NOOKSACK – Since losing to Mount Baker in the first game of the season, it’s been nothing but nail-biters. Every game has come down to the very end, but the Pioneers made sure this one was going to be handled differently as they defeated Oak Harbor 43-22 at Sid Lambert Field on Tuesday night.
Senior quarterback Cody Coppinger had another big game on the ground, rushing for a team-high 134 yards on 14 carries, but it was also his biggest passing game of the year, as he completed 7-of-12 passes for 103 yards and another score.
The scoring started early when Coppinger connected on an 8-yard touchdown pass with junior Caleb Kingma in the first quarter. Kingma led his team in receiving with five receptions for 58 yards.
From there, it was the two-headed running attack of running backs Jordan Silva and Scout Whittern. They each scored long rushing touchdowns in the second quarter, and Nooksack Valley enjoyed a 21-0 lead at halftime.
Coppinger scored a touchdown on the ground to begin the third quarter, and freshman back up quarterback Joey Brown completed his first varsity touchdown pass, a 10-yarder to Silva.
Down 36-0, the Wildcats began to air it out, and scored the next three touchdowns of the game through the air.
Silva scored his third, and final, touchdown of the game from 14 yards out in the fourth quarter. He finished with 100 yards rushing on 16 carries, and Whittern ran the ball 12 times for 76 yards.
The offensive line of Liam Coppinger, Duke Halaapiapi, Alex Clawson, Gerrit Bruland and Nick Dykstra paved the way for 310 total rushing yards.
Defensively, the Pioneers got quarterback sacks from junior linebackers Jet Triplett and Dawson Kimball, as well as fumble recoveries from Kingma and Dykstra. Triplett finished with a game-high 14 tackles.
Nooksack Valley (2-3) will travel to Bellingham (2-2) to face the Red Raiders at 1:00 on Saturday afternoon to close out the season.
Oak Harbor 22
Nooksack Valley 43
OH 0 0 8 14 – 22
NV 7 14 15 7 – 43
NV – Kingma 8 pass from C. Coppinger (Johnson kick)
NV – Silva 19 run (Johnson kick)
NV – Whittern 17 run (Johnson kick)
NV – C. Coppinger 9 run (Kingma pass from Kimball)
NV – Silva 10 pass from Brown (Johnson kick)
OH – 8 yard touchdown pass (run good)
OH – 49 yard touchdown pass (pass failed)
OH – 66 yard touchdown pass (pass good)
NV – Silva 14 run (Johnson kick)
OH NV
31-91 Rushing Att-Yards 42-310
13-20-0 Comp-Att-Int 9-19-0
237 Passing yards 128
Individual Leaders
RUSHING – OH: N/A. NV: C. Coppinger 14-134, Silva 16-100, Whittern 12-76.
PASSING – OH: N/A. NV: C. Coppinger 7-12-0-103, Brown 2-7-0-25.
RECEIVING – OH: N/A. NV: Kingma 5-58, Silva 2-25, C. Brower 1-31, Kimball 1-14.
