FERNDALE – The Golden Eagles rolled the dice, and came out a winner at home as they defeated Snohomish 15-14 on Friday night.
Junior running back Elliot Lenssen’s final carry of the game was a 34-yard touchdown run, which was led perfectly by two pulling sophomore linemen, Peace Windwalker and Trey Munson, and as soon as he crossed the goal line, the Ferndale coaching staff held up two fingers.
The Panthers were up 14-13, with 2:24 left in the game, and it signified that they were going for a 2-point conversion to take the lead.
After a timeout, the run-heavy Golden Eagles snapped the ball, and Boleak looked to pass the ball over the middle to his tight end, Chance Hatchett who had caught two passes earlier in the game. The 6-foot-2 225-pound sophomore was draped by four defenders, and still managed to outjump his opponents and come down with the ball. As the new stadium turned on the light show to signify a scoring play, the scoreboard read that Ferndale had its first lead of the game.
Snohomish still had plenty of time to move the ball, and it did on a first down run that was punctuated by a late hit out of bounds. However, a third-down run was stopped by Lenssen one yard short of a first down near midfield, and Hatchett made his presence known once again on the following play when he stopped the Panther run for no gain on 4th-and-1, which eliminated any chance of a Panther win.
Snohomish got on the board early with a 1-yard touchdown run, and led 7-0 at the half.
The Panthers also led 14-0 with 3:35 left in the third quarter, but Ferndale came back with a strong drive that concluded with a touchdown pass from Boleak to senior wide receiver Cooper Vincent which covered 24 yards at the end of the third quarter.
A fumble recovery late in the fourth quarter by junior defensive tackle Braeden Hendrickson set up Ferndale’s eventually game-winning drive.
Lenssen finished with game with 149 yards on 22 carries, and he also led his team with 8.5 tackles on defense.
The Golden Eagles (3-3) will be given the ultimate test on Friday when they host Lake Stevens (6-0) at 7:00. The Vikings are the top-ranked team in 4A.
Ferndale 15 Snohomish 14 SNO 7 0 7 0 - 14 FER 0 0 7 8 - 15 SNO - 1 yard touchdown run (kick good) SNO - 15 yard touchdown pass (kick good) FER - Vincent 24 pass from Boleak (McManus kick) FER - Lenssen 34 run (Hatchett pass from Boleak) SNO FER 32-118 Rush Att-Yards 36-203 13-19-0 Comp-Att-Int 7-9-0 132 Passing Yards 67 Individual Leaders RUSHING - SNO: N/A. FER: Lenssen 22-149, Stanek 10-46, Vincent 1-5, Mahaffey 2-3, Boleak 1-0. PASSING - SNO: N/A. FER: Boleak 7-9-0-67. RECEIVING - SNO: N/A. FER: Hatchett 2-30, Vincent 1-24, Mahaffey 1-7, Beaven 1-6, Vasak 1-1, Stanek 1-(-1).
