DEMING – A 95-yard kickoff return for a touchdown by junior Brady Bruland opened the game, and a 62-yard touchdown run by junior Dylan Moa followed shortly thereafter, as the Mountaineers defeated Blaine 46-17 at Bob Tisdale Field on Friday night.
Bruland and Moa combined for all seven touchdowns, with three scoring plays by the Borderites sandwiched in the middle of the game.
Two of Blaine’s scoring plays were passing touchdowns from junior quarterback Colin Davis; one to senior Jesse Deming, and one to senior Justin Minjarez. The other was a 20-yard field goal by senior Matthew Hayes.
The Davis-to-Minjarez touchdown pass in the third quarter closed the gap to 20-17 early in the third quarter, but Baker went on to score the last four touchdowns of the game.
The Mountaineer senior defensive ends continued to be the heartbeat of the Mount Baker defense, with Vance Lawrence picking up five tackles, 2.5 sacks and a tackle for loss, and Alex Maloley racked up 8.5 tackles, three tackles for loss and one sack.
Not only did Bruland and Moa score all the touchdowns, but they covered most of the yardage on the field as they combined for 288 total yards for scrimmage, more than 80% of the total yards put forth by the Mounties.
Junior Jaiden Paez led the Borderites on the ground with 80 yards on 18 carries, and Davis finished with 250 yards passing on 16-of-33.
Blaine senior safety Mason Akre also played well in place of injured star Riley Ihde, as he led his team with nine tackles and a forced fumble.
The Mountaineers (2-3) will travel to LaCenter (5-0) on Saturday to take on the Wildcats at 2:00, and the Borderites (1-4) will host Meridian (3-2) on Friday at 7:00.
Mount Baker 46 Blaine 17 BLA 7 3 7 0 - 17 MB 20 0 14 12 - 46 MB - Bruland 95 kickoff return (Strickland kick) MB - D. Moa 62 run (Strickland kick) MB - D. Moa 4 run (kick blocked) BLA - Deming 11 pass from Davis (Hayes kick) BLA - Hayes 20 FG BLA - Minjarez 30 pass from Davis (Hayes kick) MB - Bruland 15 run (Strickland kick) MB - D. Moa 1 run (Strickland kick) MB - Bruland 21 run (run failed) MB - D. Moa 3 run (kick failed) BLA MB 36-110 Rush Att-Yards 41-321 16-33-0 Comp-Att-Int 4-9-0 250 Passing Yards 31 Individual Leaders RUSHING - BLA: Paez 18-80, Shipp 9-38, Davis 8-1, Bennett 1-(-9). MB: D. Moa 17-153, Bruland 16-114, Tigilau 2-21, Smith 1-13, McGrath 1-10, B. Moa 2-6, Cooper 2-4. PASSING - BLA: Davis 16-33-0-250. MB: Tigilau 4-9-0-31. RECEIVING - BLA: Deming 5-51, Minjarez 4-96, Vezzetti 3-47, Bouma 2-47, Kerwin 1-8, Dalry 1-1. MB: Hanstead 2-5, Bruland 1-21, Staton 1-5.
