LYNDEN – The Lyncs scored a pair of fourth quarter touchdowns to eventually tie the game, but Archbishop Murphy ripped off a 57-yard touchdown run on 4th-and-2 with 2:26 left in the game as the Wildcats defeated Lynden Christian 24-17 on Thursday night.
Archbishop Murphy took an early lead as big run after big run marched the 2A powerhouse down the field on the opening drive, which ended with a 17-yard touchdown run.
The Lyncs responded with a scoring drive of their own, but had to settle for a 39-yard field goal by junior Jackson Yun. It was his seventh career field goal, which tied Trevor Kamena for the school record.
The Wildcats extended their lead on the following drive, and it happened after their first pass attempt of the game, which took the defense completely by surprise, and 49-yards later they held a 14-3 lead over LC.
Lynden Christian was forced to punt, and Archbishop Murphy put together another long, time-consuming drive, and it ended with a 21-yard field goal just before halftime. Both teams went into the locker room with the visitors up 17-3. The Wildcats also outgained Lynden Christian 217-75 in yards from scrimmage in the first half.
The Lyncs nearly doubled their total yards from scrimmage early in the third quarter when junior quarterback Kellen Blankers threw a picture-perfect pass down the near sideline which found senior wide receiver Wyatt Kamphouse in stride which covered 64 yards before being brought down at the 11-yard line.
Lynden Christian had a great opportunity to get some points on the board, but was turned away on downs.
The Lyncs did, however, force a punt, and had great field position once again. After a roughing the passer penalty, they were able to get into the red zone once again, but were again stopped on fourth down.
The run defense for Lynden Christian continue to play extremely well in the third quarter, as senior lineman Peter Enfield and junior linebacker Gavin VanLoo made numerous tackles near the line of scrimmage. LC was able to force a third punt of the quarter, and the Lyncs followed it up with a 19-yard hookup from Blankers to his senior tight end Justin Kuik, which got down to the three-yard line as the quarter ended.
The Lyncs began the fourth quarter with a 3-yard touchdown run by senior Chris Kooiman, and the momentum was clearly with the home team, although it was still chasing a 17-10 Wildcat lead.
Archbishop Murphy went three-and-out as the LC defense stiffened up once again, and a 22-yard punt return by Kamphouse brought the Lyncs to midfield. The return was highlighted by Kamphouse dragging multiple tacklers for the final 10 yards.
Blankers, who was filling in for an injured Dawson Hintz, then hit Kamphouse on a key nine-yard completion on 3rd-and-8 to keep the chains moving, and that was followed up by a multitude of bruising inside runs by Kooiman.
Kooiman then scored from five yards out with 5:10 left in the game, and Yun’s extra point tied it at 17-17.
That set up the big touchdown run by the Wildcats, which would be the eventual game winner.
Lynden Christian had an opportunity following the touchdown, but Blankers was sacked on third and fourth downs, which gave the ball back to Archbishop Murphy. The Wildcats ran four plays, and as much time off the clock as they could, with the Lyncs calling their final two timeouts, and it left Lynden Christian with one last shot, but only 10 seconds left in the game from its own 28-yard line.
LC tried for an end-around pass with sophomore Grant Adams attempting a deep throw down the far sideline, but it came up just short. The same play was attempted with two seconds remaining, but Adams was brought to the ground before he could get a pass off.
The Lyncs (4-2) will be back in conference play next Friday at 7:00 when they travel to Nooksack Valley (5-0) to take on the Pioneers.
Archbishop Murphy 24 Lynden Christian 17 ATM 7 10 0 7 - 24 LC 3 0 0 14 - 17 ATM - 17 yard touchdown run (kick good) LC - Yun 39 FG ATM - 49 yard touchdown pass (kick good) ATM - 21 yard field goal LC - Kooiman 3 run (Yun kick) LC - Kooiman 5 run (Yun kick) ATM - 57 yard touchdown run (kick good)
ATM LC 37-239 Rush Att-Yards 36-86 3-4-0 Comp-Att-Int 11-19-0 72 Passing Yards 149 Individual Leaders RUSHING - ATM: N/A. LC: Kooiman 27-106, Berendsen 1-2, Adams 1-(-7), Blankers 7-(-15). PASSING - ATM: N/A. LC: Blankers 11-18-0-149, Adams 0-1-0-0. RECEIVING - ATM: N/A. LC: Kamphouse 5-101, Kuik 3-30, Kooiman 1-8, Blair 1-6, Yun 1-4.
Leave a Reply