BELLINGHAM – After a brief 7-7 tie a few minutes into the game, it was all Nooksack Valley. The Pioneers scored the next eight touchdowns of the nights on their way to a 65-14 win over the Trojans at Meridian High School on Friday night.
Nooksack Valley junior running back Colton Lentz scored three of his four rushing touchdowns in the first quarter, and finished with a game-high 163 yards rushing on 15 carries.
Senior running back Skyler Whittern took his first carry of the game 68 yards for a touchdown, and he also eclipsed the 100-yard mark for the second week in a row as he finished with 108 yards on the ground on just six carries.
It was all Pioneers, who went into halftime with a 51-7 lead as well as 406 yards of offense, while giving up just 65 yards to that point, and 53 of them came on a touchdown pass from Jaeger Fyfe to Landen Downey.
The Nooksack Valley offensive line, which consisted of Brady Ackerman, Duke Halaapiapi, Cian Coppinger, John Stremler and Dalton Hickey opened up huge holes all evening, and they were accompanied by offensive linemen Brock Lankhaar, Adlei Whitworth and Lance Van Berkum when they went into the “jumbo” set.
Senior quarterback Joey Brown completed 7-of-8 passes for 135 yards and two touchdowns, which were caught be senior Jackson Bennett and junior Evan Bravo.
Junior running back Cameron O’Bryan finished off the scoring for the Pioneers with a 32-yard touchdown run in the fourth quarter.
Fyfe, who was sacked four times, weathered the storm to complete 15-of-23 passes for 162 yards and two touchdowns for the Trojans. One going to Downey and the other at the end of the game to freshman Kasey Brennan.
Defensively, Bennett led Nooksack Valley with six tackles, including two behind the line of scrimmage. Coppinger also had two stops for a loss, while Hickey and Ackerman each picked up two quarterback sacks. Hickey’s second sack of the contest resulted in a safety for Nooksack Valley.
Meridian was led defensively by senior cornerback Taylor Sharp who had a team-high eight tackles.
The Pioneers (4-1) will host Lynden Christian (2-2) on Friday, while the Trojans (3-2) will travel to Blaine (1-4) to take on the Borderites. Both games are at 7:00.
Nooksack Valley 65 Meridian 14 NV 35 16 7 7 - 65 MER 7 0 0 7 - 14 NV - Lentz 12 run (Vigre kick) MER - Downey 53 pass from Fyfe (Downey kick) NV - Lentz 44 run (Vigre kick) NV - Whittern 68 run (Vigre kick) NV - Lentz 1 run (Vigre kick) NV - Bravo 21 pass from J. Brown (Vigre kick) NV - Safety, Hickey sacked Fyfe in end zone NV - J. Brown 6 run (Vigre kick) NV - Lentz 2 run (Vigre kick) NV - Bennett 14 pass from J. Brown (Vigre kick) NV - O'Bryan 32 run (Vigre kick) MER - Brennan 14 pass from Fyfe (Downey kick) NV MER 34-398 Rush Att-Yards 20-(-12) 7-8-0 Comp-Att-Int 15-23-0 135 Passing Yards 162 Individual Leaders RUSHING - NV: Lentz 15-163, Whittern 6-108, O'Bryan 1-32, Olney 2-31, J. Brown 5-28, Huante 2-16, Bennett 1-15, Moua 1-3, Hester 1-1. MER: Downey 6-12, Gray 2-1, Elmer 2-0, Haugen 1-(-7), Fyfe 9-(-18). PASSING - NV: J. Brown 7-8-0-135. MER: Fyfe 15-23-0-162. RECEIVING - NV: Bravo 3-36, Bennett 2-48, Olney 1-42, Silves 1-9. MER: Elmer 4-28, Downey 3-60, Brennan 3-40, Fuller 3-19, Hedahl 1-13, Gray 1-2.
