BELLINGHAM – When Ron Lepper took over as the head coach of the Mount Baker football team in the fall of 1996, he handed out jersey number 79 to junior Brent Moa. That was the jersey number that Coach Lepper wore in his playing days, and he saw something special in Brent, and in Coach Lepper’s first game that season he picked up his first victory. A memorable moment.
On Saturday afternoon, Brent’s son, Dylan, blocked what would have been the game-winning field goal by Nooksack Valley, to secure a 14-13 win, and a trip to the 1A state championship game. It was Coach Lepper’s 200th victory, and an even more memorable moment.
The Pioneers jumped out to a hot start when sophomore Colton Lentz blocked a Mount Baker punt on the sixth play of the game. He then scored the first touchdown of the game five plays later, as he followed a Duke Halaapiapi block and darted into the end zone for his 18th rushing touchdown of the season, the fifth most in school history.
Jorgen Vigre’s kick made it an early 7-0 Pioneer lead.
The Mounties countered with a 15-play 76-yard drive that took the rest of the first quarter, with senior running back Marcques George plowing into the end zone on a 1-yard touchdown run on the first play of the second quarter. Tanyen Staton’s kick tied the game at 7-7 with 11:56 left until halftime.
After trading possessions multiple times, the Pioneers got the ball back on their own 22-yard line with 1:22 left in the half.
Nooksack Valley sophomore wide receiver Evan Bravo took a fly-sweep handoff and raced 36 yards down his own sideline, to get the ball into Mount Baker territory. Three plays later junior quarterback threw a quick hitch route to his left side, it was caught by senior receiver Bennett DeLange who broke a tackle, ducked away from a second defender, cut inside the elude a third defender and sprinted the rest of the way to score a 47-yard touchdown with 35 seconds to go until halftime. The extra point was missed, and the Pioneers led 13-7 at the half.
Powerful winds, and even more powerful defensive play by both teams, caused football to be played between the 20-yard lines in the third quarter, as neither team was able to put up any points heading into the final 12 minutes of the game.
But, when Pioneer senior punter Shon Visser boomed a 53-yard punt into the end zone with 11:06 left in the game, the Mountaineers were about to embark on their most important drive in recent memory.
After two run plays, senior quarterback Landon Smith kept the ball on 3rd-and-6, and just got enough yardage to keep the drive alive. Three plays later it was George who gained 13 yards to bring the ball across the 50-yard line. The Pioneers held Mount Baker to just two yards on the next three plays, and the Mountaineers were then faced with a 4th-and-8 at the Nooksack Valley 47-yard line, and Coach Lepper called for a timeout.
Deciding to go for it, going against the dominant wind, the run-heavy Mounties opted for a play-action pass and Smith completed the pass to George for 12 yards, and a first down.
Moments later, Smith put his head down and pushed behind his offensive line for a 5-yard gain on 3rd-and-3, which brought Mount Baker to the 13-yard line. The next two running plays netted 7 yards, and Baker once again had a 3rd-and-3 opportunity. Smith handed to senior Wilhem Maloley who followed his blockers, but he was immediately met in the hole by junior John Stremler who brought Maloley down for no gain with 59 seconds to go in the game.
Mount Baker lined up with its season on the line on 4th-and-3, and proceeded to pick up the first down with Smith powering the ball up the middle for a four yard gain. Baker ran the same play once again, and Smith was tackled at the 1-yard line with 29 seconds to go, prompting Coach Lepper to call a timeout.
“I just went out there, and asked the kids what they wanted to run,” Lepper said. “They wanted to run the same play a third time in a row. They deserved the right to call the play in that moment.”
It was ran a third time in a row, this time from the 1-yard line, and this time for a touchdown. It was the exclamation mark on a drive that went 80 yards, lasted almost 11 minutes over an astounding 20 plays from scrimmage.
Now, with 26 seconds remaining in the game, Staton was about to kick the biggest extra point of his career, against perhaps the strongest wind in his career. The junior booted it through the upright and Baker took the 14-13 lead.
Staton’s ensuing kickoff into the wind was short, and handled by DeLange who proceeded to bring the ball to the Pioneer 48-yard line. Brown then called his own number and quickly gained 10 yards around right end before stepping out of bounds to stop the clock. Brown followed that up with a quick strike to junior Jackson Bennett who also gained 10 yards, and another first down.
Still not quite yet in field goal range, Brown threw a bullet over the middle to senior Ryan Hughes who gained 20 yards before being tackled at the 12-yard line with two seconds left in the game, and the Pioneers called a timeout to set up the 29-yard field goal. The multitude of fans on both sides knew that make or miss, they had just witnessed one of the best high school football games they had ever seen, and when Moa’s right hand blocked the football, and Brady West fell on it, the game was over.
The Mountaineers (8-4) will face top-ranked Royal (11-1) at Harry Lang Stadium in Lakewood, just south of Tacoma at noon on Saturday for the 1A State Championship.
Mount Baker 14 Nooksack Valley 13 NV 7 6 0 0 - 13 MB 0 7 0 7 - 14 NV - Lentz 4 run (Vigre kick) MB - George 1 run (Staton kick) NV - DeLange 47 pass from Brown (kick failed) MB - Smith 1 run (Staton kick)
NV MB 29-133 Rush Att-Yards 51-223 6-8-0 Comp-Att-Int 3-10-0 87 Passing Yards 25 Individual Leaders RUSHING - NV: Lentz 19-80, Bravo 1-36, Brown 8-12, Bennett 1-5. MB: W. Maloley 16-80, George 21-71, Smith 12-56, West 1-9, Hanstead 1-7. PASSING - NV: Brown 6-8-0-87. MB: Smith 3-10-0-25. RECEIVING - NV: Bennett 3-18, DeLange 1-47, Hughes 1-20, Bravo 1-2. MB: George 2-20, Hanstead 1-5.
