Borderites stay alive with playoff win against Mountlake Terrace

By Oliver Lazenby

Blaine football pulled off a playoff upset on October 26, beating Mountlake Terrace 28–10 in a first-round loser-out game at Edmonds Stadium.

With the win, Blaine avenged a 40–0 loss to Mountlake Terrace just three weeks earlier. Blaine head coach Jay Dodd said his team was excited for the chance to play Mountlake Terrace again.

“When they beat us earlier, it wasn’t that they were kicking our butts; we were shooting ourselves in the foot. We snapped it over the quarterback’s head two times in that game,” Dodd said. “The team really wanted to go back down there and play them again.”

If anyone doubted that Blaine could compete against the team that recently clobbered them, those doubts were erased in the first quarter when the Borderites’ defense forced a three-and-out in the first series of plays and another on Mountlake Terrace’s next possession.

Blaine junior lineman Wyatt Cole sacked Mountlake Terrace quarterback Jesse-James Martineau on the first play of the game and had three other sacks and six tackles-for-loss throughout the game.

Blaine capitalized on its tough defense when sophomore quarterback Will McKinney scored on a quarterback sneak in the first quarter. Mountlake Terrace took a 10–7 lead in the second quarter after a 24-yard field goal and a 14-yard touchdown run.

Blaine scored 14 points in the third quarter on two more quarterback sneaks by McKinney and extra-point kicks by senior Bryce Kamrath. McKinney’s running touchdowns are his first of the season.

“Will had some struggles early on and mid-season. To his credit, he has not put his head down or quit,” Dodd said. “That shows his maturity and it shows that he’s developing into a terrific quarterback as we speak.”

Blaine led by 11 points in the fourth quarter when an airborne Hudson Reid made an interception and ran 21 yards for a touchdown. The Blaine senior tight end and linebacker also had four receptions for 39 yards on offense.

Blaine senior running back Alex Mercado rushed for 189 yards on 29 carries and junior Oscar Caridad had 43 rushing yards on nine runs.

Next, with the momentum of a three-game winning streak, the Borderites take on Lynden in a must-win game. Lynden went 8–0 in the Northwest Conference Sky Division (Blaine finished the regular season 4–4 in the lower “Lake Division.”)

“Not many people are going to give us a chance in this game and that’s why we’re excited to see what we have,” Dodd said. “We’re having fun and we’re playing really well right now. It’s probably going to be raining sideways and cold, so it might just come down to who is tougher and we have some tough guys on our side.”

The game starts at 7 p.m. on Friday, November 2, at Civic Stadium in Bellingham. The winner will advance to the state tournament, which starts November 9 at the Tacoma Dome.