BELLINGHAM – Playing at home brings a certain comfort level, and the Mariners looked extremely comfortable at their new home field as they defeated Burlington-Edison 42-19 on Saturday night.
A perfect blend of run and pass led Sehome down the field swiftly for much of the night as senior running back Colin Dorsch’s lightning-quick feet enabled him to amass 187 yards on the ground on 18 carries. It was the most rushing yards in a game by a Sehome back since November 2, 2017 when Dylan Roberts ran for 202 yards against Blaine.
Senior quarterback Jacob Kaepernick was near perfect on the game, completing 13-of-15 passes for 184 yards and two touchdowns, including a 38-yard strike to sophomore Max Malo on the first drive of the game. Malo led his team in receiving with four receptions for 87 yards.
Kaepernick also displayed some power-running during the game, as he bulled over a number of defenders and totaled 64 rushing yards and two touchdowns on the ground.
Kaepernick’s second touchdown pass of the game was a 20-yarder to 6-foot-2 senior Elijah Ashmann in the back of the end zone with 1:17 remaining in the second quarter. The Mariners went into halftime with a 28-7 lead.
The Tigers were forced to pass for much of the game, and the Sehome pass rushers were up for the task.
Junior defensive lineman Gavin Ortega had a pair of sacks, and almost had a third but the quarterback was able to get back to the line of scrimmage. Felipe Arreola, Lucas Lehan, Ashmann and Malo also picked up sacks.
Senior safety Tim Malo led his team with six tackles, and blocked an extra point. Although, I’m not sure the last time I saw a player actually catch the ball while blocking an extra point, which is what Malo did. Junior kicker Aidan Andrews made all six of his extra point attempts for Sehome.
The Mariners (1-0) will be at Oak Harbor (0-1) to take on the Wildcats on Friday at 7:00.
Burlington-Edison 19
Sehome 42
BE 7 0 6 6 – 19
SEH 14 14 7 7 – 42
SE – M. Malo 38 pass from Kaepernick (Andrews kick)
SE – Kaepernick 11 run (Andrews kick)
BE – 35 yard touchdown pass (kick good)
SE – Kaepernick 3 run (Andrews kick)
SE – Ashmann 20 pass from Kaepernick (Andrews kick)
BE – 3 yard touchdown pass (kick blocked)
SE – Dorsch 3 run (Andrews kick)
BE – 25 yard touchdown pass (run failed)
SE – Dorsch 1 run (Andrews kick)
BE SEH
28-71 Rushing Att-Yards 30-248
13-23-0 Comp-Att-Int 13-15-0
188 Passing yards 184
Individual Leaders
RUSHING – BE: N/A. SE: Dorsch 18-187, Kaepernick 10-64, Funk 1-5, L. Evans 1-(-8).
PASSING – BE: N/A. SE: Kaepernick 13-15-0-184
RECEIVING – BE: N/A. SE: M. Malo 4-87, Clark 3-27, T. Malo 2-26, L. Evans 2-24, Ashmann 1-20, Dorsch 1-0.