BELLINGHAM – A win was needed to continue the season. A 49-7 blowout victory by Squalicum over Juanita gave the seeding committee a little more to think about when placing the 8-2 Storm amongst the other top 3A teams in the state.
After scoring all 49 points, and gaining almost 500 yards in the first half alone, the Storm cruised with the running clock in the second half, but not before sophomore Djouvensky Schlenbaker ripped off a 25-yard third-quarter run to put him over 2,000 yards rushing for the season. He became the sixth player in Whatcom County history to accomplish that feat (Ash Perrin – 1995, Matthias Wilson – 1997, Chad Clark – 2006, Mario Gobbato – 2011 & 2012, Jed Schleimer – 2015), and the second Squalicum player to do so.
It wasn’t just the dynamic run game that was working for the Storm. Junior quarterback Mason Binning was extremely accurate, completing 11-of-12 passes, and he did major damage throwing the ball deep. He found sophomore Kai Posey on a 32-yard touchdown pass to begin the scoring attack, as well as a 50-yard touchdown pass to sophomore Reed Richardson. He also completed a 13-yard touchdown pass to Schlenbaker on a play that he was able to keep alive until the last second while rolling to his left.
“He made a great read on that play,” Schlenbaker said.
Schlenbaker added four touchdowns on the ground, which gives him 25 rushing touchdowns, and 27 total touchdowns, on the season. Both became new school records, surpassing Squalicum legends Spencer Lloyd (21 rushing touchdowns in 2018) and Ben Peterson (25 total touchdowns in 2016).
Even though all the touchdowns were scored by sophomores, it was a senior-led offensive line that pushed it’s way towards 535 yards of total offense.
The Storm defense attacked all game, and allowed just 171 total yards.
Senior wide receiver Dedrick Mitchell did an awesome job of getting open, and he hauled in four passes for 100 yards. He has proven to be a huge weapon for Squalicum this season, as the Storm were 2-2 without him, but have gone 6-0 with him.
Senior kicker Addison Shrock nailed all seven of his extra point attempts, as well as boom multiple kickoffs into the end zone for touchbacks.
The Strom will find out on Sunday afternoon who, where and when they will play next week.
Juanita 7
Squalicum 49
JUAN 0 0 7 0 – 7
SQU 28 21 0 0 – 49
SQU – Posey 32 pass from Binning (Shrock kick)
SQU – Schlenbaker 13 pass from Binning (Shrock kick)
SQU – Schlenbaker 6 run (Shrock kick)
SQU – Schlenbaker 30 run (Shrock kick)
SQU – Schlenbaker 22 run (Shrock kick)
SQU – Richardson 50 pass from Binning (Shrock kick)
SQU – Schlenbaker 64 run (Shrock kick)
JUAN – 27 yard touchdown run
JUAN SQU
24-81 Rushing Att-Yards 31-219
12-24-0 Comp-Att-Int 11-13-0
90 Passing yards 314
Individual Leaders
RUSHING – SQU: Schlenbaker 18-199, Aslan 3-16, Owens 5-5, Thompson 4-0. JUAN: N/A.
PASSING – SQU: Binning 11-12-0-314, Nielsen 0-1-0-0. JUAN: N/A.
RECEIVING – SQU: Mitchell 4-100, Richardson 2-78, Posey 2-64, Pennock 1-42, Jabbora 1-18, Schlenbaker 1-13. JUAN: N/A.
