NOOKSACK – Lynden Christian welcomed back junior quarterback Trajan Schouten, and he led his Lyncs to a decisive 41-0 victory over Nooksack Valley at Sid Lambert Field on Friday night.
The victory allows LC to still be alive for a tie of the conference championship, but it has to beat Meridian this Thursday night. A post season berth has already been locked up.
Schouten was sharp from the very beginning, and he became the first passer in Whatcom County this season to throw for 300 yards in a game. He was also extremely efficient, completing 19-of-26 passes, not showing a bit of rust from not playing in three weeks.
Junior running back Levi Korthuis also had quite a game, rushing for 154 yards on 20 carries, including a 44-yard touchdown run on his first attempt of the game. He sprung the run around left end, and he followed a great block thrown downfield by left tackle Jake Libolt. He also scored on a 5-yard run in the beginning of the third quarter.
Junior Easton Stremler played great on defense, stopping the dynamic Pioneer quarterback Austin O’Bryan on multiple plays behind the line of scrimmage.
Another junior, wide receiver Tanner Feenstra, had the best game of his young varsity career as he caught eight passes for 201 yards and a touchdown. He became just the second player in school history to have over 200 yards receiving in a game. The first was Kevin Bratt who totaled 214 yards receiving against Lakeside-Seattle in the season finale of 1994.
With all of these juniors having big games, the future looks bright for Lynden Christian, but it was a pair of seniors that stood out as well on Friday night. Safety Jalen Apol intercepted two passes, and also caught an 11-yard touchdown pass to open the second quarter, and linebacker Sam Faber was able to tackle O’Bryan twice behind the line of scrimmage, and also catch a pair of touchdown passes.
The LC (6-2) win sets up a big match up at Meridian (6-2) on Thursday night. The Pioneers (3-5) will close out their league schedule at Mount Baker (5-3) on Thursday night.
Lynden Christian 41
Nooksack Valley 0
LC 14 14 13 0 – 41
NV 0 0 0 0 – 0
LC – Korthuis 44 run (DeRuyter kick)
LC – Faber 8 pass from Schouten (DeRuyter kick)
LC – Apol 11 pass from Schouten (DeRuyter kick)
LC – Faber 12 pass from Schouten (DeRuyter kick)
LC – Korthuis 5 run (kick failed)
LC – Feenstra 25 pass from Schouten (DeRuyter kick)
LC NV
33-183 Rushing Att-Yards 22-33
20-27-0 Comp-Att-Int 13-24-2
307 Passing yards 187
Individual Leaders
RUSHING – LC: Korthuis 20-154, Bootsma 7-22, Assink 1-7, Stremler 1-5, Schouten 3-5, Bouwman 1-(-10). NV: O’Bryan 16-28, Neitling 2-8, Eldridge 2-7, Lackey 1-3, bad snap 1 (-13).
PASSING – LC: Schouten 19-26-0-300, Bouwman 1-1-0-7. NV: O’Bryan 11-22-2-130, Eldridge 2-2-0-57.
RECEIVING – LC: Feenstra 8-201, Corkill 5-50, Faber 3-30, Apol 3-19, VanderWerff 1-7. NV: Rawls 4-67, Neitling 4-64, Boersema 2-24, Eldridge 2-12, Whittern 1-20.
