BY JEFF WOOD – for Whatcom Preps
DEMING – In what was billed to be a battle of styles, the Sehome Mariners ran past and ran their way over the Mount Baker Mountaineers in a 35-12 victory at Bob Tisdale Field.
After a quarter of both teams working off the rust, sophomore signal caller Nolan Wright led Sehome on its first scoring drive of the season. It was capped off with a screen pass to junior wide receiver, Andre Watson.
Watson, looking to build on his breakout 2022 campaign, took the short throw 19 yards and into the end zone, after getting some nice blocks by senior Braddock Duckworth and junior Coleby Chambers.
Mount Baker answered with another good drive, but stalled in the red zone for the second time early on. The Mounties moved the ball successfully between the 20’s with the hard-nosed running of juniors Dylan Moa and Brady Bruland.
A missed field goal resulted in no points earlier in the game, and this time inside the 10-yard line, on fourth down, Coach Lepper went for it. The Sehome defense swarmed the running attempt, and the home team came up empty again.
Wright then took the Mariner offense on a well-balanced and well-executed drive before half. It was capped by freshman Nicky Smith’s 2-yard touchdown run.
Smith finished the game as the leading rusher with 118 yards in the first action of his promising career for the green and gold.
The second half started just as the first ended, with more balanced offense from Sehome. Duckworth was on the receiving end of two touchdowns and the running game was led senior Baxter Arps and sophomore Cole Turrell up front.
Mount Baker got on the board in the fourth quarter with a Moa touchdown run. The drive was set up by an interception snagged by senior cornerback Landen Hanstead, who made a great break on the ball.
The Mariners never lost control however and added a 20-yard touchdown from Wright to Watson.
A 47-yard touchdown play-action pass by Mountaineer sophomore quarterback Setoga Tigilau to senior receiver Tanyen Staton concluded the scoring.
Next week Sehome (1-0) will host Blaine (0-1) on Thursday, while Mount Baker (0-1) will travel to Wenatchee (0-1) on Friday.
Sehome 35 Mount Baker 12 SEH 0 14 14 7 - 35 MB 0 0 0 12 - 12 SEH - Watson 19 pass from Wright (Evans kick) SEH - Smith 2 run (Evans kick) SEH - B. Duckworth 20 pass from Wright (Evans kick) SEH - B. Duckworth 8 pass from Wright (Evans kick) MB - D. Moa 3 run (kick blocked) SEH - Watson 20 pass from Wright (Evans kick) MB - Staton 47 pass from Tigilau (kick failed) SEH MB 38-206 Rush Att-Yards 38-187 14-21-1 Comp-Att-Int 6-10-0 211 Passing Yards 107 Individual Leaders RUSHING - SEH: N. Smith 17-118, McAlister 14-90, Perrin 4-4, Wright 2-(-1), Laplant 1-(-5). MB: D. Moa 17-105, Bruland 13-70, B. Moa 2-16, Hanstead 2-6, Smith 1-(-1), Tigilau 3-(-9). PASSING - SEH: Wright 14-21-1-211. MB: Tigilau 5-9-0-90, L. Smith 1-1-0-17. RECEIVING - SEH: Watson 6-93, B. Duckworth 6-90, Quiggle 1-15, C. Duckworth 1-13. MB: Hanstead 2-33, Bruland 2-21, Staton 1-47, Ross 1-6.
