelson 76 pass from Kaepernick (Nelson kick)
SE – Malo 35 pass from Kaepernick (kick failed)
SE – Nelson 15 pass from Kaepernick (Chisolm kick)
SE – Ryan 34 pass from Kaepernick (Chisolm kick)
SE – Hayward 56 pass from Kaepernick (kick failed)
WS SEH
21-64 Rushing Att-Yards 35-95
3-11-2 Comp-Att-Int 11-21-0
-6 Passing yards 275
Individual Leaders
RUSHING – SEH: Dorsch 11-68, Smith 11-38, Nelson 2-29, Dirks 4-13, Kaepernick 2-(-20), Neff 5-(-33). WS: N/A.
PASSING – SEH: Kaepernick 11-20-0-275, Neff 0-1-0-0. WS: N/A.
RECEIVING – SEH: Nelson 3-115, Malo 3-51, Ryan 3-43, Hayward 1-56, L. Evans 1-10. WS: N/A.
