LYNDEN – Most of the time, a week one high school football game is a display of mistakes, misgivings and malfunction. On Thursday night, Lynden Christian showed direction, discipline and dominance in its 38-14 win over 2A Franklin Pierce.
The run-heavy Cardinal offense did some good things on the opening drive, and moved the ball past midfield, but a rare pass on fourth down was incomplete, and the ball was given to the Lyncs.
Lynden Christian then proceeded to march down the field and eventually score on a 14-yard touchdown run by senior Chris Kooiman.
Franklin Pierce responded with a strong drive, but a mistake happened once again when the Cardinals elected to go to the air, and their second pass of the game was intercepted near the goal line by sophomore Grant Adams.
Six plays later, senior quarterback Dawson Hintz faked a handoff to Kooiman, rolled to his left, and found wide receiver Jackson Yun who used a great move against his defender to get open. The fleet-footed junior then made a quick move against the grain and ran untouched into the endzone.
The Lynden Christian defense turned the Cardinals over on downs during their next possession, and quickly went to the air as Hintz found senior tight end Kaden Veldman down the visiting sideline for a 44-yard gain, and a few plays later it was Kooiman who found the endzone again, and the Lyncs led 21-0 at the half.
Although Kooiman has been known to run defenders over, it was the agility and speed of the 6-foot-3 225-pound running back that allowed him to score on a 44-yard touchdown to begin the third quarter. His third touchdown of the game moved him past Jeremiah Wright and Tim VanderVeen on the school’s career rushing touchdown list. He now sits in third place with 26, only behind Greg Dykstra (31) and Niels Brisbane (28).
His finished with a team-high 112 yards on just eight carries, and his night was over after scoring touchdown number three.
He gave way to senior Wyatt Kamphouse who moved from wide receiver to running back, and he answered with a 10-yard touchdown run in the third quarter to give the hometown Lyncs a 35-0 lead.
It was all backups for the vast majority of the second half for Lynden Christian, and when a drive stalled at the end of the third quarter, it was time for Yun to make another big play on the night. He opened up the fourth quarter by drilling a 42-yard field goal which put the Lyncs up 38-0.
The Cardinals stayed the course with their running attack, and eventually scored twice in the fourth quarter.
Hintz was incredibly efficient in his first varsity start under center as he completed all four of his pass attempts for 124 yards and a touchdown.
The Lynden Christian defense was led by senior inside linebacker Eli Stamps who had a team-high 11 tackles. Veldman joined him with 8.5 tackles, and junior safety Trey Moorlag came up in the box to record six stops.
The Lyncs (1-0) will travel to Canada next Saturday to take on Vancouver College at 1:30.
Lynden Christian 38 Franklin Pierce 14 FP 0 0 0 14 - 14 LC 7 14 14 3 - 38 LC - Kooiman 14 run (Yun kick) LC - Yun 35 pass from Hintz (Yun kick) LC - Kooiman 8 run (Yun kick) LC - Kooiman 44 run (Yun kick) LC - Kamphouse 10 run (Yun kick) LC - Yun 42 FG FP - 10 yard touchdown run (2pt run good) FP - 2 yard touchdown run (run failed)
FP LC 54-293 Rush Att-Yards 27-166 0-2-1 Comp-Att-Int 6-8-0 0 Passing Yards 183 Individual Leaders RUSHING - FP: N/A. LC: Kooiman 8-112, Kamphouse 5-35, Hintz 4-33, Rensink 3-2, Arnold 3-1, Blankers 4-(-17). PASSING - FP: N/A. LC: Hintz 4-4-0-124, Blankers 2-4-0-59. RECEIVING - FP: N/A. LC: Veldman 2-85, Yun 1-35, Macomber 1-31, Kuik 1-28, Kamphouse 1-4.
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