HOCKINSON – Rushing for 300 yards in a game is always great. When you rush for 300 yards and average over 11 yards per carry, that’s dominant.
And, that’s exactly what Mount Baker did on the road as the Mountaineers defeated Hockinson 35-7 on Friday night.
Mount Baker entered the game without arguably its best offensive lineman in senior Noah Ilichev, who was standing on the sidelines on crutches, and was named All-Conference 1st Team last season. However, it was the collective group of sophomore Sylis Maple (right guard), juniors Aaron Torres (center) and Kell Reardon (tight end) and seniors Jeremiah Sheridan (left guard), Payton Zamzow (right tackle) and Kaiden Riedesel (left tackle) that did the work on Friday night.
Especially Riedesel, as the 6-foot-3 235-pound tackle moved from the right side to the left side this season, and his explosive pulling could only be matched by his devastating downfield blocking which opened up big holes in the run game.
Senior running back Kamden Moa took advantage and scored two first quarter touchdowns before finishing the game with 95 yards on the ground on just eight carries.
The Hawks used their own smashmouth style of offense to move down the field, and scored on a 1-yard touchdown run late in the second quarter, but the Mountaineers quickly answered back when senior quarterback Toga Tigilau dotted senior wide receiver Jet Ross on a 30-yard touchdown pass, which gave Mount Baker a 21-7 lead at the half.
After a scoreless third quarter, the Mountaineers scored once again on a “Toga-Jet” play, this time from 43 yards out, and senior running back Brice Cooper finished the scoring with a dazzling 41-yard scamper into the endzone. Cooper led his team with 148 yards on 10 carries.
By the end of the game, Mount Baker had scored 35 points, and had ran just 33 plays. Coach Ron Lepper also showed the ultimate sportsmanship by taking a knee inside the 5-yard line in the final seconds.
Moa and Reardon each had nine tackles to lead the defense, with Reardon also collecting 2.5 tackles for loss. Sheridan had three stops behind the line of scrimmage, while junior cornerback Zyan Paglia intercepted a pass and junior linebacker Andrew Monteith forced a fumble which he then recovered.
The Mountaineers (2-0) will face the ultimate test next week when they play host to Bellevue (1-1) on Saturday afternoon at 2:00.
Mount Baker 35 Hockinson 7 MB 13 8 0 14 - 35 HOC 0 7 0 0 - 7 MB - Moa 15 run (kick blocked) MB - Moa 7 run (E. Smith kick) HOC - 1 yard touchdown run (kick good) MB - Ross 30 pass from Tigilau (Cooper run) MB - Ross 43 pass from Tigilau (E. Smith kick) MB - Cooper 41 run (E. Smith kick) MB HOC 27-300 Rush Att-Yards 47-121 3-6-0 Comp-Att-Int 2-5-1 89 Passing Yards 10 Individual Leaders RUSHING - MB: Cooper 10-148, Moa 8-95, N. Nicol-Mills 4-44, G. Smith 2-15, Barksdale 1-0, Tigilau 2(-2). HOC: N/A. PASSING - MB: Tigilau 3-6-0-89. HOC: N/A. RECEIVING - MB: Ross 3-89, Cooper 1-2. HOC: N/A.
