BY JEFF WOOD – For Whatcom Preps
BELLINGHAM – At Civic Stadium on a cool but mostly dry fall evening, the Sehome Mariners were able to ride their strong ground game and a stout defensive effort to a 46-7 victory over their crosstown rival Bellingham Bayhawks.
The Mariners got out to a 7-0 lead with their longest drive of the season, a 15-play 75-yard effort that was capped by a one-yard plunge by sophomore running back Cash Barnes.
The Bayhawks answered quickly, taking only four plays to tie the score at seven apiece. Senior quarterback Ben Leonard found senior wide receiver Matthew Steel over the middle on a 2nd-and-8 from their own 39-yard line. Steel made the catch and got behind the Sehome defensive backs speeding to a 61-yard touchdown.
The game was looking to be a close one, as many had predicted. However, the second quarter proved devastating for the Bayhawks as they gave up another rushing touchdown to Barnes and then took two consecutive safeties, giving the Mariners four additional points.
The safeties also forced Bellingham to kick the ball back to Sehome, which junior Alejandro Pringle did a fine job of pinning the Mariners deep. This was despite kicking from its own 20-yard line. The long field didn’t stifle the Sehome passing game though as junior quarterback Jad Geiger found senior wide receiver Nicky Smith for a 75-yard scoring play down the visitor’s sideline. This touchdown pushed the Mariner lead to 25-7, with only 2:22 remaining before halftime.
Bellingham looked to get something going on its next offensive possession with a solid run from junior running back MJ Maina, a pass interference call on Sehome, and a reception from Steel.
The Mariner defense led by senior linebackers Eljas Lara and Devon Bengtsson then got a stop. After a Bayhawk punt, it was assumed by many that the teams would be headed to the locker rooms, and the Bellingham High School Halftime events would commence. Sehome’s offense had other ideas. Geiger found senior wide receiver Gunnar Anderson for a 63-yard catch and run down to the Bayhawk one-yard line. Barnes then crashed into the end zone with 4.3 seconds left on the clock for the Mariner touchdown. Senior kicker Bane Mitchell hit his fourth extra point of the half and Sehome was firmly in control, 32-7 at the break.
The second half went somewhat quickly as Sehome continued to run the ball and Bellingham couldn’t find much success with its offense.
The Mariners scored twice more on Barnes and Geiger rushes. Barnes finished with 205 yards behind his stout offensive line.
A young Bellingham team kept fighting as the Bayhawks look to build for the future. On this night however, the Mariners showed they are still in charge of the long-time city rivalry, spoiling the Bayhawks Homecoming game and winning by a score of 46-7.
Sehome (2-4) will play its lone non-conference game on Friday at 7:00 when they travel to Meridian (3-3) to take on the Trojans. Bellingham (2-4) will also be on the road on Friday as it will take on Anacortes (5-1) at 7:00.
Sehome 46 Bellingham 7 SEH 0 0 0 0 - 46 BEL 0 0 0 0 - 7 SEH - Barnes 1 run (Mitchell kick) BEL - Steel 61 pass from B. Leonard (Diaz kick) SEH - Barnes 14 run (Mitchell kick) SEH - Safety, Lara tackled punter in end zone SEH - Safety, B. Leonard recovered own snap in end zone SEH - Smith 75 pass from Geiger (Mitchell kick) SEH - Barnes 2 run (Mitchell kick) SEH - Barnes 18 run (Mitchell kick) SEH - Geiger 11 run (Mitchell kick) SEH BEL 39-269 Rush Att-Yards 18-42 8-17-0 Comp-Att-Int 10-14-1 185 Passing Yards 114 Individual Leaders RUSHING - SEH: Barnes 31-205, Geiger 6-58, Larsen 1-6, Kirk 1-0. BEL: Maina 14-55, Chartier 2-(-1), N. Leonard 1-(-4), B. Leonard 1-(-8). PASSING - SEH: Geiger 8-17-0-185. BEL: B. Leonard 8-12-1-90, N. Leonard 2-2-0-24. RECEIVING - SEH: Smith 3-97, Bengtsson 3-22, Anderson 1-63, Johnson 1-3. BEL: Steel 3-64, White 2-24, Maine 2-12, VanHofwegen 2-(-2), Schupbach 1-16.
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