BELLINGHAM – The two touchdowns that Trojan junior Hunter Jones scored in the first quarter were big, but it might have been the possible Borderite touchdown that he denied in the fourth quarter that ended up being his biggest play as Meridian beat Blaine 21-15 at Meridian High School on Saturday night.
Late in the fourth quarter, the Borderites were down by six and threatening to score when Avery Dohner’s pass over the middle to Jaxon Kortlever was tipped at the 2-yard line by Jones and intercepted by Eli Jensen in the end zone.
Blaine started the game with a bang, when Dohner completed a 47-yard pass down the left sideline to Ethan Koreski, and the two connected again on a 14-yard slant pattern for a touchdown on the very next play. Cole Thomas scored the two-point conversion.
Meridian answered with a quick strike of its own, as Tucker Harrison hit Jones on a 74-yard bomb down the right sideline for a touchdown on the Trojans’ first play from scrimmage. Jones tied it up with a 2-point conversion of his own, and it was looking like it was going to be a high scoring contest.
Both teams traded short touchdown runs in the first half, and they went into halftime with a 15-15 tie.
Meridian sophomore running back Joshtyn Elmer put his team in the lead with an 8-yard touchdown run in the third quarter, and that would set up the late game heroics. Both Elmer and Jones rushed for a team-high 56 yards.
Following Jensen’s interception in the end zone in the fourth quarter, the Borderites had another chance late in the game, but Daniel Short intercepted a desperation pass as the final buzzer sounded. It was Short’s second interception of the game.
Blaine outgained Meridian on the ground by 55 yards, and through the air by 77 yards, but turnovers really did in the Borderites.
Kortlever had a huge game offensively, catching 10 passes for 151 yards, and Koreski also had his best varsity game with five receptions for 83 yards. The two receivers needed to step up because of the absence of Scott Baldwin who was out due to a hip injury.
The Trojans (4-3) will travel to Mount Baker (4-3) to take on the Mountaineers at 7:00 on Friday, and Blaine (3-3) will host Nooksack Valley (3-4) at the same time.
Blaine 15 Meridian 21 BLA 8 7 0 0 - 15 MER 15 0 6 0 - 21 BLA - Koreski 14 pass from Dohner (Thomas run) MER - Jones 74 pass from Harrison (Jones run) MER - Jones 2 run (Jensen kick) BLA - Dohner 1 run (King kick) MER - Elmer 8 run (kick blocked) BLA MER 28-197 Rush Att-Yards 43-142 16-36-4 Comp-Att-Int 8-17-0 242 Passing Yards 165 Individual Leaders RUSHING - BLA: Creasey 17-94, Dixon 2-52, Dohner 5-32, Thomas 2-13, Cranford 2-6. MER: Jones 15-56, Elmer 8-56, Short 2-15, Harrison 18-15. PASSING - BLA: Dohner 16-35-3-242, Thomas 0-1-1-0. MER: Harrison 7-16-0-157, Johnson 1-1-0-8. RECEIVING - BLA: Kortlever 10-151, Korseki 5-83, Thomas 1-8. MER: Jones 4-108, Elmer 2-4, Short 1-28, Jensen 1-25.
