NOOKSACK – What a finish…. what a game. What a season it could turn out to be for the Nooksack Valley Pioneers.
After playing evenly with 3A power Mountain View for three and a half quarters, and leading 7-6, the Thunder put together a strong 7-play drive that culminated with a 2-yard touchdown run with 3:28 left in the game. The capper being a converted two-point conversion, which put Mountain View up 14-7.
Pioneer junior Jackson Bennett returned the ensuing kickoff to near midfield, helping Nooksack’s chances, but a holding call behind the play brought the ball back to the Pioneer 15-yard line.
What happened next will be talked about in the Valley for decades to come.
Sophomore running back Colton Lentz took the handoff, and saw some daylight off the right side, following Duke Halaapiapi’s lead block. The rest was a mastery of speed, balance, agility and power.
The 195-pounder quickly kicked to the outside, eluding a tackler. He then cut up field and hurdled another tackle attempt, which turned into a sudden stiff-arm onto another defender just as he landed back to Earth. He then turned on the jets, and sprinted down the Pioneer sideline, and made one last quick move to his left, and finally scored.
Nooksack Valley elected to kick the extra point to tie the game, but a penalty allowed the Pioneers to move the ball up a yard and half closer to the goal line. The decision was then made to go for two, and ultimately the win.
Junior quarterback Joey Brown took the shotgun snap alone in the backfield, faked the handoff to Cory Olney who was in motion, and dove toward the end zone. This was it, this would decide the game, and ultimately the referee’s arms went up signaling a positive conversion.
It wasn’t over for the Thunder quite yet. They drove down the field quite comfortably, but stalled inside the 10-yard line. A quarterback sack by junior defensive tackle Dalton Hickey with under 30 seconds to go made the decision an easy one. A timeout was called, and the Thunder got lined up for a game-winning field goal attempt with four seconds remaining.
Nooksack Valley then called timeout, to give the Thunder kicker a little more time to think about it.
Lined up right between the hashes, from 27 yards out, the snap finally came back, and the kick was plenty strong. As a matter of fact, the ball was still moving up as it approached the goal posts, but he just hooked it to the left, and the Pioneers walked away with the win.
Lentz finished the game with a team-high 138 yards rushing on 14 carries. Olney added 52 yards on the ground on 15 carries. Junior running back Skyler Whittern scored on a 10-yard touchdown run in the third quarter.
Brown was on point all evening, completing 9-of-12 passes, to seven different receivers, with Bennett and sophomore Evan Bravo each catching two.
Junior defensive end John Stremler led the defense with seven tackles and a forced fumble, while Hickey, Brady Ackerman and Daemion Perez each had a quarterback sack.
Nooksack Valley (1-0) will travel to Connell on Saturday to take on the Eagles at 1:00.
Mountain View 14 Nooksack Valley 15 MV 6 0 0 8 - 14 NV 0 0 7 8 - 15 MV - Nicholson 16 pass from Johnson (kick failed) NV - Whittern 10 run (Vigre kick) MV - Drake 2 run (Thompson run) NV - Lentz 85 run (Brown run) MV NV 31-141 Rush Att-Yards 46-213 10-18-2 Comp-Att-Int 9-12-0 97 Passing Yards 64 Individual Leaders RUSHING - MV: N/A. NV: Lentz 14-138, Olney 15-52, Brown 12-15, Whittern 5-8. PASSING - MV: N/A. NV: Brown 9-12-0-64. RECEIVING - MV: N/A. NV: Bravo 2-24, Bennett 2-20, Olney 1-6, Hughes 1-6, Lentz 1-4, Whittern 1-4, Newton 1-0.
