BELLINGHAM – Nearing the closing seconds of the game, the Storm were down by one and had the ball 4th-and-15 on the Lakewood 26-yard line. This was when senior wide receiver Kai Posey ran the perfect corner route and fellow senior Reed Richardson, who was filling in at quarterback, launched a pass towards the left sideline. Posey used all of his 6-foot-3 frame to dive out and catch the ball for a first down at the 3-yard line.
At this point, the time stopped to move the chains, and Squalicum, who was out of timeouts, hustled up to the line to spike the ball and set up a chance to kick a game-winning field goal.
The Storm never received that chance, as the clock reached zero before the snap happened, and The Cougars got by the Storm 14-13 at Civic Stadium on Friday night.
Lakewood began the game with a time-consuming, 17-play 55-yard drive, but a fumble that was recovered by junior defensive lineman Alex Wells ended the drive.
Squalicum was forced to punt, but then forced a turnover on downs against the Cougars near midfield. The Storm were then able to drive down and score the first touchdown of the game, a one-yard run by Richardson.
The Cougars quickly answered back, with another long drive that consisted of numerous strong running plays, but it was a play-action pass that was wide open that allowed Lakewood to score it’s first touchdown of the game, a 40-yarder to the tight end.
The Cougars recovered a fumble near midfield on Squalicum’s following drive, and was able to get another touchdown just seconds before halftime. This time, a 26-yarder, on another tremendous pitch and catch, and Lakewood led at the half, 14-7.
The Storm received the second-half kickoff, and marched down the field again, but was turned away on fourth down at the Cougar 20-yard line.
Lakewood then had an extremely long drive of its own, getting all the way to the Squalicum 3-yard line. On 3rd-and-goal, junior defensive back Nick Watt tipped a quick-out pass and it was intercepted in the end zone by Posey.
With all the momentum, the Storm put together a 95-yard scoring drive, which was aided by a 59-yard run by sophomore Deandre Dunmore, who filled in for the injured Djouvensky Schlenbaker. Dunmore finished with a team-high 115 yards rushing on 10 carries.
Squalicum capped the drive with a 15-yard touchdown pass from Richardson to Posey, and elected to go for the two-point conversion. Richardson’s athleticism bought a lot of time in the pocket, and he found Cade Morris wide open in the right corner of the end zone, but the two couldn’t connect on the completion.
The Storm forced Lakewood to punt, and Squalicum then had its final drive, which started from its own 28-yard line, to set up the theatrics at the end of the game.
The Storm (1-2) will face off against Sehome (1-3) at Civic Stadium on Friday at 5:00.
Lakewood 14 Squalicum 13 LAK 0 14 0 0 - 14 SQU 0 7 0 6 - 13 SQU - Richardson 1 run (Smith kick) LAKE - 40 yard touchdown pass (kick good) LAKE - 26 yard touchdown pass (kick good) SQU - Posey 15 pass from Richardson (pass failed) LAK SQU 49-247 Rush Att-Yards 32-201 3-7-1 Comp-Att-Int 7-16-0 79 Passing Yards 96 Individual Leaders RUSHING - LAK: N/A. SQU: Dunmore 10-115, Richardson 12-41, Smithson 3-18, Morris 3-12, Brown 1-11, Hawkinson 2-9, Leonard 1-(-5). PASSING - LAK: N/A. SQU: Richardson 6-13-0-94, Leonard 1-3-0-2. RECEIVING - LAK: N/A. SQU: Posey 3-55, Smithson 2-11, Hawkinson 1-21, Takabe 1-9.
