BELLINGHAM – The Lions proved why they were given the top seed of the 2A State Tournament by defeating Black Hills 54-7 at Civic Stadium on Friday afternoon.
Lynden had the size, speed and experience to roll over the Wolves quickly in the first half, before giving way to the backups and freshmen in the second half.
Senior running back Lane Heeringa scored a pair of 1-yard touchdowns, and sophomore quarterback Brant Heppner tossed a 26-yard touchdown pass to senior Isaiah Stanley, and a 5-yard touchdown pass to senior running back Campbell Nolte.
Heppner also scored from a yard out, and senior starting quarterback Kaedan Hermanutz also sprinted 24 yards for a touchdown run, all of which came in the first half.
Stanley led the Lions with seven receptions for 102 yards, and is now one catch away from being the 20th player in Whatcom County history to have 100 career receptions.
Junior quarterback Charlie Ayres scored his third touchdown of the season on an 11-yard run in the third quarter, and junior running back Luke Human split the defense for a 62-yard touchdown run in the fourth quarter. Human led Lynden on the ground with 81 yards on three carries.
The Lions were also aided by short fields, and got interceptions from senior linebacker Chris Elenbaas, Hermanutz and junior defensive back Zach Welch.
Lynden (10-0) will face Highline (10-1) on Friday at Civic Stadium at 6:00.
Lynden 54 Black Hills 7 BH 0 0 0 0 - 7 LYN 13 27 7 7 - 54 LYN - Heeringa 1 run (kick failed) LYN - Stanley 26 pass from Heppner (Petz kick) LYN - Heeringa 1 run (Petz kick) LYN - Heppner 1 run (kick failed) LYN - Hermanutz 24 run (Petz kick) LYN - Nolte 5 pass from Heppner (Smiley kick) LYN - Ayres 11 run (Smiley kick) BH - Carson 24 run (kick good) LYN - Human 62 run (Smiley kick)
BH LYN 22-126 Rush Att-Yards 37-286 5-15-3 Comp-Att-Int 11-21-0 98 Passing Yards 147 Individual Leaders RUSHING - BH: N/A. LYN: Human 3-81, Hermanutz 6-68, Heeringa 11-40, Heppner 5-28, Nolte 5-27, Ayres 4-24, Bowler 1-13, M. Assink 1-3, Marti 1-2. PASSING - BH: N/A. LYN: Hermanutz 3-7-0-34, Heppner 6-11-0-95, Ayres 2-2-0-18. RECEIVING - BH: N/A. LYN: Stanley 7-102, Moore 2-18, Heeringa 1-22, Nolte 1-5.
