NOOKSACK – After a scoreless, and sometimes sloppy, first half of football, Nooksack Valley made the most of its opportunities in the second half to walk away with a 9-7 victory over Sehome at Sid Lambert Field on Thursday night.
The Pioneers first got on the board in the third quarter when senior defensive end Nick Dykstra recovered a fumble on the Mariner 4-yard line. The Sehome defense played strong, and Nooksack Valley had to settle for a 23-yard field goal by senior Caleb Kingma.
Later in the third quarter sophomore quarterback Joey Brown connected on a 47-yard pass down the left sideline to junior wide receiver Ryan Hughes. The quarter ended moments later, and the Pioneers then finished off the drive when Brown hit freshman wide receiver Cory Olney on a 13-yard strike to put Nooksack Valley up 9-0.
Olney finished with a team-high four receptions for 47 yards, and he also had an interception in the first quarter. Fellow freshman safety Colton Lentz also picked off his first varsity pass in the end zone during the third quarter to put an end to a Sehome drive.
The Mariners outgained the Pioneers by 89 yards, but turnovers were the ultimate enemy for Sehome.
Sehome senior quarterback Jovyn Sangha, a transfer from Canada, opened the fourth quarter with a strong drive, which included a 41-yard connection to senior wide receiver Zach Chisolm on 4th-and-9. Moments later, a strong run by junior Tommy Funk brought Sehome to the one-yard line after sophomore John Stremler was able to stop Funk from scoring. It turned out to be a huge play because a fumble on the following play was recovered by senior linebacker Jet Triplett.
Sangha had an impressive outing, completing 20-of-28 passes for 209 yards, and only playing in the second half. 6-foot-5 sophomore Braddock Duckworth had an eye-opening varsity debut with eight catches for 100 yards.
Sehome was able to get the ball back, and score a touchdown, but it was nullified because of a holding penalty. The Mariners then turned it over on downs, down 9-0 with 3:42 remaining in the game.
After forcing a three-and-out, a short punt gave the ball back to Sehome at the Pioneer 40-yard line. Sangha hit Duckworth down the right sideline for a 30-yard gain, and Sangha hit senior wide receiver Luke Evans on an 8-yard scoring strike two players later. Senior Zach Chisolm nailed the extra point, and the Nooksack Valley lead was cut down to two with 2:27 left.
The Pioneers successfully recovered the ensuing onside kick, and would bleed the clock as much as possible.
Sehome was able to get one last possession from their own 45-yard line. But, with less than 45 seconds remaining and zero timeouts, the Mariners were running out of chances. Sophomore cornerback Wayne Silves intercepted a pass a few plays later, which sealed the victory for Nooksack Valley.
Kingma led the Pioneer defensive attack with seven tackles, two tackles for loss and a sack.
The Pioneers (1-0) will host Hoquiam on Friday night, and Sehome (0-1) will be host Anacortes at 5pm on Friday.
Sehome 7
Nooksack Valley 9
SE 0 0 0 7 – 7
NV 0 0 3 6 – 9
NV – Kingma 23 FG
NV – Olney 13 pass from Brown (kick failed)
SE – Evans 8 pass from Sangha (Chisolm kick)
SE NV
19-(-18) Rushing Att-Yards 33-30
27-42-3 Comp-Att-Int 12-22-0
284 Passing yards 147
Individual Leaders
RUSHING – SE: Funk 6-17, L. Ortega 2-9, Neff 4-(-3), Sangha 7-(-41). NV: Kimball 1-16, Silva 14-12, Olney 3-4, Brown 15-(-2).
PASSING – SE: Sangha 20-28-1-209, Neff 7-14-2-75. NV: Brown 12-22-0-147.
RECEIVING – SE: Duckworth 8-100, Evans 6-51, Chisolm 5-68, Malo 5-39, Funk 2-24, Neff 1-2. NV: Olney 4-43, Kingma 4-28, Hughes 1-48, Silves 1-17, Kimball 1-9, Silva 1-2.
