Cross-Country
Blaine cross-country finally hosted its first home meet of the season on September 27 in a race that was originally planned for Pipeline Field, but was relocated to Peace Arch Historical State Park by first-year head coach Roberto Aguilera.
“I like this course better than Pipeline because it gives it character,” Aguilera said. “It’s a course where you can actually feel a little bit of grit, a little bit of toughness to it and I just enjoy this course because it’s a nice scenery too, right next to Canada.”
Teams from Blaine, Ferndale and Burlington-Edison criss-crossed through the 5,000-meter course on both U.S. and Canadian sides of the park, cutting right past the famous namesake arch.
Aguilera said he raced the same route during his high school running days at Ferndale in 2014, and wanted to reproduce that feeling for the varsity boys team, which posted a team score of 68, placing third.
“I told them it’s their home course, they should run fast, they should know this course like the back of their hand and know every inch of where to pick it up, where to kick, where to accelerate,” Aguilera said.
Despite a third-place team performance, all top-four finishers for Blaine recorded a personal record for 5,000-meter races. Junior Tucker Greene led the Borderites as the lone top-8 finisher with a time of 19:10. Junior Ian Tuski (19:40), senior Sam Stiles (19:52) and standout freshman Steven Phelps-McDonald (20:40) followed. Phelps-McDonald finished with the second-fastest time among freshmen.
The Borderites will join in three more races before its next league meet at the NWC XC Championships on Wednesday, October 18 at 3:20 p.m. at Civic Field in Bellingham.
Volleyball
After a tumultuous 0-6 start to the season, with the Borderites losing in straight sets all six games, Blaine volleyball bounced back in a big way with two straight wins against conference opponents this past week.
The Borderites earned its first win on the season with a straight-set win over Sedro-Woolley on September 28, and a come-from-behind 3-1 win over Bellingham after dropping the first set badly, 25-11, on October 2.
Standout senior outside hitter Teya Zaddack led the Borderites with back-to-back double-double performances, racking up 30 kills, 29 digs, four aces and two blocks over the two-game stretch.
Head coach Jacquie Smith said that while the Western Washington University commit earned significant kudos, the team wouldn’t finally be in the win column without support from setters Kaitlyn Harrington and Bella Vezzetti.
“Both our setters have been putting up hittable balls, finding the hitters and getting great assist numbers,” Smith said. “They also contribute to the kills total as well as the blocks. The team as a whole has a high serving percentage.”
The pair of setters combined for 41 assists in Blaine’s 3-1 win over Bellingham on October 2.
Sophomore Carly Saunders broke out in the win against Bellingham with eight kills and a block, while Vezzetti and Harrington combined for 41 assists in the comeback.
The Borderites still sit near the bottom of the Northwest Conference (NWC) table, but hope this win streak can continue into the final seven games of a grueling volleyball season.
“Anything can happen,” Smith said. “[We’ve got to] keep making goals, playing as a team and keep striving to be the best version of yourself on and off the court.”
Blaine’s next game was scheduled at home against conference foes Oak Harbor October 4 at 7 p.m. They will then face Lakewood on the road on Tuesday, October 10 and host Squalicum on Thursday, October 12.
Stats provided by WhatcomPreps.com
Football
In a 46-17 loss that wasn’t as much of a blowout as the score suggests, Blaine football dropped to a 1-4 overall record at Mount Baker on September 29. Head coach Andy Olson described his team’s performance as foundationally sound, but with some major problems poking through.
“It felt kind of like a really good sandwich on bad bread,” Olson said.
The game started off with a 95-yard kickoff return touchdown by the hosting Mountaineers, forcing the Borderites to play catch-up all night long.
With another great performance from budding junior quarterback Colin Davis, who threw for 250 yards and two touchdowns, Blaine made it a 20-17 game in the third quarter after a 30-yard strike from Davis to senior wideout Justin Minjarez.
But the turnover bug just kept biting the Borderites. Multiple special teams turnovers left the Mountaineers in great field position, scoring 26 unanswered points to finish the night.
“We found creative ways to turn the ball over,” Olson said. “And those things kind of piled on, but we kept bouncing back and we stayed the course.”
Blaine yet again produced a great game on the ground, with junior running back Rommel Paez taking most of the touches and collecting 80 yards on 18 carries. With star wide receiver Riley Ihde out with an injury, Minjarez broke out for 96 yards and a touchdown on just four catches, and always-reliable senior Jesse Deming caught a touchdown and notched 51 yards receiving.
“Our quarterback has progressively played better as the season went on, he had probably his best night,” Olson said of Davis. “We’re starting to become more cohesive, we’re starting to feel more comfortable in our own shoes a little bit, which is a good sign.”
Hopefully that comfort in this brand-new offensive system will translate into wins, as the Borderites roll into the final four games of the regular season sitting at the bottom of the 1A NWC standings with a 0-1 conference record.
Three of Blaine’s last four games will be at home, with the Borderites’ next challenge against Meridian (3-2, 1-1) on Friday, October 6 at 7 p.m. Olson hopes the flashes of brilliance he’s seen throughout the year can finally burn consistently for a full game come Friday night.
“This year our goal is to find out, what does our best self look like? Can we put together that product for four consecutive quarters?” Olson said. “We’ve yet to do that, but each week we have moments where we’re getting closer and closer to that.”
Stats provided by WhatcomPreps.com
Girls Soccer
The past week for Blaine girls soccer was a mixed bag, losing in blowout fashion against Lynden Christian 6-0 on September 28, then turning things around and gutting out a 1-0 win against Nooksack Valley on October 2.
The Borderites now sit at a lukewarm 2-3-2 overall record, with a 1-1-1 NWC record that puts the team directly in the middle of the five-team NWC standings.
The hosting Lynden Christian Lyncs limped into the game against Blaine with a 0-7-0 record, but thrashed the Borderites for its most lopsided loss of the season, seemingly out of nowhere.
“They think they won the game before they played the game,” head coach Gio Quesada-Ruiz said of his team’s mentality heading into the game.
Lynden Christian now sits at 2-0-0 in conference play and is just above the Borderites at second place in the NWC. Quesada-Ruiz knows that approaching late in the season, the competition level ratchets up.
“I always have high expectations for the team,” Quesada-Ruiz said. “The day I don’t have high expectations, I think I’ll stop coaching. Every year for me, the program has high expectations, and that’s the goal.”
Just four days later, Blaine seemed to have things turned around after a dominant 1-0 win at home over Nooksack Valley. In a game where Blaine started three freshmen on the defensive back line, the Borderites earned its third shutout victory of the year.
“I saw a big change in their mentality,” Quesada-Ruiz said. “The team learned that every game is going to be different, every conference game is a final – it’s a battle.”
Freshman midfielder Kate Koreski scored the game-deciding goal for the Borderites, the first of her young high school career. Koreski was the first player other than Lucy Dahl to score for the Borderites this year. So far, Blaine has only three goals over seven games, but a stout defense that seems to harden when the situation calls for it.
“It’s a really young team,” Quesada-Ruiz said. “And yesterday, the team dominated.”
More than halfway through the season and sitting at 2-3-2, the Borderites look poised to post a strong second half against a range of conference foes.
The Borderites were scheduled to go on the road to face Mount Baker on October 4, and Meridian on Wednesday, October 11. Blaine’s next home game will be held Monday, October 16 at 7 p.m. in a rematch against Lynden Christian.
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