VANCOUVER – Nooksack Valley piled up nearly 500 yards of offense on its way to a 35-21 victory over 3A Mountain View on Friday afternoon at McKenzie Stadium.
The Pioneers followed the big guys up front, Brady Ackerman, Duke Halaapiapi, Cian Coppinger, John Stremler and Dalton Hickey to put up 404 of those yards on the ground.
After forcing a three-and-out to start the game, Nooksack Valley drove 84 yards on 11 plays to score the first touchdown of the game, a 2-yard run by junior Colton Lentz who followed a blasting kick-out block by Halaapiapi.
The Thunder struck back quickly, though, by returning the ensuing kickoff to the Pioneer 29-yard line. Two plays later, Mountain View scored on a 27-yard touchdown pass.
The Thunder gained the lead a few minutes later on a 42-yard touchdown run, but Nooskack Valley took over from there on out.
Lentz scored two more rushing touchdowns on short runs, behind seven offensive lineman (with Brock Lankhaar, Lance VanBerkum and Adlei Whitworth joining up front) and Stremler lined up at fullback, and the Pioneers held a 21-14 lead at halftime.
Lentz finished with 97 yards rushing on 15 carries.
Following a scoreless third quarter, Nooskack Valley junior cornerback Evan Bravo kicked off the final period by intercepting a pass near midfield. Seven plays later, senior quarterback Joey Brown used a tremendous individual effort to get into the end zone from 17 yards out.
Mountain View wasn’t finished, and scored its final touchdown of the game on a deep pass and catch that covered 65 yards. The Thunder were effective through the air all game, as they passed for 291 yards.
The Pioneers countered with their largest gain of the afternoon when Brown called his own number once again and outsprinted everyone for a 67-yard touchdown run. He finished with a career-high 181 yards on 16 carries.
Defensively, Nooksack Valley was led in tackles by Lentz with seven, including a tackle for loss. Ackerman had back-to-back quarterback sacks in the second quarter, and senior cornerback Wayne Silves broke up three passes.
The Pioneers (1-0) will be home on Friday to take on Connell (0-1) at 7:00.
Nooksack Valley 35 Mountain View 21 NV 7 14 0 14 - 35 MV 14 0 0 7 - 21 NV - Lentz 2 run (Vigre kick) MV - 27 yard touchdown pass (kick good) MV - 42 yard touchdown run (kick good) NV - Lentz 3 run (Vigre kick) NV - Lentz 1 run (Vigre kick) NV - Brown 17 run (Vigre kick) MV - 65 yard touchdown pass (kick good) NV - Brown 67 run (Vigre kick) NV MV 52-404 Rush Att-Yards 24-93 8-11-0 Comp-Att-Int 14-25-1 79 Passing Yards 291 Individual Leaders RUSHING - NV: J. Brown 16-181, Lentz 15-97, Whittern 12-68, Bennett 5-39, Olney 4-19. MV: N/A. PASSING - NV: J. Brown 8-11-0-79. MV: N/A. RECEIVING - NV: Bravo 3-23, Silves 2-44, Bennett 1-6, Whittern 1-3, Kamphouse 1-3. MV: N/A.
