BELLINGHAM – Pounding the ball behind an enormous offensive line, checking to the perfect pass play when the matchup allows for it and an aggressive defense that swarms to the ball. Three ingredients that went a long way towards the Lions’ Class 2A state tournament 41-14 win on Saturday night over the Huskies at Civic Stadium.
Senior running back Steven DiLorenzo had another huge game, running behind an even huger line. He scored the first touchdown of the game from 16 yards out, and his big runs on the following drives changed the defensive philosophy of Othello when Lynden reached the red zone. Putting more players in the box allowed Lynden quarterbacks Brock Heppner and Baylor Ayres to throw touchdown passes in the opening period.
DiLorenzo finished with a game-high 190 yards on 20 carries. His 1348 yards rushing for the season is the 10th most in school history, but his yards rushing per game (149.8) is the most proficient by a Lynden player in a season.
After a 20-0 halftime lead, the Huskies got their best field position of the game on the kickoff to begin the second half. The ball had bounced over the returner’s head for Lynden, and as it bounced around it was recovered by an Othello player. The Huskies scored moments later on a 2-yard run.
The run game began to work for Othello in the second half, but little came of it. The Huskies completed just two passes, out of 11 attempts, and another two passes were intercepted by senior linebacker Bodie Human and senior corner back Eric Bode.
DiLorenzo ripped off another long touchdown run in the third quarter, in which his speed was on display for everyone to see as he broke through the line untouched and outraced everyone to the goal line. Ayres also showed his speed off with two touchdown runs in the second half.
Lynden (8-2) will play Washougal (8-4) this Saturday at Civic Stadium at 2pm for a chance to get into the semi-finals.
Othello 14
Lynden 41
OTH 0 0 6 8 – 14
LYN 20 0 14 7 – 41
LYN – DiLorenzo 16 run (Samoukovic kick)
LYN – Heppner 19 pass from Ayres (kick blocked)
LYN – Lohrer 6 pass from Heppner (Samoukovic kick)
OTH – 2 yard touchdown run (pass failed)
LYN – DiLorenzo 36 run (Samoukovic kick)
LYN – Ayres 9 run (Samoukovic kick)
LYN – Ayres 4 run (Samoukovic kick)
OTH – 32 yard touchdown pass (2pt pass good)
OTH LYN
47-208 Rushing Att-Yards 40-289
2-11-2 Comp-Att-Int 4-10-0
62 Passing yards 41
Individual Leaders
RUSHING – OTH: N/A. LYN: DiLorenzo 20-190, Ayres 11-70, Heppner 5-29, White 2-3, Moore 2-(-3).
PASSING – OTH: N/A. LYN: Heppner 2-2-0-22, Ayres 2-8-0-19.
RECEIVING – OTH: N/A. LYN: Lohrer 2-22, Heppner 1-19, DiLorenzo 1-0.
