DEMING – It was an old-fashioned contest of pass versus run. The Mount Baker defense forced 26 incompletions, and then turned it around by rushing for nearly 300 yards on its way to a 28-10 victory over Sehome at Bob Tisdale Field on Friday night.
The Mariner ground game couldn’t get much going, so the air attack struck early on. Sehome’s first drive of the game looked good, with a pair of completions to both Tim Malo and Melloy Nelson, and the 12-play 70-yard drive culminated with a 25-yard field goal by Nelson.
Baker used punishing inside running on its first drive, but ultimately went to the air on 2nd-and-9 on a deep post pattern from Mason Jacoby to Ayden “Chi Chi” Rodriguez that went for a 43-yard touchdown.
The Mariners used their intermediate passing game to collect first downs on their following possession, as they drove 80 yards in 18 plays with Kaepernick scoring on a 1-yard keeper. Kaepernick also completed 5-of-9 passes on the drive before scoring his second rushing touchdown of the season.
When Sehome linebacker Dawson Smith stopped Jason Lee four yards short of a first down on 3rd-and-6, it forced the Mountaineers to punt for their only time of the game. Lee’s punt was a beauty that was downed at the Mariner 7-yard line, and that was when Mount Baker defensive coordinator Tom Horsmon turned his dogs loose.
Senior defensive end Kris Flowers and junior defensive tackle Phil Paez combined for a sack. An offsides penalty helped Sehome get some of those yards back, but on third down, junior defensive end Garrett Smith ripped around the right tackle to bring down Kaepernick for a sack at the 2-yard line. Nelson was backed up inside his own end zone to punt, but the snap went over his head for a safety. Baker would pour it on after that.
Rodriguez scored from 10-yards out with just 20 seconds left in the first half, which gave Mount Baker a 15-10 lead. Baker’s defense would bend, but not break, in the second half, by allowing a handful of completions but not allowing any more points.
Rodriguez scored his third touchdown of the game in the third quarter on a 50-yard misdirection play, and Lee dove in for a touchdown from a yard out in the fourth quarter.
Kaepernick completed 19-of-45 passes for 226 yards, with his main target being Malo who had a game-high nine receptions for 106 yards. Malo also had an interception return for 29 yards and he was in on 13 tackles.
The Mountaineers (2-0) will travel to Cascade (2-0) on Friday, and the Mariners (1-1) will host Centralia on Saturday at 1:00.
Sehome 10
Mount Baker 28
SEH 3 7 0 0 – 10
MB 7 8 7 6 – 28
SE – Nelson 25 FG
MB – Rodriguez 43 pass from Jacoby (Zavala kick)
SE – Kaepernick 1 run (Nelson kick)
MB – Safety, ball snapped over punter’s head
MB – Rodriguez 10 run (pass failed)
MB – Rodriguez 50 run (Zavala kick)
MB – Lee 1 run (kick blocked)
SEH MB
23-29 Rushing Att-Yards 40-299
19-45-0 Comp-Att-Int 3-11-1
226 Passing yards 51
Individual Leaders
RUSHING – SE: Nelson 1-20, Dorsch 2-9, Smith 7-4, Neff 1-2, Kaepernick 12-(-6). MB: Rodriguez 6-107, Jefferson 17-89, Lee 11-80, Jacoby 4-17, Tikhonov 2-6.
PASSING – SE: Kaepernick 19-45-0-226. MB: Jacoby 3-11-1-51.
RECEIVING – SE: Malo 9-106, Nelson 3-49, Ryan 2-14, I. Evans 1-30, L. Evans 1-12, Dorsch 1-10, Arreola 1-9, Smith 1-(-4). MB: Rodriguez 1-43, Kentner 1-5, Jefferson 1-3.
