MEAD – The Nooksack Valley football team had reached the semifinals of the state tournament just three times in school history, but had never come out on top. In this, the fourth try, the Pioneers stretched the game into overtime, but ultimately lost to Lakeside-Nine Mile Falls 24-23 at Union Stadium on Saturday afternoon.
Nooksack Valley began the game strong with a quarterback sack by junior defensive end Brady Ackerman on the first play from scrimmage, and ultimately forced the Eagles to punt after three plays. The Pioneers then drove down the field and score the first touchdown of the game on a 4-yard run by 255-pound senior John Stremler.
Lakeside answered with a 25-yard field goal early in the second quarter.
Jorgen Vigre, the Nooksack Valley senior kicker, then gave the Pioneers a touchdown-lead with a career-long 39-yard field goal.
The Eagles had trouble moving the ball on their next possession and ultimately had a pass intercepted by junior safety Cory Olney at midfield. Moments later Olney caught a pass over the middle from senior Joey Brown on a mesh-play, and scored from nine yards out.
Vigre’s extra points gave the Pioneers a 17-7 lead with 1:58 left until halftime. Olney’s big plays on both sides of the ball were huge moments, and they were moments that Olney wasn’t able to obtain last year in the semifinals, due to a hamstring injury.
Lakeside struck quickly, and landed a few long pass plays, including a 23-yarder for a touchdown with 1:06 left in the second quarter.
The Eagles almost scored one last time before the half, on a 51-yard field goal try, but it was wide left and Nooksack Valley held a 17-10 lead at the break.
A fake punt halfway through the third quarter near midfield by Lakeside gave the Eagles 28 yards, a first down and some much needed momentum. They went on to score on a 5-yard touchdown run later in the drive, which tied the game at 17-17 with 2:19 left in the third quarter.
Despite big plays, including a 33-yard run by senior Skyler Whittern and a 43-yard carry by Stremler, both defenses played their hearts out in the fourth quarter, and the score remained at 17-17 until the end of regulation.
The Pioneers had the first possession in overtime, and after two Colton Lentz runs totaled 25 yards, Nooksack Valley took a 23-17 lead. The crucial extra point was wide, which kept the door open for Lakeside to possibly secure a victory in the first overtime period.
Lentz finished the contest with a game-high 136 yards on 27 carries.
The Eagles gained just a few yards on their first two plays from the 25-yard line, which set up a 3rd-and-7 situation. Lakeside went for it all down the right sideline and the ball fell incomplete, but a pass-interference penalty nullified the incompletion and brought the ball half the distance to the goal, the 11-yard line.
On first down, the Eagles completed an 11-yard touchdown pass, and hit the extra point to win the game.
The Pioneers finished their season with a record of 9-3.
Lakeside-NMF 24 Nooksack Valley 23 NV 7 10 0 0 6 - 23 LAK 0 10 7 0 7 - 24 NV - Stremler 4 run (Vigre kick) LAK - 25 yard field goal NV - Vigre 39 FG NV - Olney 9 pass from Brown (Vigre kick) LAK - 23 yard touchdown pass (kick good) LAK - 5 yard touchdown run (kick failed) NV - Lentz 14 run (kick failed) LAK - 11 yard touchdown pass (kick good) NV LAK 49-270 Rush Att-Yards 25-77 9-19-1 Comp-Att-Int 14-23-1 93 Passing Yards 196 Individual Leaders RUSHING - NV: Lentz 27-136, Whittern 11-63, Stremler 2-47, Brown 9-24. LAK: N/A. PASSING - NV: Brown 9-19-1-93. LAK: N/A. RECEIVING - NV: Olney 4-28, Bravo 2-27, Bauman 1-29, Newton 1-7, Bennett 1-2. LAK: N/A.
