BLAINE – A late barrage of touchdowns helped propel the Borderites past Nooksack Valley 35-21 on Friday night.
Blaine was down 21-13 with just over six minutes remaining in the game when senior quarterback Avery Dohner threw a deep pass to senior wide receiver Scott Baldwin. Baldwin, who missed last week due to a hip injury, hauled in the 59-yard reception and that helped ignite the Borderite fire on senior night.
Moments later, on 4th-and-3 from the Pioneer 10-yard line, junior running back Larry Creasey ran hard off left tackle as he gained eight yards and the first down. One play later, Creasey scored from two yards out with 4:17 left in the contest.
Now down 21-19, the Borderites elected to go for two, and the play-call was an easy one as Dohner threw an immediate pass to senior Jaxon Kortlever for the 2-point conversion. The play had worked multiple times earlier in the game, as Kortlever finished the game with a career-high 14 receptions for 111 yards, as well as a touchdown reception in the first quarter. Kortlever also returned an interception for a touchdown in the first quarter, but it was called back due to a penalty.
With the game tied at 21, Blaine kicked it deep, and the returner for Nooksack Valley couldn’t hold onto the ball. Blaine junior Kael Evinger pounced on it at the Pioneer 21-yard line, and the Borderites were suddenly in scoring position once again.
Five plays later, Creasey scored from two yards out to take the lead with 1:53 remaining in the contest. Creasey finished with a team-high 69 yards on 18 carries.
Nooksack Valley bobbled the ensuing kickoff once again, but was able to hang on to the ball, but only able to advance it to the 15-yard line. One play later, senior defensive end Alex Welch jumped the swing pass, intercepted the ball, and danced nine yards to the end zone to close out the game as well as his varsity career.
The Pioneers scored two long touchdowns in the second quarter, a 90-yard touchdown run by sophomore quarterback Joey Brown, and a 68-yard touchdown pass from Brown to senior tight end Caleb Kingma. Brown led Nooksack Valley with 132 yards rushing, and Kingma led his team with 105 yards receiving.
Defensively, Blaine was led by senior linebacker Danny Michaud who had 7.5 tackles, two tackles for loss and a forced fumble. Nooksack Valley was led on defense by senior linebacker Jet Triplett who registered 11.5 tackles, 1.5 tackles for loss and a fumble recovery, and sophomore outside linebacker John Stremler who had nine tackles, a sack and a tackle for loss.
The Borderites finished their season with a 4-3 record, and the Pioneers (3-5) are still in the process of finalizing a week 10 matchup with Anacortes (8-1).
Nooksack Valley 21 Blaine 35 NV 0 14 0 7 - 21 BLA 6 7 0 22 - 35 BLA - Kortlever 4 pass from Dohner (pass failed) BLA - Dohner 2 run (King kick) NV - Brown 90 run (Kingma kick) NV - Kingma 68 pass from Brown (Kingma kick) NV - Silva 8 run (Kingma kick) BLA - Creasey 2 run (Kortlever pass from Dohner) BLA - Creasey 2 run (King kick) BLA - Welch 9 interception return (King kick) NV BLA 27-222 Rush Att-Yards 36-104 9-20-2 Comp-Att-Int 20-28-0 141 Passing Yards 231 Individual Leaders RUSHING - NV: Brown 7-132, Silva 18-81, Lentz 2-9. BLA: Creasey 18-69, Cranford 11-38, Dohner 7-(-3). PASSING - NV: Brown 9-20-2-141. BLA: Dohner 20-28-0-231. RECEIVING - NV: Kingma 3-105, Bravo 2-19, Silva 2-3, Olney 1-12, Silves 1-2. BLA: Kortlever 14-111, Baldwin 4-107, Koreski 2-13.
