BELLINGHAM – Nooksack Valley may have been down 7-0 after the first quarter, but it erupted for four touchdowns over a seven minute span in the second quarter before running away with the 49-34 victory over King’s on Saturday night at Civic Stadium.
The Knights received great field position early on after a Pioneer mishap on a punt, and King’s capitalized with a 28-yard touchdown pass.
It appeared that Nooksack Valley quickly evened the score on the ensuing kickoff when junior Jaden Jones returned it 85 yards and into the endzone, but a penalty reversed the score.
The Pioneers then ended up having to punt, and it appeared that King’s was going to score again after driving the length of the field. However, they were turned away when senior defensive end Brian Leyerly made a stop on 4th-and-goal at the 3-yard line.
The two rivals then traded punts, and Nooksack Valley then scored a touchdown on a pass from senior quarterback Evan Brown to senior wide receiver Jaxon Hester early in the second quarter to tie the game up at 7-7.
On the following possession the Knights quarterback was hurried by Leyerly, and his pass downfield was intercepted by Jones. On the next play from scrimmage Brown threw a strike down the middle of the field to sophomore running back Treven Scheenstra who ran a go route of the backfield. The play covered 56 yards and gave the Pioneers the lead.
King’s then got off a great punt that was downed at the 1-yard line, but after a 5-yard run by Scheenstra to get some breathing room, Scheenstra took another handoff and this time he raced 94 yards to the house.
Nooksack Valley closed out the first half with a touchdown pass from Brown to senior wide receiver Cole Coppinger out of its heavy formation, and it covered 38 yards and the Pioneers led 28-7 at the midway break.
The Knights attempted an onside kick to start the second half, and crushed a line drive to junior lineman Trevek McMillen. Unfortunately for King’s, I don’t think the scouting report included that McMillen is the starting third baseman on the baseball team, and he gobbled that grounder up like it was Coach Joel DeWispelaere cracking “fungo’s” at him at the hot corner in late March.
Both teams traded punts once again, and the Pioneers then put together a strong drive that was aided by powerful runs by sophomore running back Trey Heutink, who then threw the key block on a 10-yard touchdown run by Scheenstra to finish the drive.
King’s was able to score on a 25-yard touchdown pass, but it was quickly balanced out by a 2-yard touchdown run by Scheenstra, his fourth score of the evening.
The Knights also scored three late passing touchdowns, with a Nooksack touchdown in between as Coppinger took an in-motion shovel pass 31 yards for a touchdown.
Nooksack Valley was balanced all game, with 274 rushing yards and 242 passing yards, but the only thing that wasn’t balanced was the offensive line which leaned heavily to the right side in the fourth quarter as the Pioneers bled the clock out.
Leyerly led the defense with two quarterback sacks, which brings his county-leading number in that category to nine on the season.
The Pioneers (6-4) will host Life Christian Academy (6-4) at 5:00 on Saturday at Civic Stadium in the first round of the 1A state playoffs.
Nooksack Valley 49 King's 34 KI 7 0 7 20 - 34 NV 0 28 6 15 - 49 KI - 28 yard touchdown pass (kick good) NV - Hester 8 pass from Brown (E. Leyerly kick) NV - Scheenstra 56 pass from Brown (E. Leyerly kick) NV - Scheenstra 94 run (E. Leyerly kick) NV - Coppinger 38 pass from Brown (E. Leyerly kick) NV - Scheenstra 10 run (kick failed) KI - 25 yard touchdown pass (kick good) NV - Scheenstra 2 run (Ackerman pass from Brown) KI - 39 yard touchdown pass (kick good) NV - Coppinger 31 pass from Brown (E. Leyerly kick) KI - 22 yard touchdown pass (kick blocked) KI - 35 yard touchdown pass (kick good)
KI NV 24-66 Rush Att-Yards 35-274 20-34-1 Comp-Att-Int 10-17-0 356 Passing Yards 242 Individual Leaders RUSHING - KI: N/A. NV: Scheenstra 11-153, Heutink 15-79, Brown 7-32, Coppinger 1-7, Berends 1-3. PASSING - KI: N/A. NV: Brown 10-16-0-242, Berends 0-1-0-0. RECEIVING - KI: N/A. NV: Coppinger 3-112, Jones 3-51, Hester 3-23, Scheenstra 1-56.
