BELLINGHAM – The Mariners jumped out to a 24-0 lead with 2:24 left in the second quarter, but Squalicum played them pretty even from there on out, but couldn’t come back as Sehome beat the Storm 38-20 at Civic Stadium on Friday night.
The big early lead by the Mariners was keyed by big plays from their primetime players. Senior running back Tommy Funk ripped off a first-quarter 62-yard run before being stopped at the 1-yard line. The Squalicum defense stiffened up, and Sehome had to settle for a 22-yard field goal by sophomore Grady Evans.
On the Mariners’ next possession it was a 67-yard pass from freshman Nolan Wright to sophomore Andre Watson, which brought Sehome to the 3-yard line. Wright then scored to give the Mariners a 10-0 lead.
In the second quarter, the Storm got their first break of the game when a muffed punt by Watson near midfield gave the ball back to Squalicum with great field position. But, as great players almost always do, Watson was out to redeem himself. And, it didn’t take long. As the chant of “Butterfingers” was starting to fade away from the previous play, Watson grabbed some Halloween candy of his own by intercepting the pass on the very next play and he returned it 73 yards for a touchdown. It was Watson’s second interception of the game, and his Whatcom County-leading sixth on the season.
Watson also finished the game with five receptions for a career-high 119 yards.
Funk then rumbled for a 56-yard run on Sehome’s following possession, and followed it up with a 4-yard touchdown run.
Squalicum quickly answered back with its first touchdown of the game, an 11-yard pass from junior Josh Leonard to senior tight end Bryan Sheedy with 1:07 left until halftime.
Storm senior Nick Watt then recovered the short kickoff, and Leonard’s quick-strike ability helped march his teammates into scoring position once again. He connected on a 12-yard touchdown pass to senior Jacob Sorenson with 30 seconds left until halftime. Sehome’s lead was quickly dropped to 24-14.
Funk scored two more short touchdown runs in the second half, and he finished the game with a career-high 258 yards on 19 carries. It was the sixth-highest output of rushing yards in a game in school history.
Leonard and Sorenson hooked up one more time before the final buzzer. Leonard finished with 232 yards on 16-of-35 passing. Squalicum was also playing without leading rusher Marcus Nixon who came into the game with 86% of his team’s rushing yards.
The Mariners were led defensively by senior outside linebacker Max Malo who had seven tackles and two tackles for loss. Watt was the main havoc wrecker once again for the Squalicum defense, and he had 8.5 tackles and one tackle for loss.
Sehome (5-3) will close out the regular season on Friday on the road against Lakewood (2-6) at 7:00. The Storm (4-4) will host Sedro-Woolley (6-2) on Thursday at 7:00 at Civic Stadium. It’s also very possible that Sehome’s game could get moved to Thursday night as well, in preparation for a possible tie-breaker to determine the playoffs.
Sehome 38 Squalicum 20 SQU 0 14 0 6 - 20 SEH 10 14 7 7 - 38 SEH - Evans 22 FG SEH - Wright 3 run (Evans kick) SEH - Watson 73 interception return (Evans kick) SEH - Funk 4 run (Evans kick) SQU - Sheedy 11 pass from Leonard (Sonnon kick) SQU - Sorenson 12 pass from Leonard (Sonnon kick) SEH - Funk 2 run (Evans kick) SEH - Funk 1 run (Evans kick) SQU - Sorenson 13 pass from Leonard (Sonnon kick)
SQU SEH 15-14 Rush Att-Yards 44-337 18-39-3 Comp-Att-Int 6-9-0 239 Passing Yards 122 Individual Leaders RUSHING - SQU: Dunmore 9-30, Ortiz-McAlister 1-1, Lamm 1-(-4), Leonard 1-(-5), Myers 3-(-6). SEH: Funk 19-258, Neff 18-65, Wright 5-10, Watson 2-4. PASSING - SQU: Leonard 16-35-2-232, Lamm 2-4-1-7. SEH: Wright 6-9-0-122. RECEIVING - SQU: Sorenson 6-89, Ortiz-McAlister 5-76, Watt 2-30, Donnelly 1-16, Nelson 1-11, Sheedy 1-11, Myers 1-6, Dunmore 1-0. SEH: Watson 5-119, Funk 1-3.
