LYNDEN – Lync senior Jeremiah Wright showed versatility, speed, toughness and the desire to win as Lynden Christian defeated Blaine 48-14 at home on Friday night.
The 6-foot-5 225-pounder carried the ball just three times, but gained 111 yards in doing so, and he scored a touchdown on all three carries. He also completed a 34-yard touchdown pass to fellow-senior Kayden Stuit, and to top it all off he had 5.5 tackles, three quarterback sacks, a forced fumble and he recovered a fumble and scored a touchdown on defense.
The Borderites had a good first drive to open up the game, with junior quarterback Colin Davis completing passes to seniors Tyler Bouma and Jesse Deming for first downs. However, on a third-and-long play at the LC 22-yard line, Davis was pressured by Wright coming off the edge, and threw a pass to his right that was intercepted by junior linebacker Trey Bosman who rumbled 55 yards before being brought down by Davis.
Three plays later, Lynden Christian junior running back Hollis Owen took the handoff and ran 17 yards to left front corner of the end zone for a touchdown.
The ensuing kickoff was deflected off of a Borderite and came straight back to sophomore kicker Jacob Penner who immediately fell on the football to regain possession.
Three plays after that came Wright’s first touchdown of the game, a 47-yard run around the left end.
Junior safety Jayden Huleatt kept the momentum in the favor of the Lyncs by intercepting a pass on Blaine’s next possession. It was Huleatt’s fifth interception on the year. LC then methodically drove down the field, but was turned away inside the red zone on an incomplete pass on fourth down.
The Borderites picked up a few first downs, and was able to move the football near midfield, but Bosman stepped in front of another Davis pass, intercepted it and ran 44 yards before being tackled. The turnover set the Lyncs up perfectly with first-and-goal from the Blaine 4-yard line. Two plays later, Wright scored his second touchdown of the game on a 2-yard keep.
Lynden Christian then forced the Borderites to punt, and six plays later it was Wright who found Stuit on a quick slant that ultimately went 34 yards for the score.
Blaine was forced to punt again on the next drive, but it was blocked by Bosman and scooped up by senior Levi DeKoster who returned it inside the 5-yard line. Lyncs Coach Greg Terpstra rewarded DeKoster by leaving him in the game, and quickly called his number. The full-time nose tackle took his first carry of the year, and scored a touchdown from three yards out.
Lynden Christian led Blaine 34-0 at halftime.
The Lyncs put the pedal down in the third quarter, and scored a touchdown on their first play from scrimmage following the second-half kickoff. This time Wright followed the pulling blocks by Carson Libolt and Malachi VanderMey, sprung free, and ripped off a 62-yard run down the right sideline.
Wright followed that up by sacking Davis a few plays later, and he then scored a touchdown on the following play when the shotgun snap eluded Davis. The ball ended up on the 1-yard line, and Wright charged in to pick it up and score.
The Borderites rallied with a 23-yard touchdown scramble by Davis on fourth down late in the third quarter. Davis also completed a 10-yard hitch to senior Justin Minjarez who then spun to the outside and outran the Lynden Christian defense the last 50 yards for a touchdown.
Bosman finished with 12 tackles, one tackle for loss and the two long interception returns, and Stuit had nine tackles and a tackle for loss.
The Lyncs (6-2) will host Mount Baker (3-5) on Thursday, and Blaine (2-6) will host Nooksack Valley (5-2) on Thursday. Both games will be at 7:00.
Lynden Christian 48 Blaine 14 BLA 0 0 7 7 - 14 LC 13 21 14 0 - 48 LC - H. Owen 17 run (Penner kick) LC - Wright 47 run (kick blocked) LC - Wright 2 run (Penner kick) LC - Stuit 34 pass from Wright (Penner kick) LC - DeKoster 3 run (Penner kick) LC - Wright 62 run (Penner kick) LC - Wright 1 fumble return (Penner kick) BLA - Davis 23 run (Hayes kick) BLA - Minjarez 60 pass from Davis (Hayes kick) BLA LC 26-58 Rush Att-Yards 23-165 9-19-3 Comp-Att-Int 12-19-0 163 Passing Yards 116 Individual Leaders RUSHING - BLA: Paez 13-40, Davis 9-13, Shipp 4-5. LC: Wright 3-111, H. Owen 8-40, Bouwman 2-4, Engels 5-4, DeKoster 1-3, Johnson 3-3, Stuit 1-0. PASSING - BLA: Davis 9-19-3-163. LC: Wright 8-14-0-94, DenHartog 3-4-0-21, Maberry 1-1-0-1. RECEIVING - BLA: Deming 4-58, Minjarez 2-69, T. Bouma 2-37, Kerwin 1-(-1). LC: Stuit 3-58, Bajema 2-18, Vander Veen 2-16, D. Bouma 2-12, Bouwman 1-6, Moorlag 1-5, Trey Blair 1-1.
