DEMING – It was a contest that had hard hits, prestigious pancakes, rambling runs and monumental moments. In an extremely close battle, Nooksack Valley bested Mount Baker 28-20 at Bob Tisdale Field on Friday night.
After trading three-and-outs to begin the game, the Pioneers put together a long 12-play drive on their second possession but came up empty when junior kicker Jorgen Vigre narrowly missed a 36-yard field goal attempt wide right.
The Mountaineers took advantage of the miss and drove 80 yards on seven plays, and scored the first touchdown of the game on a 2-yard run by senior Wilhem Maloley. Tanyen Staton’s extra point gave the Mounties a 7-0 lead with 2:52 left in the first quarter.
Nooksack Valley drove 78 yards on the next possession, and picked up half of them on a quick pass from Joey Brown to Jackson Bennett, and the 150-pound junior wide receiver did the rest as he sprinted 39 yards for a touchdown. After a defensive penalty on the extra point brought the ball half the distance to the goal, the Pioneers elected to go for two, but were denied, and Mount Baker held a 7-6 lead early in the second quarter.
The Mountaineers scored their second touchdown of the game eight plays later when senior Brady West dashed over the right side of his line to score from nine yards out, and Staton’s kick gave Baker a 14-6 advantage.
The Pioneers then took nearly seven minutes off the clock on the following possession, going 80 yards in 16 plays, which culminated with a powerful 4-yard touchdown run by sophomore Colton Lentz through the middle of his line. Lentz then scored the two-point conversion to tie the game at 14 with 32 seconds to go until halftime.
Mount Baker looked extremely sharp to start the second half, and marched 45 yards on six plays before senior quarterback Landon Smith found West wide open out of the backfield for a 10-yard touchdown. Staton’s extra point attempts was wide left, but Baker regained the lead at 20-14.
Nooksack Valley countered the Mounties with a similar drive of its own, and it ended with Lentz scoring his second touchdown of the day, this time on a 14-yarder up the middle following a kick-out block by junior left guard Duke Halaapiapi and a lead block by junior center Cian Coppinger.
Vigre’s extra point gave Nooksack the 21-20 lead halfway through the third quarter.
This was the moment in the game when both defenses really stepped up.
Both teams traded punts back and forth for the remaining of the third quarter, as the defensive intensity grew larger.
The Pioneers then took possession with 10:22 left in the game, following a punt, at their own 31-yard line. On the following play, Brown handed off to Lentz who bolted between right guard John Stremler and right tackle Dalton Hickey and exploded through the hole towards his team’s sidelines. It appeared that Mountie defensive backs Staton and Hayden Rosse had decent angles to slow Lentz down, but the 195-pound sophomore turned on the jets and found the end zone to give Nooksack Valley a 28-20 lead.
The Mountaineers still had plenty of time, and drove all the way to the Pioneer 9-yard line. But, on 4th-and-2, Halaapiapi sniffed out the draw play and tackled Marcques George in the backfield to turn the ball over on downs with 6:11 left in the game.
Nooksack Valley put together a strong drive, getting past midfield, but the Pioneer sideline exuded explicit verbiage when a first-down center snap sailed over the head of Brown, but was ultimately recovered by sophomore Cory Olney to bring up 2nd-and-31 at their own 49-yard line.
The Pioneers then lost eight more yards on the next few plays, which brought up a 4th-and-40, and an obvious punting situation. The Nooksack Valley punt was kicked high, but not deep, and ultimately bounced Mount Baker’s way, and resulted in a net 7-yard punt.
Mount Baker then set up shop, down by eight, at the Pioneer 42-yard line with 2:29 left in the game.
A pair of first-down runs by Maloley energized the Mountie faithful, and George’s run on first down put the ball at the Nooksack Valley 16-yard line with a 2nd-and-6 situation with a little over a minute to go.
Three incomplete passes later, the Pioneers turned Mount Baker over on downs, and they were able to run out the final 49 seconds of the contest.
Lentz finished with a career-high 199 yards rushing on 22 carries, and his counter-part, George, totaled 177 yards on the ground on 18 carries for the Mounties.
The Pioneers (6-1) are still looking for an opponent for next week after Rainier canceled on them, while Mount Baker (3-4) will travel to Meridian (4-3) to take on the Trojans at 7:00 on Friday.
Nooksack Valley 28 Mount Baker 20 NV 0 14 7 7 - 28 MB 7 7 6 0 - 20 MB - W. Maloley 2 run (Staton kick) NV - Bennett 39 pass from Brown (run failed) MB - West 9 run (Staton kick) NV - Lentz 4 run (Lentz run) MB - West 10 pass from Smith (kick failed) NV - Lentz 14 run (Vigre kick) NV - Lentz 69 run (Vigre kick) NV MB 40-250 Rush Att-Yards 37-261 12-17-0 Comp-Att-Int 5-14-0 122 Passing Yards 43 Individual Leaders RUSHING - NV: Lentz 22-199, Whittern 11-54, Brown 5-21, Olney 2-(-24). MB: George 18-177, W. Maloley 10-61, West 5-32, Smith 4-(-9). PASSING - NV: Brown 12-17-0-122. MB: Smith 5-14-0-43. RECEIVING - NV: Bennett 5-78, Olney 3-12, Hughes 2-32, Newton 1-7, Brown 1-(-7). MB: George 2-22, West 1-10, D. Moa 1-9, W. Maloley 1-2.
