BLAINE – Mount Baker rushed for over 400 yards, and outpowered Blaine as the Mountianeers defeated the Borderites 49-14 on Friday night.
The formula was simple, and it hasn’t changed in years, as Mount Baker’s power running inside, counter running off-tackle and speedy misdirection runs were in full force which complimented the running styles of the Mounties’ three star backs.
In fact, all three of them rushed for over 100 yards in the contest.
Senior fullback Toby Jefferson supplied the power inside, and after an early fumble, he got on track and finished with 109 tough yards up the middle. He also led his team with three touchdowns.
Junior halfback Jesse Sande slashed his way on counter runs to pick up a personal-best 110 yards rushing on 15 carries. However, neither of these backs led the team in rushing as it was the speedy senior wing back Ayden Rodriguez who needed just five carries to rack up 119 yards on the ground. Two of his five carries went for touchdowns.
Mount Baker went into halftime with a 26-0 lead, and it looked like more rushing would be in the cards.
Late in the third quarter, Mount Baker quarterback Mason Jacoby threw an absolute strike to Garrett Smith. Smith then made a quick spin back to the outside and then outran the Borderite defenders on his way to a 75-yard touchdown.
Blaine began to move the ball more frequently at the end of the third quarter and senior quarterback Will McKinney connected on a beautiful fade pass in the corner of the end zone with fellow senior Benjamin Arps. It was Arps’ first ever varsity touchdowns, and McKinney became the third player in school history to throw a touchdown pass in each of his four years of varsity football. Caleb Luehmann and Nathan Kramme were the first two.
Speaking of first varsity touchdowns, on the very next play from scrimmage, Mount Baker senior fullback Phil Paez took a handoff and sprinted 81 yards for a score. Paez, mostly known for his exploits on the defensive line (10 sacks last season), showed tremendous burst through the line of scrimmage.
When senior Wyatt Thomas booted the extra point, he may have become the first player in school history to make an extra point, miss an extra point and block an extra point all in the same game… but I have a little more research to do.
“I’d say that we have to have the biggest kicking crew in the state of Washington,” Mount Baker coach Ron Lepper said during a phone call, referring to his place-kicker Thomas (294 lbs), his punter Aidan Corning (281 lbs) and his kickoff specialist Joel Robles (252 lbs). “That’s 827 pounds, on the hook. In fact, we challenge every other team in the nation.”
Blaine junior running back Gabe Cranford scored from a yard out in the final minute of the game, and he went on to lead the Borderites on the ground with 36 yards on nine carries. Junior wide receiver Jaxon Kortlever also had an incredible game with six receptions for 102 yards. It was the first 100-plus yard receiving game for Blaine since 2018 when Chase Abshere did it against Anacortes.
Mount Baker was led defensively by Paez who had 5.5 tackles, two tackles for loss, one sack and a pass deflection. Junior linebacker Davin Beason also contributed with 5.5 tackles, two tackles for loss and an interception.
Borderite junior linebacker Spencer Dalry led his team with nine tackles. He also had a forced fumble.
The Mountaineers (2-0) will travel to Bishop Blanchet on Friday, and Blaine (0-2) will host Bellingham (0-2) on Friday. Both games will be at 7:00.
Blaine 14
Mount Baker 49
BLA 0 0 6 8 – 14
MB 6 20 16 7 – 49
MB – Jefferson 4 run (pass failed)
MB – Jefferson 23 run (bad snap)
MB – Rodriguez 18 run (Sande run)
MB – Rodriguez 36 run (kick failed)
MB – Jefferson 19 run (Rodriguez run)
MB – G. Smith 75 pass from Jacoby (Rodriguez pass from Jacoby)
BLA – Arps 5 pass from McKinney (kick blocked)
MB – Paez 81 run (Thomas kick)
BLA – Cranford 1 run (Stanovich pass from Thomas)
BLA MB
26-54 Rushing Att-Yards 39-432
9-22-1 Comp-Att-Int 4-9-0
121 Passing yards 125
Individual Leaders
RUSHING – BLA: Cranford 9-36, Dixon 5-16, Blomeen 7-10, McKinney 4-(-3), Thomas 1-(-5). MB: Rodriguez 5-119, Sande 15-110, Jefferson 15-109, Paez 1-81, Jacoby 2-9, West 1-4.
PASSING – BLA: McKinney 6-18-1-70, Thomas 3-4-0-51. MB: Jacoby 4-9-0-125.
RECEIVING – BLA: Kortlever 6-102, Arps 2-13, Stanovich 1-6. MB: G. Smith 2-96, Lee 1-19, Rodriguez 1-10.
