BELLINGHAM – A giant fourth quarter elevated Nooksack Valley as the Pioneers defeated Riverside 37-13 in the first round of the 1A State Tournament on Saturday night at Civic Stadium.
Nooksack Valley jumped off to a great start in the first quarter when junior quarterback Joey Brown threw a 22-yard strike to senior Ryan Hughes for the first touchdown of the game. It was followed up by a 4-yard touchdown run by sophomore Colton Lentz, and the Pioneers held a 12-0 lead after one quarter.
The Rams got on the board in the second quarter, and Nooksack Valley looked to answer it just before halftime but Riverside kept the Pioneers out of the end zone. Nooksack went into the locker room at halftime with a 12-7 lead.
Lentz used his tremendous combination of speed and power in the third quarter to score on a 26-yard touchdown run to give his team an 18-7 lead. The Rams again answered quickly with a touchdown run of their own, but the 2-point conversion failed and the Pioneers held a slim 18-13 lead at the end of the third quarter.
Nooksack Valley then took control.
It began with a powerful drive that ended with a 3-yard touchdown run by Brown.
Two plays later Pioneer senior safety Bennett DeLange then stepped in front of a pass near midfield and intercepted it to give his team great field position. Lentz plowed through the defense seven plays later for his third touchdown of the game. He finished with a game-high 149 yards rushing on 27 carries.
Riverside was intercepted again on the following drive, this time by Hughes, and the Pioneer offense went back to work. It didn’t take long as junior running back Skyler Whittern had runs of 21 and 24 yards, which brought the ball to the Ram 11-yard line. Nooksack called Whittern’s number once again, and he scored the final touchdown of the game from 11 yards out.
Hughes followed it up when he intercepted his second pass of the night to put the game away.
The Pioneers (9-1) will face Cashmere (9-2) on Saturday at Civic Stadium at 3:00.
Nooksack Valley 37 Riverside 13 RIV 0 7 6 0 - 13 NV 12 0 6 19 - 37 NV - Hughes 22 pass from Brown (kick blocked) NV - Lentz 4 run (pass failed) RIV - Jaeger 3 run (Gaffaney kick) NV - Lentz 26 run (run failed) RIV - Jaeger 11 run (run failed) NV - Brown 3 run (run failed) NV - Lentz 9 run (Vigre kick) NV - Whittern 11 run (kick failed)
RIV NV 19-75 Rush Att-Yards 56-356 14-22-3 Comp-Att-Int 12-21-2 133 Passing Yards 131 Individual Leaders RUSHING - RIV: N/A. NV: Lentz 27-149, Brown 13-100, Whittern 10-91, DeLange 1-9, Olney 4-7, Bennett 1-0. PASSING - RIV: N/A. NV: Brown 12-21-2-131. RECEIVING - RIV: N/A. NV: Bravo 3-19, Bennett 2-35, Hughes 2-28, Whittern 2-24, Olney 2-8, DeLange 1-17.
