STANWOOD – After a 1-2 start, the Storm have found a groove and won their fourth game in a row by defeating Stanwood 31-12 on Friday night.
The struggling Spartans played Squalicum pretty evenly in the first half, and was able to corral star running back Djouvensky Schlenbaker early on. Even with Schlenbaker’s 25-yard first quarter touchdown run, he finished the first half with under 70 yards rushing.
Stanwood connected on its second 25-yard field goal of the game in the third quarter, which narrowed the Storm’s lead to just one, 7-6. Squalicum was able to rattle off big plays following the second field goal, beginning with a quick shovel pass from Mason Binning to Dedrick Mitchell that resulted in a 36-yard touchdown.
Senior kicker Addison Shrock crushed a 31-yard field goal that looked like it could have been good from around 50 yards, and Schlenbaker finished the third quarter with his second 25-yard touchdown run of the game. The super sophomore finished the game with 159 yards rushing on 20 carries. He now has 1442 yards rushing on the season, which is the most yards rushing in a season in Whatcom County history by a sophomore. The previous sophomore record was held by Riley Fritsch of Blaine who ran for 1407 yards in 2014.
Back up running back Steven Owens scored from six yards out in the fourth quarter, and he ended with 39 yards on just five carries.
The Storm defense was led by linebackers Billy Scammell and Garrett Jabbora, who combined to be in on 25 tackles. Jabbora also intercepted a pass. Bryson Lamb and Cesar Vasquez were able to get to the quarterback during the game, and senior safety Elliott Aslan intercepted a pair of passes, giving him a team-high four on the season.
Squalicum (5-2) will complete its conference schedule against Oak Harbor (1-6) at Civic Stadium on Saturday.
Squalicum 31
Stanwood 12
SQU 7 0 17 7 – 31
STAN 3 0 3 6 – 12
SQU – Schlenbaker 25 run (Shrock kick)
STAN – 25 yard field goal
STAN – 25 yard field goal
SQU – Mitchell 36 pass from Binning (Shrock kick)
SQU – Shrock 31 FG
SQU – Schlenbaker 25 run (Shrock kick)
SQU – Owens 6 run (Shrock kick)
STAN – 5 yard touchdown run (no conversion)
SQU STAN
28-212 Rushing Att-Yards 31-84
14-27-1 Comp-Att-Int 17-41-3
178 Passing yards 240
Individual Leaders
RUSHING – SQU: Schlenbaker 20-159, Owens 5-39, Binning 1-11, Thompson 2-3. STAN: N/A.
PASSING – SQU: Binning 13-26-1-176, Nielsen 1-1-0-2. STAN: N/A.
RECEIVING – SQU: Mitchell 5-89, Schlenbaker 3-14, Pennock 2-42, Posey 1-14, Jabbora 1-12, Vasquez 1-7, Hawkinson 1-2. STAN: N/A.
