BY JEFF WOOD – for Whatcom Preps
BURLINGTON – On the last day of summer, the Sehome Mariners overcame some inconsistent offense to beat the Burlington-Edison Tigers 14-7 on the natural grass at Kirkby Field.
The Tigers were coming off a no-contest with Lakewood where the second half will need to be replayed due to an officiating issue.
At 0-2 Burlington came out an opportunistic bunch looking to get their first win of the season. While Sehome was able to move the ball consistently on the ground, the Tigers forced Sehome sophomore quarterback Nolan Wright into two interceptions. One was an athletic play by 6’6” junior defensive end Tyler Walker who batted a pass into the air and then came down with the interception as well.
Burlington also had some success on the ground in the first half, but the Mariner defense made three stops in their own territory preventing the Tigers from taking the lead. The defensive backfield coverage and pass rush led to sacks by sophomore Finn Seitz Gregoire and junior Trey Boyd.
A missed 41-yard field goal would have given Burlington the lead. Sehome then came up with with its best drive of the game. It began with a Wright 13-yard QB draw out of an empty formation. The drive was capped off with a 16-yard touchdown pass from Wright to junior wideout Andre Watson.
Coming out of halftime with a 7-0 lead, the Mariner defense got a stop which included another sack, this time by junior inside linebacker Carl Bach.
On the first play for Sehome’s offense, a bubble and go play was good for a 36-yard TD pass from Wright to senior tight end Braddock Duckworth.
The Mariners, however, would run only 13 more plays on offense the rest of the game. Burlington-Edison went back to the ground game with success combining for 107 yards in the half including a TD run early in the fourth quarter which narrowed the margin to 14-7 in favor of Sehome.
The Tigers gained some rushing yardage but could not connect on any passes during their last two drives. The sack theme continued for the Mariners with pressure from Fisher Hall up the middle as well as solid coverage by senior Alden Jacobs and junior Coleby Chambers. Sehome survived the scare by winning 14-7 and winning their fifth straight game against the Tigers.
Next up Sehome (3-1) heads to play at Lynden (3-1) on Friday at 7:00.
Sehome 14 Burlington-Edison 7 SEH 0 7 7 0 - 14 BE 0 0 0 7 - 7 SEH - Watson 16 pass from Wright (Evans kick) SEH - Duckworth 36 pass from Wright (Evans kick) BE - 2 yard touchdown run (kick good) SEH BE 32-91 Rush Att-Yards 47-159 10-18-2 Comp-Att-Int 4-16-0 109 Passing Yards 59 Individual Leaders RUSHING - SEH: Hall 22-60, Wright 6-13, Smith 3-13, McAlister 1-5. BE: N/A. PASSING - SEH: Wright 10-18-2-109. BE: N/A. RECEIVING - SEH: Watson 6-53, Duckworth 2-42, Evans 1-8, McAtee 1-6. BE: N/A.
Fisher Hall***