BELLINGHAM – Lynden Christian came into this season with a lot of talent and a lot of depth. Bellingham has a really good talent as well, but only able to suit up 21 players in the 80 degree heat at Civic Stadium on Friday evening, the Lyncs physically wore down the Red Raiders and won 49-7.
Bellingham stayed with LC in the beginning of the game, and when senior cornerback Andre Triplett intercepted a pass and raced 93 yards down the left sideline for a touchdown in the second quarter, it was a 13-7 game. The majority of Red Raiders were playing both ways the entire game, and with the Lyncs able to sub, Lynden Christian won the game in the trenches.
LC rambled off 363 yards rushing, with 190-pound senior Easton Stremler racking up 145 of those yards on 19 carries with two touchdowns. Fellow senior Levi Korthuis rushed for 93 yards on eight carries, which included an exciting 44-yard run.
Senior quarterback Trajan Schouten picked up right where he left off last season, completing 14-of-22 passes for 152 yards and three touchdowns. Eerily similar to his week one performance last season when he completed 16-of-23 passes for 178 yards and three touchdowns.
On the receiving end of those touchdowns were senior Jackson Corkill on a 27-yard corner route, senior Zach Sipma who caught a pass and broke numerous tackles on his way to the end zone and junior Cole Moorlag on what was his first varsity reception.
Junior reserve running back David Bootsma ripped off a pair of fourth quarter touchdowns, and ended the game with 50 yards rushing.
The Lyncs defense was stout all game long, getting sacks from Davis Gatterman, Levi Van Weerdhuizen, Devonta Bootsma and Roman Meenk. Sipma also had 2.5 tackles for loss.
Senior Red Raider defensive end Chris Oesterling played extremely well, collecting a pair of sacks, a forced fumble and a fumble recovery, and senior linebackers Jack Fields and Jackson Taylor combined for 24 tackles.
Bellingham also took the field for their first offensive play with only 10 players, lining up without a left tackle in honor of Butch Mullins who tragically passed away in March. Mullins started on the offensive line as a sophomore in 2017 and was an All-Conference performer as a junior in 2018.
Lynden Christian (1-0) will host Neah Bay on Saturday, and Bellingham (0-1) will travel to Lakewood (1-0) on Friday to take on the Cougars.
Lynden Christian 49
Bellingham 7
LC 13 8 14 14 – 49
BELL 0 7 0 0 – 7
LC – Corkill 27 pass from Schouten (De. Bootsma kick)
LC – Stremler 7 run (kick failed)
BELL – Triplett 93 interception return (Alten kick)
LC – Moorlag 14 pass from Schouten (Schouten run)
LC – Stremler 6 run (De. Bootsma kick)
LC – Sipma 12 pass from Schouten (De. Bootsma kick)
LC – Da. Bootsma 2 run (Van Hofwegen kick)
LC – Da. Bootsma 24 run (Van Hofwegen kick)
LC BELL
45-363 Rushing Att-Yards 27-19
14-23-1 Comp-Att-Int 3-6-1
152 Passing yards 36
Individual Leaders
RUSHING – LC: Stremler 19-145, Korthuis 8-93, Da. Bootsma 5-50, Corkill 2-23, Dykstra 2-23, De. Bootsma 4-11, Moorlag 2-10, Owen 1-8, Schouten 2-(-13). BELL: Fields 11-35, Ninnemann 1-4, Taylor 8-2, Tolle 7-(-22).
PASSING – LC: Schouten 14-22-1-152, Dykstra 0-1-0-0. BELL: Tolle 3-6-1-36.
RECEIVING – LC: Corkill 5-48, Korthuis 2-35, Feenstra 2-20, Bouwman 2-16, Moorlag 1-14, Sipma 1-12, Stremler 1-7. BELL: Triplett 2-30, McKay 1-6.
