BELLINGHAM – The Lions played their third road game to open up their season, and the result was the same once again, this time a 41-13 victory over Squalicum at Civic Stadium on Friday night.
The passing game exploded for Lynden, especially early on with senior wide receiver Troy Petz being on the receiving end of two first quarter touchdown passes. One on a 46-yarder from sophomore quarterback Brant Heppner, and the second being a 26-yarder from senior quarterback Kaedan Hermanutz.
It’s been difficult to find any weaknesses of the Lynden football team, but heading into this game the Lions completed under 50% of their passes on the season. The accuracy was on point all evening, with both Heppner and Hermanutz completing 7-of-8 passes.
Senior running back Campbell Nolte scored the first touchdown of the second quarter on a perfectly-designed wheel route out of the backfield and Heppner found him from 15 yards out. Hermanutz then closed out the scoring of the first half with a tackle-breaking 6-yard touchdown run.
The senior signal caller began the second half just as he closed the first half with another short touchdown run. Hermanutz finished with 49 yards on the ground on eight carries.
Heppner tossed his third touchdown pass of the game in the fourth quarter, when he connected on a 6-yard jump-ball to 6-foot-6 senior receiver Cameron Petersen.
Squalicum sophomore Marcus Nixon was able to score two touchdowns in the fourth quarter, the first on a deep pass from junior quarterback Josh Leonard that ended up being a 73-yarder, and the second on a 2-yard run on the final play of the game.
Nixon led the Storm in both rushing (77 yards) and receiving (102 yards).
Senior Lane Heeringa led Lynden on the ground with 53 yards, and on defense with six tackles, including a tackle for loss.
The Lions (3-0) will play their home opener on Friday against Sedro-Woolley (2-0) at 7:00, and Squalicum (1-2) will try to bounce back on Friday when it travels to Archbishop Murphy (0-2) to take on the Wildcats at 7:00.
Lynden 41 Squalicum 13 LYN 14 14 6 7 - 41 SQU 0 0 0 13 - 13 LYN - Petz 46 pass from Heppner (Petz kick) LYN - Petz 26 pass from Hermanutz (Petz kick) LYN - Nolte 15 pass from Heppner (Petz kick) LYN - Hermanutz 6 run (Petz kick) LYN - Hermanutz 5 run (kick failed) LYN - Petersen 4 pass from Heppner (Smiley kick) SQU - Nixon 73 pass from Leonard (Sonnon kick) SQU - Nixon 2 run (no conversion attempted) LYN SQU 36-164 Rush Att-Yards 18-77 15-17-0 Comp-Att-Int 8-17-0 233 Passing Yards 154 Individual Leaders RUSHING - LYN: Heeringa 11-53, Hermanutz 8-49, Heppner 4-23, Nolte 6-19, Elenbaas 3-12, Ayres 2-6, Human 2-2. SQU: Nixon 16-77, Dunmore 2-0. PASSING - LYN: Hermanutz 7-8-0-115, Heppner 7-8-0-115, Ayres 1-1-0-3. SQU: Leonard 8-17-0-154. RECEIVING - LYN: Stanley 6-92, Petz 2-72, Anker 2-16, Smiley 1-23, Nolte 1-15, Moore 1-6, Petersen 1-6, Elsner 1-3. SQU: Nixon 4-102, Ortiz-McAlister 2-31, Heaton 1-11, Sorenson 1-10.
