Football
The Borderite football team calls him “Matty Ice.” On the score sheet, it will go down as a game-winning field goal by senior kicker Matthew Hayes.
With Blaine trailing visiting 1A Northwest Conference (NWC) foe Meridian 28-26 with five seconds remaining, Hayes kicked a 27-yard field goal to put the game on ice and deliver a homecoming win that Blaine won’t soon forget.
Head coach Andy Olson said there are few players on the roster that deserve their moment in the limelight more than Hayes. The senior volunteers every week to play the scout team linebacker (nobody asked him to do that) and was unfazed when Meridian took a timeout before his kick to “ice the kicker.” It didn’t work.
“For Matty Ice to go have ice in his veins and deliver for us, that’s cool, that was really cool,” Olson said. “I’m happy for him, and happy for our kids in general.”
Blaine walked off the field on October 6 after thwarting a last-second Hail Mary attempt by the visiting Trojans, and now sit with a 2-4 overall record, and 1-1 in NWC play. The win took the Borderites out from the conference basement, leapfrogging Meridian for 4th place with three games remaining on the year.
Hayes couldn’t have the opportunity for the game-winning kick without junior quarterback Colin Davis going supernova for a dazzling final drive to bring the Borderites to within field goal range. Davis marched down the field, completing four consecutive throws with under two minutes remaining to give the Borderites three tries at the end zone. A potential touchdown by tight end Connor Dahlry was rescinded by a holding penalty, and two incompletions to wide receiver Hunter Vezzetti brought fourth down, and Hayes drilled it.
“I couldn’t be happier for Colin Davis,” Olson said. “That kid is the quintessential ‘I’ll do everything’ [player]. Whatever you need, he’s the team’s player, so for him to go perform, I don’t think anybody deserves it more. I’m really happy for him.”
The entire game was a battle against Meridian (3-3, 1-2), featuring six lead changes, all in the second half. Blaine’s run defense suffocated the Trojans in the first half, with junior linebacker Blake Koreski blowing up multiple plays in the backfield. But by the third quarter, Meridian found a groove and punished the Borderites for a total of 180 rushing yards on 40 attempts.
“We’ve got a little bit of a learning curve going on here as we try to teach football IQ and adjustments,” Olson said. “In the third quarter, they basically gashed us on three plays: counter, lead and sweep [runs]. Those are things that we’ll learn and grow from as we play more football.”
The Borderites also gave up a kickoff return touchdown to begin the second half, its second such touchdown allowed in the past two games. Clearly the Borderites have room to improve, but Friday’s win could go down as a turning point in the program now helmed by first-year head coach Andy Olson.
“This is something we can build on,” Olson said. “It’s like, ‘okay, this is what it feels like to win on homecoming, this is what it feels like to win a close one, on our home field, against a league opponent.”
Blaine’s next game comes against 2A NWC rival Bellingham (3-3) at home on October 13 at 7 p.m. The Borderites have three games remaining on the season, with one last home game against Nooksack Valley on October 27.
Stats provided by WhatcomPreps.com
Girls Soccer
Blaine girls soccer put on a great performance on the road against Mount Baker on October 4, defeating the cross-county rivals 2-0 with a pair of goals from junior captain Juliana Zuzarte.
The win over Mount Baker was Blaine’s first game this season to see the Borderites score more than one goal. Head coach Gio Quesada-Ruiz chalked the extra offensive push to moving Zuzarte from midfielder to forward at halftime, allowing the speedy captain more creativity and autonomy in the flow of play. She netted both goals in the second half.
The Borderites are now riding its first winning streak of the season, which couldn’t have come at a more opportune time than after getting routed 6-0 to an underrated (and at the time, 0-7) Lynden Christian team.
After starting its conference schedule a disappointing 0-1-1, the Borderites have bounced back in a big way in the past week, and now sit directly in the middle of the 1A NWC standings in third place at 2-1-1 with a 3-3-2 overall record.
For Quesada-Ruiz, Zuzarte’s performance is part of what he expects from a veteran player that has been in the program since her freshman year.
“She has the extra experience that a lot of players don’t have,” Quesada-Ruiz said of his captain. “She’s a great player, she has a natural instinct and she’s a very competitive player. That’s why she’s the captain.”
Zuzarte’s two goals were her first of the season, and it brought Blaine its largest margin of victory so far this year. Perhaps her new position at forward will stick for the final four games of the regular season.
The Borderite defense, led by standout junior goalkeeper Larissa Pluschakov, earned its fourth shutout in eight games this season. Pluschakov, the reigning NWC Defensive Player of the Year, and the Borderites look poised to remedy its 6-0 blunder against Lynden Christian during the rematch on October 16.
“She’s the best keeper in the conference,” Quesada-Ruiz said. “But it’s not only because of Larissa. I think the defense really understands how to play the position and when to attack the ball.”
The Borderites will need all facets of its game to click for the final third of the regular season. Blaine will rematch against each conference opponent one more time before seeding is announced for district playoffs.
Blaine will go on the road to face Meridian on October 11 and host Lynden Christian on October 16 at 7 p.m. at Borderite Stadium.
Volleyball
The Blaine volleyball team’s two-game winning streak was snapped October 4 in a straight-set loss to Oak Harbor, 25-20, 25-17 and 25-17, then followed by another straight-set loss to Lakewood on October 10.
The losses put Blaine at a 2-8 overall record with five games remaining on the year.
As with the two wins last week, the October 10 loss saw setters Bella Vezzetti and Kaitlyn Harrington lighting up the stat sheet with 11 assists and a block each, while seniors Teya Zaddack and Deja Dube combined for 16 kills on the night, with Zaddack earning eight digs and Dube tallying nine.
The Borderites seem to be running out of time to make a push for district playoffs with only a few remaining games in its regular season schedule. It could be a challenge for Blaine to even match its win total from the 2022-23 season when the Borderites went 4-13.
The Borderites will continue to fight on through the remainder of the season, and will face off against Squalicum at home on October 12 at 7 p.m.
Stats provided by WhatcomPreps.com
Comments
No comments on this item Please log in to comment by clicking here