Lynden Claims First Ever State Championship in Flag Football

BY MAKAYLA SPARKS – For Whatcom Preps

FEDERAL WAY – Legacy. That’s a word you’ll hear quite a bit when talking to people about Lynden athletics. The state titles, the names in the school’s Hall of Fame, and the stories passed around all have built the ‘Lynden Legacy’. But, how do you fit into it when you are a brand new team playing a brand new sport at the school?

Well, that’s easy. You win the first ever 1A/2A Washington State Flag Football State Championship after going undefeated in your inaugural season. That’s exactly what the Lynden flag football team did this Saturday at Federal Way Memorial Stadium when they took the win over the Squalicum Storm, 21-7.

Being from the same conference, the Storm and the Lions had faced each other three times prior to meeting in the championship game. The Lions had won all three match-ups so it was no surprise that Squalicum was ready to get things going early.

The Storm’s Daliah Strutz intercepted a Lynden pass on the opening drive and Squalicum scored first when Sydney Fuller came down with the ball in the endzone.

Lynden then scored from a yard out, when junior Kyleigh McVie connected with junior Sarah McVie to tie the game with five minutes and forty-five seconds to go in the first of two twenty minute halves.

With five minutes later, Sarah McVie grabbed a Squalicum pass attempt and the momentum. Kyleigh McVie found junior Brooklynne Bourgault who took the ball to the house with one second left in the half.

Up 14-7, the Lion defense shined in the second half. Junior Mariah VanderMey pulled in Lynden’s second interception of the game, charged down the field, and raced into the endzone for the Lion’s third touchdown.

With less than thirty seconds to go, Bourgault sealed the deal when she intercepted the ball, allowing the offense to take a knee and run out the remaining clock.

“I wouldn’t have believed them,” Lynden head coach Mike Regis stated when asked about if someone had told him his team would be state champions at the beginning season. “But as the season went on, and seeing the hard work those ladies put forth, it was obvious we were going to be able to make a run at something…they worked incredibly hard, and I couldn’t be more proud.”