BELLINGHAM – In a must-win contest for both teams, it was the Storm that came out on top as they defeated Burlington-Edison 34-13 at Civic Stadium on Friday night.
The Tigers struck on the second play of the game when a short pass turned into an 80-yard touchdown, which put Squalicum in a quick hole. But, the Storm know how to dig themselves out of holes after starting the season 1-2, while dealing with injuries, and now with a ticket to the postseason.
“It’s not how you start, it’s how you finish,” Squalicum senior Leyton Smithson said. “We know how to bounce back, we have fighters on this team.”
Smithson bounced back in a big way on Friday with three touchdown passes and a touchdown run.
The easiest of his touchdown passes came in the second quarter when he did a quick shovel to senior Kaleb Hawkinson who caught the ball one yard ahead to Smithson while streaking in motion, cut upfield, followed a devastating lead block by Djouvensky Schlenbaker, and then raced 46 yards for a touchdown.
Smithson’s second touchdown pass of the game came on 4th-and-goal at the 19 yard-line with 11 seconds remaining until halftime. He rolled out to his left and threw a strike to the left side of the end zone, and there he found senior wide receiver Reed Richardson who made his outside cut at the perfect time.
Smithson’s third touchdown pass was on a go route to senior Kai Posey, whom he lead perfectly down the right seam for a 40-yard touchdown in the fourth quarter.
The Storm defense was led by Schlenbaker who had 6.5 tackles, two sacks, 1.5 tackles for loss and a forced fumble. Junior inside linebacker Evan Brown had a team-high 9.5 tackles.
The Tigers hung around in the second half, but the two Squalicum touchdowns in the fourth quarter ultimately put them away.
With the game in hand, there was only one other accomplishment that needed to be dealt with. Schlenbaker not only wowed the crowd with his crushing lead blocks and defensive exploits, be he also came into the game just 62 yards behind Chad Clark as the school’s career leading rusher. When the Storm got the ball back with less than two minutes remaining, and a three-touchdown lead, the 6-foot-1 215-pound tailback was just four yards away. He took his final carry of the evening, gained six yards, and walked away with the school record.
Ultimately, not a bad way to end senior night, with five seniors scoring touchdowns and walking away with a victory.
Burlington-Edison 13 Squalicum 34 BE 6 0 7 0 - 13 SQU 0 19 0 15 - 34 BE - 80 yard touchdown pass (kick blocked) SQU - Schlenbaker 12 run (kick failed) SQU - Hawkinson 46 pass from Smithson (Keeley kick) SQU - Richardson 19 pass from Smithson (kick failed) BE - 9 yard touchdown run (kick good) SQU - Posey 40 pass from Smithson (Hawkinson run) SQU - Smithson 4 run (Smith kick) BE SQU 32-76 Rush Att-Yards 32-85 10-20-0 Comp-Att-Int 9-13-2 153 Passing Yards 195 Individual Leaders RUSHING - BE: N/A. SQU: Schlenbaker 18-64, Smithson 13-21, Hawkinson 1-2. PASSING - BE: N/A. SQU: Smithson 9-12-1-195, Richardson 0-1-1-0. RECEIVING - BE: N/A. SQU: Posey 3-65, Hawkinson 3-53, Richardson 2-34, Schlenbaker 1-43.
