LAUREL – Down by seven points with under a minute to play, Nooksack Valley had the ball 3rd-and-8 from the Trojan 13-yard line. Pioneer freshman quarterback Joey Brown attempted a pass over the middle for senior Colten Brower, but Meridian senior Wesley Kurz was sitting in his zone and picked off the pass to secure the 17-10 victory on Saturday night.
It was a close game throughout, and had plenty of exciting moments. Early in the game, Nooksack Valley senior defensive lineman Alex Clawson recovered a fumble to stop a long Trojan drive, but with the Pioneers backed up near it’s own end zone, Meridian scored it’s first points of the season when seniors Mason Knutson and Trey Naidu combined to sack Brown for a safety.
Both teams possessed the ball several times in the first half, with the Pioneers having to punt many times and Meridian turning the ball over on downs after lengthy time-consuming drives.
Late in the second quarter Brower intercepted a pass to give Nooksack Valley its best field position of the game, and the Pioneers capitalized with a 33-yard field goal by senior Scout Whittern. The Pioneers went into halftime with a 3-2 lead.
Halfway through the third quarter, Meridian was stalled at the Nooksack Valley 33-yard line with a 4th-and-14 situation. When the Trojans lined up, first-year head coach Patrick Ames saw something he didn’t like and called a timeout. The former offensive coordinator then called the perfect play.
Following the timeout, junior quarterback Tucker Harrison threw a quick backwards pass toward the Trojan sideline which was caught by Kurz, who then proceeded to throw a deep pass down the sideline for senior Andrew Kuljis for a touchdown. It worked to perfection, and after Harrison connected with Kurz on the two-point conversion, Meridian held a 10-3 lead.
The lead wouldn’t last long, however, as Nooksack Valley junior running back Jordan Silva took the handoff on the very next play from scrimmage and sped 56 yards for a touchdown. Sophomore Sawyer Johnson’s first varsity extra point attempt was good, and the score was tied at 10.
Meridian’s lengthy drives all game started to take a toll on the Pioneer defense late in the game, and Meridian was able to get inside the 10-yard line. A tough 4-yard touchdown run by Naidu put the Trojans up for good, and helped set up Kurz’s heroics later in the game. Meridian ran 39 more plays on offense than Nooksack Valley did.
Naidu led the Trojans on the ground with 66 yards on 22 carries, and Harrison completed 15-of-25 passes for 191 yards in his first varsity start behind center.
Pioneer junior defensive end Nick Dykstra caused havoc all game as he was in on five stops behind the line of scrimmage including a sack. Junior linebacker Jet Triplett led his team with 14 tackles, and Whittern totaled nine tackles and three passes defended.
The Trojans (1-0) will host Lynden Christian (2-0) on Friday, and Nooksack Valley (0-2) will be at Anacortes (1-1) on Friday. Both games start at 7:00.
Nooksack Valley 10
Meridian 17
NV 0 3 7 0 – 10
MER 2 0 8 7 – 17
MER – Knutson and Naidu combined for a sack in the end zone
NV – Whittern 33 FG
MER – Kuljis 33 pass from Kurz (Kurz pass from Harrison)
NV – Silva 56 run (Johnson kick)
MER – Naidu 4 run (Jensen kick)
NV MER
18-31 Rushing Att-Yards 44-124
6-13-2 Comp-Att-Int 16-26-1
59 Passing yards 224
Individual Leaders
RUSHING – NV: Silva 9-59, Whittern 4-(-5), Brown 5-(-23). MER: Naidu 22-66, Harrison 10-25, L. Sharp 9-20, Jones 3-13.
PASSING – NV: Brown 6-13-2-59. MER: Harrison 15-25-1-191, Kurz 1-1-0-33.
RECEIVING – NV: Kingma 3-33, Whittern 2-18, Kimball 1-8. MER: Johnson 5-72, Kuljis 3-62, Jones 3-28, Kurz 2-13, Naidu 2-8, Short 1-41.
Thanks for the play by play. Cheers