BELLINGHAM – The Bellingham football team jumped out to a big lead, and then held on in the second half to defeat Nooksack Valley 30-12 at Civic Stadium on Saturday.
The Red Raiders scored a safety just a few plays into the game when junior Alex Breeding and sophomore Adrian Sanchez combined to tackle Pioneer running back Jordan Silva in the end zone. Bellingham followed that up with a quick touchdown by senior quarterback Trevor Johnson, who scored a tackle-breaking 8-yard touchdown.
The Pioneers came back with a strong drive, but a fumble at the Bellingham 1-yard line ended the Pioneer scoring possibility and Red Raider junior defensive lineman Nathaniel Gass recovered the ball in the end zone for a touchback. Johnson then hit junior wide receiver Johnny Twedt on an 80-yard bomb for a touchdown on the following play.
Johnson’s second touchdown run of the game came in the second quarter, and Bellingham enjoyed a 23-0 halftime lead.
The third quarter was all Nooksack Valley, as the Pioneer passing game began to take shape. Senior quarterback tossed touchdown passes to seniors Colten Brower and Scout Whittern, but those were they only scoring plays Nooksack Valley would be able to come up with in the contest.
Coppinger completed 14-of-27 passes for 178 yards. He also rushed for 98 yards, had a 38 yard reception and intercepted a pass on defense. Silva led the Pioneers on the ground with 104 yards on 18 carries.
Johnson scored his final touchdown of the game from four yards out late in the fourth quarter after Bellingham was able to turn the Pioneers over on downs. He completed 12-of-24 passes for 260 yards, while rushing for 59 yards and catching a pass for 16 yards.
Defensively, the Red Raiders were led by Johnson who had 11.5 tackles, one tackle for loss and a fumble recovery, and it was this first significant playing time on defense. Junior linebacker Daniel Reyes contributed with 11.5 tackles as well, as Breeding had 6.5 tackles, 1.5 tackles for loss and a half of a sack, while senior Marcus McColl had seven tackles, one sack and one pass deflection.
Nooksack Valley senior Alex Clawson and freshman John Stremler each had 6.5 tackles, one tackle for loss and one sack.
Bellingham was able to end the season with a winning record of 3-2, and the Pioneers finished with a 2-4 record.
Nooksack Valley 12
Bellingham 30
NV 0 0 12 0 – 12
BEL 16 7 0 7 – 30
BEL – Safety, Breeding and Sanchez combine for tackle in the end zone
BEL – Johnson 8 run (Johnson kick)
BEL – Twedt 80 pass from Johnson (Johnson kick)
BEL – Johnson 2 run (Johnson kick)
NV – C. Brower 14 pass from C. Coppinger (pass failed)
NV – Whittern 35 pass from C. Coppinger (run failed)
BEL – Johnson 4 run (Johnson kick)
NV BEL
42-252 Rushing Att-Yards 29-78
15-31-0 Comp-Att-Int 13-25-2
216 Passing yards 276
Individual Leaders
RUSHING – NV: Silva 18-104, C. Coppinger 19-98, Whittern 5-50. BEL: Johnson 22-59, DePalma 3-15, Twedt 2-5, Quinlan 2-(-1).
PASSING – NV: C. Coppinger 14-27-0-178, Brown 1-4-0-38. BEL: Johnson 12-24-2-260, DePalma 1-1-0-16.
RECEIVING – NV: Kimball 4-44, Whittern 3-62, C. Brower 3-26, Silva 2-25, Kingma 2-21, C. Coppinger 1-38 . BEL: DePalma 5-91, K. McColl 4-76, Twedt 2-82, Johnson 1-16, M. McColl 1-11.
