NOOKSACK – After about halfway through the first quarter it looked very promising for the prideful players and parents in Pioneer purple, but the Trojans figured it out, and scored 21 unanswered points in the final three quarters to beat Nooksack Valley 21-14 at Sid Lambert Field on Friday night.
The Pioneers got on the board extremely quickly when senior quarterback Austin O’Bryan led his team down the field, hooking up with senior receiver Halston Boersema for 25 yards and then taking it into the end zone himself from 16 yards out. Nooksack Valley got the ball back again, and put together another quick drive. This time O’Bryan connected on a 22-yard pass with sophomore Scout Whittern before darting into the end zone again, this time from 18 yards away.
O’Bryan finished the game with 143 yards rushing on 29 carries.
The Trojans scored their first touchdown of the game on a 1-yard sneak by senior quarterback Dawson Logan, which was set up by passes to junior Kevin Galiano and senior Dylan Hickok along with hard running by senior running back Cole Roberts. Meridian was able to score two points on the conversion when the snap was low, but Logan handled it, rolled to his right and found junior Trent Gookstetter in the end zone.
Both teams tightened up between that score and the fourth quarter, and both defenses started to step up. Logan intercepted a pass for Meridian and Boersema intercepted a pass for the Pioneers. Ultimately, it was the Trojans defense that would step up, as they had multiple players having great games and they combined for 11 stops behind the line of scrimmage.
A Meridian 4th-and-four play at midfield in the beginning of the fourth quarter was key when Hickok picked up a 17-yard gain off right tackle. A few plays later Logan was able to find Galiano in the right corner of the end zone on an 18-yard touchdown pass to tie the game up.
The Trojans then forced the Pioneers to punt, and Logan had a long return that brought his team into Nooksack Valley territory. Meridian would stay with the ground attack from there, as it was Roberts left and Hickok right over and over again as they controlled the clock near the end of the game. Once the Trojans got to the three yard line it was a fake handoff, and Logan kept it for himself and ran around the left side of his offensive line to score the game-winning touchdown with 1:16 left.
The Pioneers put together a decent drive with a 10-yard pass to Whittern and a 12-yard run by O’Bryan, but on Meridian’s eighth sack of the game it was junior defensive end Cameron Webster that knocked the ball out of O’Bryan’s hands, and sophomore Mason Knutson and junior Trent Martin combined for the recovery to ice the game away.
Meridian (3-1) will host Mount Baker (2-2) on Friday night, and Nooksack Valley (3-1) will travel to Lynden Christian (4-0) to take on the Lyncs on Friday night.
Meridian 21
Nooksack Valley 14
MER 0 8 0 14 – 21
NV 14 0 0 0 – 14
NV – O’Bryan 16 run (Conner kick)
NV – O’Bryan 18 run (Conner kick)
MER – Logan 1 run (Gookstetter pass from Logan)
MER – Galiano 18 pass from Logan (kick failed)
MER – Logan 3 run (Snook kick)
MER NV
42-208 Rushing Att-Yards 37-159
11-25-1 Comp-Att-Int 7-18-1
126 Passing yards 106
Individual Leaders
RUSHING – MER: Roberts 17-103, Logan 14-62, Hickok 11-43. NV: O’Bryan 29-143, Lackey 4-13, Whittern 4-3
PASSING – MER: Logan 11-25-1-126. NV: O’Bryan 7-18-1-106.
RECEIVING – MER: Galiano 6-77, Hickok 4-43, Webster 1-6. NV: Boersema 2-40, Whittern 2-32, Rawls 2-30, Lackey 1-4.
