NOOKSACK – When Sehome running back Dawson Smith was tackled near the goaline with the last few seconds ticking off, panic ensued. Was it a touchdown? Was he down? Officials hadn’t signaled either way. They didn’t give him the score, and the Mariners weren’t able to run another play as the time ran out, which sealed the 28-21 victory for Nooksack Valley at Sid Lambert Field on Friday night.
The Pioneers got off to a great start offensively when Austin O’Bryan hit his 6-foot-3 225-pound junior tight end Ryan Veening in the end zone from 13 yards out in the first quarter. Both O’Bryan and Veening had big games. O’Bryan completed 20-of-33 passes for 237 yards, with Veening catching five of those passes for 73 yards. Coach Robb Myhre was impressed by his senior quarterback.
“That was a really nice job by a darn good football player,” Myhre said in a phone interview. “He’s one of those gritty kids that was just born to play football. He makes plays when plays need to be made.”
O’Bryan didn’t only impress through the air, he also ran for 152 yards and two touchdowns. Senior wide receiver Ty Rawls caught his first varsity touchdown pass in the second quarter on a 20-yard corner pattern to make it 14-0.
Sehome would counter with when sophomore southpaw quarterback Jacob Kaepernick through a 5-yard quick-out to senior Brett Meggyesy, who quickly was able to get into the end zone. But, with less than two minutes remaining in the half, the Pioneers put together an impressive drive once again. O’Bryan sprinted around his offensive tackle and gained 24
yards. He then found senior Evan Neitling on a deep pass that covered 47 yards, which got the purple and white to the Sehome 5-yard line where O’Bryan ran it in to give his squad a 21-7 halftime lead.
“Evan became our go-to guy once Baylor (Galley) got hurt,” said Myhre. “We needed him to take the load off of Austin, and he did that.”
Neitling finished with eight receptions for 110 yards. Galley injured his foot early in the game, and the severity is still unknown.
After O’Bryan’s second rushing touchdown of the game made it 28-7 in the third quarter, the Mariners would start to rally. Sophomore defensive back Tim Malo had a key interception and fumble recovery to help keep Sehome’s chances alive. Kaepernick connected on a quick swing pass to senior running back Dylan Roberts, and Roberts did the rest, motoring 47 yards for a touchdown. Roberts would score again in the fourth quarter. He led the Mariners on the ground with 59 yards on 16 carries.
Coach Myhre also praised the play of senior defensive back Halston Boersema. He filled in for the injured Galley, and he had a fumble recovery and a late interception.
Sehome 21
Nooksack Valley 28
Seh. 0 7 7 7 – 21
NV 7 14 7 0 – 28
NV – Veening 13 pass from O’Bryan (Conner kick)
NV – Rawls 20 pass from O’Bryan (Conner kick)
Seh. – Meggyesy 5 pass from Kaepernick (Nelson kick)
NV – O’Bryan 5 run (Conner kick)
NV – O’Bryan 10 run (Conner kick)
Seh. – D. Roberts 47 pass from Kaepernick (Nelson kick)
Seh. – D. Roberts 2 run (F. Arreola-Martinez kick)
SE NV
Rushing Att-Yards 23-75 37-189
Comp-Att-Int 23-36-1 20-33-2
Passing yards 239 237
Individual Leaders
RUSHING – SE: D. Roberts 16-59, Smith 4-11, Dorsch 1-9, Kaepernick 2-(-4). NV: O’Bryan 21-152, Eldridge 11-32, Neitling 4-14, Whittern 1-(-9) .
PASSING –SE: Kaepernick 23-36-1-239. NV: O’Bryan 20-33-2-237.
RECEIVING – SE: A. Roberts 6-77, McClin 6-47, Meggyesy 4-43, D. Roberts 3-45, Nelson 2-20, Malo 1-7. NV: Neitling 8-110, Veening 5-73, Rawls 3-29, Whittern 2-17, Eldridge 1-3, Galley 1-2.
