Posted by Andrew Lang

With key players Emily Webster and Hallie Messenger out of the lineup with illness and Jori Hall out with a bum ankle, it was up to Rachel Albert, Jessica Bertucci and Haley Smith to lead the Mariners to a win Thursday, Dec. 29 on the second day of the Cloud 9 Lynden Christmas Classic.

Trailing by 13 points in the fourth quarter, Sehome’s 57-54 overtime win was far from  just a couple of key players making plays.

Albert scored a combined 12 points during the fourth quarter and 4 minute overtime period, Smith handed out four assists, Bertucci played stingy defense and Ana Miksovsky scored eight points in the fourth quarter.

The Mariners even received scoring from some unlikely places. Due to the extra roster spots , Kirk tossed junior varsity player Maddy Bryan into the game in the third, and Bryan proceeded to score four points on her only two shot attempts.

“I thought we played pretty well for just getting Jess (Bertucci) back and having a lot of girls struggling with (illnesses),” Albert said.

While the comeback win was a team effort, Albert did shine the brightest and proved to Sehome coach Kim Kirk that she has the ability to take over a game in crunch time.

“I guess my mindset is to just focus on my defense,” Albert said. “If there are open shots, I’ll take them. For the most part, I just want to find the best shot, and if it falls on my shoulders, (so be it.)”

Albert went 5 for 5 from the floor in the final 12 minutes of the game.

After soundly losing Wednesday night 45-32 against Cascade Christian, the Mariners dug deep to pull out a gutsy win Kirk can point to later in the season. It was a pretty good way to end the year for Sehome.

Posted by Andrew Lang

Heading into the 2011-12 season, Ferndale coach Caleb Schlack was a bit skeptic with the amount of youth he had on his squad, especially with the losses of state wrestlers Kody Liles and Jack Johnson.

But, after winning the George Yonlick Tournament Saturday, Dec. 3 and topping Sehome 52-24 Wednesday night, Schlack’s Golden Eagles are looking strong.

Ferndale junior heavyweight Kam Williams has been brilliant this year. He pinned all three of his opponents at the George Yonlick Tournament and also earned a pin over Sehom’s Titi Lamositele Wednesday.

“I think Kam really worked his butt off tonight,” said Schlack after  Ferndale’s win over Sehome. “I think the guys are just really jumping into the team mentality. A lot of the older guys have been helping out and preaching our philosophy to the younger guys.”

Williams’ efforts, combined with the talents of Isaac Robison (126), who also went 3-0 at the George Yonlick Tournament and pinned his opponent Wednesday, could help transcend Ferndale from what was supposed to be a rebuilding year of sorts into a chance at a Northwest Conference title.

Posted by Andrew Lang

The Lions capped off an incredible drive filled with third down conversions with an 11-yard scamper by Lynden running back Kyle Hanson to take a 17-16 lead with 1:40 left after a successful Santiago Lopez kick.

Posted by Andrew Lang

The Lions were unable to move the ball out of the shadow of thier own endzone and took a safety on a fourth-and-16, but Lynden’s John Shine recovered the ensuing onside kick to give the Lions new life.

With 4:10 to go, the Lions have the ball on their own 35.

Posted by Andrew Lang

The Lions defense stopped Archbishop Murphy, and the Lions regained possesion with 5:07 to go in the state title game on their own 9.

Posted by Andrew Lang

In the Lions’ opening fourth quarter possesion, Lynden moved the ball to the Wildcat 43, but were stopped on a third-and-5 on a Kraght quarterback keeper that lost to yards

The Lions went for it on fourth-and-7, and Kraght completed a pass to Zach Vis right at the chains and aftere the measurement, it was determined a first down, much to the dismay of the Archbishop Murphy sideline.

However on Lynden’s next set of downs, the Lions went for it on fourth-and-1, but Kraght was stopped just short on a quarterback sneak to give the ball back to the Wildcats with 7:51 left in the game.

Posted by Andrew Lang

After the Archbishop Murphy score, the Lions’ offense went three-and-out and gave the ball to Wildcats on thier own 22.

But, the Lions defense rose to the occasion, as Lynden secondary player Zach Vis made a huge hit on Wildcat receiver Alex Kramer on a third-and-8 to get the ball back into Lynden’s hands. Kramer was open on the play and would have stood as a significant gain.

Lynden has the ball on thier own 16 to open the fourth quarter.

Posted by Andrew Lang

Archbishop Murphy worked an eight-play drive highlighted by a 30-yard pass from Wildcat quarterback Connor Kruse to running back Alex Kramer.

The drive was capped off by an 8-yard TD run by Kruse to take a 14-10 lead over Lynden with4:10 to go in the third quarter.

Posted by Andrew Lang

Josh Kraght connected with Zach Vis for an 8-yard TD strike to take a 10-7 lead with 7:20 to go in the third quarter.

The Lions finally got some offense going  after the Lions’ defense stopped Archbishop Murphy on fourth down, as Josh Kraght connected with Zach Vis for a 37-yard gain down to the Wildcat 40.

On a third-and-9 on the Wildcat 39 Kraght took a quarterback keeper down to the Archbishop Murphy 22. Then the Lions used running back Kyle Hanson to work their way into scoring postion.

Posted by Andrew Lang

Following Archbishop Murphy’s score, Lynden picked up a first down via a pass interference penalty,but were stopped as Wildcat linebacker Eneliko Tevaga broke through Lynden’s line to sack Lions’ quarterback Josh Kraght.

Lynden booted a beautiful 63-yard punt to bury Archbishop Murphy inside their own 5. The Wildcats slowly moved the ball to midfield before the first half expired.

Archbishop Murphy did a great job of establishing its run game in the first half, which, in turn, ate up a tremendous amount of clock and took the ball out of the hands of the Lynden offense.

The Wildcats picked up 10 first downs opposed to Lynden’s two first downs.

Here are some first half stats for Lynden and Archbishop Murphy.

Lynden- Josh Kraght four carries for negative eight yards and two of three passing for 15 yards.

Lynden-Kyle Hanson two carries for four yards

Lyden- Nate Wielenga one catch for 14 yards

Archbishop Murphy- Alex Galgano 14 carries for 69 yards

Archbishop Murphy-Hans WanderWel six carries for 21 yards and a rush TD

Archbishop Murphy-Connor Kruse seven carries for 48 yards

Lynden has ran just 11 plays to Archbishop Murphy’s 39 and the Lions had the ball for only 5:43 throughout the first two quarters compared to the Wildcats 18:17 time of possesion. Lynden’s offense, which entered the state final averaging 33.6 points per game throughout the state playoffs, has been significantly limited in the first half, as the Lions’ defense can’t get off the field and has been lulled to sleep by Archbishop Murphy’s methodical offense.

The Lions get the ball first in the second half.