LYNDEN HIGH SCHOOL SPORTS INFORMATION

December 2nd, 2008                Advisor: Mr. Blake Van Dalen

Co-Editors: Adam Lewis and Ryan Seto

                                    Lions Shock the State!!!

Team of destiny.  Cinderella story.  State champs.  All three usually generic sports clichés describe the Lynden Lions 2008 football season.  After starting the season a modest 2-2, the Lions rolled off ten consecutive wins that concluded with Saturday afternoon’s thrilling come from behind double overtime victory against the previously undefeated Prosser Mustangs to win a State Championship for the second time in the past three years.  Lynden trailed for nearly all of regulation before a miraculous 2 minutes and 22 seconds that saw the Lions roll off 15 consecutive points sent Lynden fans into a frenzy and the game into overtime.  Lynden finishes the season at 12-2 and with arguably the most satisfying win in program history!

Game Recap:  The Prosser Mustangs were rarely challenged throughout the course of the 2008 football season.  They breezed through the regular season and bowled their way through the state playoffs.  The first quarter against the Lions netted the similar results for the Mustangs as they controlled the line of scrimmage and jumped out to a 14-0 lead.

On the opening drive of the game, Prosser marched the ball down the field while mixing the run and pass.  They capped off their possession with a halfback dive up the middle by Prosser running back Dylan Bolt to give the Mustangs the early lead.  Lynden’s defense looked vulnerable as Prosser quarterback Jordan Durbin picked apart Lynden’s zone defense like he was playing a game of NCAA Football 09.

On the ensuing kick-off, Lynden playmaker Blair Bomber fumbled a ball that bounced awkwardly across the Tacoma Dome field turf before breaking to the outside and streaking past Prosser’s kick-off coverage.   He crossed the fifty and made one more cut across the field before he was finally caught inside the Prosser red zone.  However, the Lions muffed a golden opportunity to tie the game right away as the offense went four and out.  A measurement of David Gaylord’s short yardage 4^th down run came up just inches short of the line to gain.

The Prosser Mustangs continued to move the ball steadily down the field on offense as Lynden couldn’t produce an answer for Boise State recruit and Prosser wide receiver Kirby Moore.  Later in the first quarter, Moore took a screen pass and broke an array of Lynden tackles before taking it 51 yards and into the end zone.  At the end of the quarter, Prosser held a 14-0 lead and all the momentum.

In the 2^nd quarter, the Lynden defense began to settle down and contain a pass-happy Prosser attack.  Driving deep into Mustang territory late in the half, Lynden QB Jordan Hastings lofted a fade pass to six foot five inch WR Ryan Seto that was intercepted in the left corner of the end zone.  The Lions had squandered another opportunity to cut into a 14-0 deficit as they went into the half down two scores.

The Lynden spread offense clicked on the opening drive of the second half.  The Lions moved the ball easily down the field against an undersized Prosser defense.  After finding themselves in the Prosser red zone again, the Lions finally broke through with a 12-yard slant route from Hastings to Seto that cut the lead to 14-6.  However, the ensuing PAT was missed wide to the left, and Lynden found themselves down 8 points with their 2008 season running short on time.

For the remainder of the 3^rd quarter and late into the 4^th the Lynden and Prosser defense took over the game.  Both teams struggled to sustain a drive, and the Lions missed an opportunity to tie the score when a long ball from Hastings glanced off the fingertips of Bomber.  Lynden fans let a collective groan as the next pass was intercepted by Prosser safety Kirby Moore.  The Mustangs then capitalized on the interception as Durbin hit Moore over the top of Bomber for a 38-yard touchdown pass that seemed to seal the Lion’s fate with 2:22 seconds left in regulation.  The events that followed will forever go down in Lynden High School history.

It is not clear whether Prosser K Miguel Munoz meant to pooch the ball on the ensuing kickoff, or if he simply stubbed his foot on the Tacoma Dome carpet.  However, we do know the ball traveled only ten yards and Lynden Sr. DT James Allen kept his composure while making a fair catch near midfield.  From there, it took the Lion offense only four plays to score as Hastings hit Ryan Seto across the middle and he barreled through Prosser defenders and in for the score to cut the lead to 8 points.  Following the touchdown, Lynden recovered the onside kick when Sr. Jace Baxter-Bowen leapt into the air and stole the ball away from the Mustang hands team.

After a spectacular 41-yard catch by Sr. WR Jordan Weeks over three Mustang defenders on the following drive, Sr. workhouse David Gaylord rumbled into the end zone from 4 yards out to cut the score to 21-19.  Gaylord then slipped past the Prosser defense on the 2-point conversion and Hastings found him alone in the end zone to tie the game at 21-21 with 53 seconds remaining.  The Lions then held off a furious Prosser drive into Lynden territory when Jr. S Brett Bajema intercepted a Durbin pass at the goal line as time expired.

In the first OT, Prosser faced a 4^th and 9 from the 24 yard line before Durbin hit little-used Prosser receiver Matt Young in the corner of the end zone for the score.  However, Lynden immediately responded when Hastings hit Bomber an out route to even the score at 28-28.  The Lions took the ball again to start the second OT, and the Prosser defense could not respond as Gaylord scored his second rushing touchdown of the game.  The Mustangs then continued to utilize Moore as he caught his 14^th pass of the game from Durbin to score his 3^rd touchdown and cut Lynden’s lead to 35-34.

After calling a timeout, Prosser coach Tom Moore made a bold decision to try to go for the 2 point conversion and the win.  From 3 yards outside the goal line Durbin rolled out to his right and found no one open.  Lynden Sr. (LB) Taylor Creighton hit Durbin as he released the ball, and Ryan Seto knocked it down to seal the 4^th football State Championship in the history of Lynden High School.

Lynden Wins Half-Time Relay: A 14-0 halftime deficit didn’t deter members of the Lynden student section from beating Prosser fans in a relay that spanned the length of the field.  With a fan standing at every ten yards apart from goal line to goal line, participants shoveled the ball ten yards at a time across the field and back.  After the victory, Lynden high school student and lyndenfootball.com writer Adam Lewis had the opportunity to kick a 20 yard field goal.  His kick grazed the lowest cross bar and toppled through the uprights.  Lewis left the field with his hands raised in triumph.