BELLINGHAM – Last season’s matchup between these rivals was a tightly contested 17-10 win by Meridian that came down to the wire. Friday night’s matchup was anything but close, as Nooksack Valley overwhelmed the Trojans 54-6 at Meridian High School.
The Pioneer offense was on all game, especially the rushing attack. Senior running back Jordan Silva used his superb speed and strength to amass a career-high 180 yards rushing on 13 carries. He also scored three touchdowns, two on the ground and one through the air.
Sophomore quarterback Joey Brown also had a big game on the ground, with 94 yards rushing on 11 carries, while scoring the game’s first two touchdowns. He also threw three touchdown passes.
The Nooksack Valley defense was incredibly strong, and with senior Nick Dykstra returning to the lineup, it just made the Pioneer defensive line that much better. Dykstra, along with sophomores Dalton Hickey and Duke Halaapiapi each had a quarterback sack, and freshman defensive end Brady Ackerman picked up his first career sack.
Senior Gerrit Bruland picked up a pair of sacks and sophomore John Stremler led with 3.5 sacks. Stremler also had a team-high 7.5 tackles on the game.
Despite being under pressure for most of the game, Meridian senior quarterback Tucker Harrison completed 15-of-22 passes for 167 yards. He also scored his team’s only touchdown on a 12-yard scramble in the second quarter.
Trojan senior Josh Groen extended his Whatcom County leading sack total to 10.5, while also getting an additional tackle for loss and a forced fumble. Junior safety Hunter Jones had a game-high eight tackles.
Nooksack Valley (3-2) will host Mount Baker (2-2) on Friday night, while Meridian (3-2) will travel to Coupeville (1-3) on Saturday to take on the Wolves at 7:00.
Nooksack Valley 54 Meridian 6 NV 14 14 19 7 - 54 MER 0 6 0 0 - 6 NV - Brown 25 run (Kingma kick) NV - Brown 3 run (Kingma kick) NV - Silva 16 pass from Brown (Kingma kick) NV - Kimball 12 pass from Brown (Kingma kick) MER - Harrison 12 run (kick failed) NV - Silva 45 run (kick failed) NV - Silva 3 run (kick blocked) NV - Kingma 17 pass from Brown (Kingma kick) NV - Lentz 9 run (Kingma kick) NV MER 34-374 Rush Att-Yards 24-7 6-10-0 Comp-Att-Int 15-22-0 88 Passing Yards 167 Individual Leaders RUSHING - NV: Silva 13-180, Brown 11-94, Lentz 3-75, Bravo 5-23, Kimball 1-3, Coleman 1-(-1). MER: Elmer 4-11, Jones 2-7, Binta 2-4, Harrison 16-(-15). PASSING - NV: Brown 6-10-0-88. MER: Harrison 15-22-0-167. RECEIVING - NV: Kimball 3-34, Hughes 1-21, Kingma 1-17, Silva 1-16. MER: Johnson 4-28, Jones 3-43, Elmer 3-30, Short 2-45, Jensen 2-16, Nagra 1-5.
