SPORTS
By Neil Macdonald

Bianchi remains undefeated
Borderite Scott Bianchi continued to dominate No. 1 singles as Blaine defeated Friday Harbor 4-1 on September 30 at home and were defeated by South Whidbey 4-3 on October 2 at Langley in tennis action.
Bianchi downed Friday Harbor’s Dylan Gerhardstein 8-0 and SW’s Tim Klopfenstein 6-4, 6-1 to remain undefeated in fall 2002 tennis action. Klopfenstein’s 6-4 loss is as close as anyone has been to beating him.
Bianchi has now defeated Ferndale’s Chris Bateman 6-0, 6-1; Squalicum’s Daniel Metz 6-1, 6-1; Friday Harbor’s Drew Allen 6-0, 6-0 and Gerhardstein 8-0, 8-0; Lynden’s John Maberry 6-1, 6-2 and 6-2, 6-3; Bellingham’s Brian Beaumont 6-3, 6-2; SW’s Kopfenstein 6-2, 6-2 and 6-4, 6-1 and Coupeville’s Nathaniel Mouw 6-1, 6-0. That’s a 124-26 point spread, an average game score of about 6-1 and a master’s degree in high school tennis. Anyone for State?
C. J. Stauffer won No. 2 singles at Friday Harbor, while the twosomes of Peter Moskovitz/Grant Sanders and Mikey Allan/Craig Rothwell won doubles in the win over Friday Harbor.
Blaine split singles 2-2 with South Whidbey, Bianchi and Stauffer winning No. 1 and 2 singles for the Borderites, Kai Snow and Todd Berry taking No. 3 and 4 singles for the Falcons. Blaine went 1-for-3 in doubles, Jack Freal/
Lucas Werdal edging Devon Perrick/Kenny Johnson for Blaine’s lone win in pairs.
Blaine hosts Ferndale on October 10 at 3:45 p.m. and South Whidbey on October 14 at 3:30 p.m. and finish the regular season at Coupeville on October 16. .

Blaine edged 3-2 by South Whidbey
Blaine lost 3-0 to Lynden Christian on October 5 at LC, was edged 3-2 by South Whidbey on October 3 at Langley and fell 3-0 to Mt. Baker on October 1 at the Big Orange in girls volleyball action.
The Lyncs 15-8, 15-1, 15-4 win saw Lynden C senior outside hitter Avery Bostrom go 22-for-22 serving. Bostrom accumulated four aces as well. LC’s Laura VandenHoek, a 6-foot-3 senior middle hitter, got 18 kills and five blocks. Jessica Summers led the Lady B’s with nine.
The Lady B’s took an early lead in the Falcon affair, winning the first game 15-13, but fell behind, losing game’s two and three 15-7 and 15-11. Coach Muriel Ridnour’s crew rallied to knot the evening’s activity at 2-2, winning the fourth game 15-9 to force the fifth and final game. SW came back to win it (and the match) 15-6. Middle hitter Summers got 14 kills; setter Jessica Freeman, 34 assists, and outside hitter Alisa Burk, 21 digs, for Blaine.
Mt. Baker’s 3-0 sweep saw the Lady Mountaineers become more dominant as the evening progressed, winning the opening game 15-11, the second 15-9 and the finale 15-5. Summers, coming off an ankle injury in the Lady B’s September 26 encounter with Meridian, had an evening high nine kills in the non-league Baker bout. Freeman had 17 assists. Five Lady B’s accounted for Blaine’s six aces. Summers got two. Freeman, Burk, Carly Hubbard and Amanda Stull added one each.
The Lady B’s host Lakewood at 7 p.m. on October 15. .
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Powerful LC swamps Blaine
With a tide of navy blue and foam white inundating basic black, defending NCC champion Lynden Christian washed over the Borderites 54-0 in North Cascades Conference football at Blaine on October 4.
Play after play presented an image of a moving wall of very many and very large blue and white-clad young men bearing down on a very few black-clad young fellows, isolated from their teammates and in instant danger of being swamped.
This occurred when Blaine was on offense, too many Lyncs getting through to Borderite QB or RB, and when the Double B’s were on defense, too many LC blockers setting up tackle-free ways for convoys of LC ball carriers to score. In all, eight different Lyncs got a TD for LC.
The pattern for Lynden C’s point-producing perfection wasn’t in the stats. The Lyncs only outdistanced Blaine 147-45 in rushing and 62-45 in passing yards. It was, perhaps, in field position.
LC recovered a fumble two plays into the game on the Blaine 19. They scored four plays later, QB Mark Holleman going around left end on a 10-yard jaunt. Their second march started on the Blaine 25 courtesy of a Kyle DeBoer interception. Two plays later, DeBoer swept around the Borderite left flank for 19 yards and LC’s second TD.
Less than three minutes had elapsed. Lynden C was up 14-0. The pattern of things to come was chiseled in stone. The Lyncs led 27-0 at the half and 47-0 at three-quarters.
The re-building Borderites did have a few moments of distinction, perhaps the most impressive being QB Bryan Galbraith in the grasp of several Lyncs completing a pass to TE Kevin Farmer to take the “im” out of impossible in Q3.
There was Rapid Rhyan Lopez’s catching up to and bringing down LC’s fast-footed Kevin Kooy with nothing but night air between Kooy, the end zone and a LC TD in Q2. There was Bob Francis in Q1, harassing and hurrying LC’s QB into putting the “in” in incomplete pass, and Kyle Green stopping Jordan Vanderpol for a two-step gain with a hit of the unkind kind.
Blaine hosts Mt. Baker on October 11 in the Borderites annual homecoming game..

Blank or be blanked for Lady Bs
The Lady B’s were defeated 3-0 by Mt. Baker September 30 at Kendall and defeated Granite Falls 3-0 in the Tiger’s lair October 3.
Linsey Taylor led Blaine over G-Falls, scoring at 28 minutes of the first half. Taylor disengaged a Lady Tiger from the ball while pushing forward in offensive mode and promptly propelled a bullet under GF’s keeper for a goal.
Lady B midfielder Holly Steckler picked up a pass from Ainsely Nix and quickly got Blaine’s second tally 15 minutes into the second half.
Linsey Taylor got her second goal at 72 minutes. She started by getting a ball, bouncing in carefree abandon in front of the Tiger net, away from a G-Falls defender. Then, finding that her back was to the goal, Taylor spun into action, turning and shooting and scoring a la athleticism.
Blaine GK Shela Robertson got her fifth shutout in the Tiger tilt.
MB’s Abby Reed got two goals in the Baker game, breaking a nil-null deadlock halfway through the second half with a header into the Blaine net. The Lady M’s went two-up with a quick transition goal by Tessa Bittner at 65 minutes. With Blaine opening up in an attempt to get back in the game, MB got possession and once again scored
The Lady B’s play Nooksack Valley at 4:30 p.m. on October 10 at the Pipe and oppose the Turks at Sultan on October 15. In a conference as close knit as the NCC, neither Blaine nor six other contenders for a playoff spot can afford to lose to anyone. An L, as in loss, can be lethal.
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