LYNDEN – It was a matter of rust versus rest for Lynden Christian, which hadn’t played a game in two weeks. The first half looked like rust, but the Lyncs had a lot of juice left in the second half as they defeated Blaine 17-0 on Friday night.
The LC defense was extremely strong all game, and still hasn’t allowed an offensive touchdown this season. Senior linebackers Davis Gatterman and Will Faber combined for 18 tackles, including three behind the line of scrimmage.
The Lync offense was also very balanced, passing for 185 yards and rushing for 178 yards.
The only points in the first half were scored by first-year varsity senior kicker Eli Den Bleyker who nailed a 25-yard field goal.
Both defenses were extremely active, much like last year’s contest between these two former rivals, and both teams intercepted a pair of passes. Blaine senior Dakota George picked off a pass early on and returned it 25 yards, while fellow senior Zane Rector intercepted his second pass of the season on a diving catch. Lynden Christian seniors Jackson Corkill and Jude Veltkamp each had interception returns of 14 yards.
Lync senior quarterback Trajan Schouten found Corkill on a 3-yard touchdown pass to begin the third quarter, and senior running back Easton Stremler finished off a tough 18-yard touchdown run between the tackles for the final score of the game. Stremler finished with a game-high 105 yards on 17 carries.
Borderite senior linebacker Gavino Rodriguez was all over the field with 16 tackles (12 solo), a forced fumble, a fumble recovery and a sack. Fellow senior Wyatt Cole finished with two and a half sacks.
Lynden Christian (2-0) will begin conference play on Friday by hosting Mount Baker (3-0) and Blaine (1-2) will also begin conference play on Friday by hosting Burlington-Edison (0-3).
Blaine 0
Lynden Christian 17
BLA 0 0 0 0 – 0
LC 0 3 7 7 – 17
LC – Den Bleyker 25 FG
LC – Corkill 3 pass from Schouten (Den Bleyker kick)
LC – Stremler 18 run (Den Bleyker kick)
BLA LC
23-67 Rushing Att-Yards 40-178
10-25-2 Comp-Att-Int 18-30-2
106 Passing yards 185
Individual Leaders
RUSHING – BLA: Caridad 20-67, McKinney 3-0. LC: Stremler 17-105, Korthuis 10-41, Da. Bootsma 4-17, Corkill 2-9, Schouten 7-6.
PASSING – BLA: McKinney 10-25-2-106. LC: Schouten 18-30-2-185.
RECEIVING – BLA: Rector 4-23, Baldwin 3-55, Hee 2-17, Kortlever 1-11. LC: Corkill 5-63, Sipma 5-58, Feenstra 3-29, Korthuis 3-18, Moorlag 1-12, Stremler 1-5.
Blaine has a great defense. In this game #56 12 tackles and 1 sack, #75 4 tackles and 2 sacks, and #88 5 tackles and 1 blocked pass.