NOOKSACK – The last time Mount Baker played a league game, it was at Sid Lambert Field… and they scored four touchdowns… and they shut out the Pioneers. It was the same song and dance on Saturday night when the Mountaineers defeated Nooksack Valley 26-0.
Mount Baker showed its strength both offensively and defensively, as Coach Ron Lepper’s squad returns numerous All-Conference players on both sides of the ball. In contrast, the youthful Pioneers started multiple freshmen, including Joey Brown at quarterback.
Nooksack Valley played with a lot of inspiration, however, and hung with one of the top 1A teams in the state for a while.
Mountaineer junior running back Jesse Sande started the scoring with a tackle-breaking 20-yard touchdown run in the first quarter. He finished the game with a team-high 75 yards on 14 carries.
6-foot-3 Mount Baker senior quarterback Mason Jacoby then hooked up on a deep pass to speedy senior Ayden Rodriguez for a 53-yard touchdown in the second quarter.
Late in the second quarter the Mounties made a big play on defense when junior linebacker Davin Beason dropped back in zone coverage, picked a pass off and returned it 20 yards to give his team another scoring opportunity before half time. The Nooksack defense clammed up, and forced Baker into a 4th-and-7 at the Pioneer 14-yard line.
Jacoby once again hooked up with Rodriguez, this time on a beautifully floated pass into the corner of the end zone that Rodriguez sprinted under to make the catch with five seconds left in the half. Jacoby completed 7-of-14 passes for 142 yards, and Rodriguez caught four of them for 88 yards.
214-pound senior fullback Toby Jefferson had multiple strong runs for Baker in the third quarter which culminated in a 16-yard touchdown run.
Pioneer senior Scout Whittern had team-highs with 36 receiving yards and 35 rushing yards, and senior Colten Brower led Nooksack Valley with five receptions.
To go along with his interception from the second quarter, Beason led his team with eight tackles. Mount Baker also got interceptions from Rodriguez and junior cornerback Caleb Horsmon.
Defensively for the Pioneers, junior linebacker Jet Triplett led with seven tackles, junior defensive end Nick Dykstra had two tackles for loss and a sack, and junior defensive back Jordan Silva forced two fumbles while also showing tremendous speed and instincts by virtually taking a handoff away from the Mountaineers when he snatched a quick pitch out of the air in the fourth quarter.
Mount Baker (1-0) will travel to Blaine (0-1) to take on the Borderites (0-1) on Friday at 7:00, and Nooksack Valley (0-1) will face Meridian in downtown Laurel on Friday at 7:00.
Mount Baker 26
Nooksack Valley 0
MB 7 13 6 0 – 26
NV 0 0 0 0 – 0
MB – Sande 20 run (Zavala kick)
MB – Rodriguez 53 pass from Jacoby (Zavala kick)
MB – Rodriguez 14 pass from Jacoby (kick failed)
MB – Jefferson 16 run (pass failed)
MB NV
34-193 Rushing Att-Yards 25-37
7-14-0 Comp-Att-Int 10-15-3
142 Passing yards 65
Individual Leaders
RUSHING – MB: Sande 14-75, Jefferson 7-52, W. Maloley 1-28, George 1-19, West 1-11, Rodriguez 2-7, L. Smith 2-3, Steeves 1-1, Jacoby 5-(-3). NV: Whittern 10-35, Silva 8-20, Brown 7-(-18).
PASSING – MB: Jacoby 7-14-0-142. NV: Brown 10-15-3-65.
RECEIVING – MB: Rodriguez 4-88, Sande 2-21, G. Smith 1-33. NV: C. Brower 5-21, Whittern 3-36, Silva 2-8.
Hey Tyler, Can you check your stats? Nick Dykstra made the only sack of the game for Nooksack and made between 5 and 7 tackles in that game!
I had Nick with 4 solo tackles, 2 assisted tackles, 2 tackles for loss and a sack.
And that didn’t make your highlight article??
It just did.
Thank you so much Tyler!