ILWACO – Last season, the Borderites had to rely on the passing game, as they were never able to get a steady run game established, and it made them too one-dimensional. On Saturday afternoon, they were able to move the ball through the air, and on the ground, as they defeated Ilwaco 42-7.
Strong running by junior running back Tandy Heer during Blaine’s first drive was paired with junior quarterback Connor Brown spreading it out to a quartet of receivers, with the fourth one being junior Hunter Candanoza who caught a 15-yard touchdown pass to cap off the drive.
Multiple stops behind the line of scrimmage by senior linebacker Axel Shelton forced the Fishermen to punt the ball back to the Borderites, and this time it was Heer who finished the drive with an 8-yard touchdown run.
Senior wide receiver Peyton Bouma had a big day with eight receptions for 128 yards, and he did a big chunk of it in the second quarter where he scored a pair of touchdowns and Blaine was up 28-0 at the half.
Junior running back Saihou Kanagie ran through multiple would-be tacklers for his 12-yard touchdown in the third quarter, which fired up the orange-clad border-towners on the sidelines.
Ilwaco followed up with its best drive of the game, and was able to finish it off with a 15-yard touchdown pass to the corner of the end zone.
The Borderites finished up the scoring in the fourth quarter when their fourth running back, sophomore Rashaan Paez, punched in a touchdown from three yards out. Paez’s touchdown was set up by a 40-yard completion from sophomore quarterback Cole Rose to sophomore wide receiver Gavin Granstrom on 4th-and-23.
Heer, Kanagie, Paez and sophomore Asher Hagee combined for 166 yards on the ground, and averaged over eight yards per carry.
Shelton finished with seven tackles and three tackles for loss to lead the Blaine defense. He was helped out by Bouma who had 5.5 tackles, and freshman defensive end Dmitry Shvorak who tallied five tackles and 1.5 stops for loss.
The Borderites (1-0) will host 3A Meadowdale (1-0) at 7:00 on Friday.
Blaine 42 Ilwaco 7 BLA 14 14 7 7 - 42 ILW 0 0 7 0 - 7 BLA - Candanoza 15 pass from Brown (Candanoza kick) BLA - Heer 8 run (Candanoza kick) BLA - P. Bouma 5 pass from Brown (Candanoza kick) BLA - P. Bouma 3 pass from Brown (Candanoza kick) BLA - Kanagie 12 run (Candanoza kick) ILW - 15 yard touchdown pass (kick good) BLA - Paez 3 run (Candanoza kick)
BLA ILW 25-164 Rush Att-Yards 19-41 12-18-0 Comp-Att-Int 10-25-0 192 Passing Yards 60 Individual Leaders RUSHING - BLA: Paez 6-54, Hagee 6-49, Kanagie 4-36, Heer 4-27, Brown 2-3, Rose 3-(-5). ILW: N/A. PASSING - BLA: Brown 11-16-0-152, Rose 1-2-0-40. ILW: N/A. RECEIVING - BLA: P. Bouma 8-128, Granstrom 1-40, Candanoza 1-15, I. Bouma 1-12, Heer 1-(-3). ILW: N/A.
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