BELLINGHAM – It didn’t take long to see which was the more dominant team as the Storm had four first downs on their first four plays, and scored a touchdown on their fifth play on their way to a 40-12 victory over Lakewood at Civic Stadium on Saturday night.
The aforementioned touchdown came on a 35-yard pass play from junior quarterback Cole Burke to fellow just wide receiver Ansen Asbjornsen.
Squalicum then went on a tear in the second quarter, scoring four touchdowns and leading 33-0 at the half.
Senior running back Malakai Smith scored on a 2-yard run, and that was followed up with a 49-yard touchdown strike from Burke to senior Marcus Nixon right down the seam.
It was quick turnaround as one minute later Asbjornsen intercepted his second pass of the game, but took this one 51 yards for a touchdown.
Smith closed out the scoring before the half with his second touchdown of the quarter when he caught a quick pass from Burke out in the right flat with 11 seconds to go until halftime.
Squalicum scored its sixth touchdown of the game by going into the Wildcat formation on fourth down, and Nixon took the direct snap, faked a handoff and sped 29 yards into the end zone.
He finished with 100 yards on the game, and surpassed 2,000 career rushing yards while doing so.
The Cougars scored two touchdowns in the fourth quarter to ease the visual of the scoreboard.
The Storm (3-1) will travel to Anacortes (4-0) on Friday to take on the defending state champions at 7:00.
Squalicum 40 Lakewood 12 LAK 0 0 0 12 - 12 SQU 6 27 7 0 - 40 SQU - Asbjornsen 35 pass from Burke (kick failed) SQU - Smith 2 run (Kaiser kick) SQU - Nixon 49 pass from Burke (Kaiser kick) SQU - Asbjornsen 51 interception return (run failed) SQU - Smith 3 pass from Burke (Kaiser kick) SQU - Nixon 29 run (Kaiser kick) LAK - 7 yard touchdown run (pass failed) LAK - 13 yard touchdown pass (pass failed) LAK SQU 27-62 Rush Att-Yards 24-137 8-27-2 Comp-Att-Int 17-21-1 141 Passing Yards 208 Individual Leaders RUSHING - LAK: N/A. SQU: Nixon 17-100, Ortiz 2-16, Smith 3-15, Burke 2-6. PASSING - LAK: N/A. SQU: Burke 16-20-1-203, Feathers 1-1-0-5. RECEIVING - LAK: N/A. SQU: Asbjornsen 5-81, Fagaautau 3-26, Ortiz 3-22, Nixon 1-49, Binta 1-11, Lara 1-10, Durias 1-5, Smith 1-3, Knowlton 1-1.
