LYNDEN – The momentum that carried the Sultan football team into the district playoffs wasn’t enough to get it into the next round.
The Turks, who had won their final three games to earn the Cascade Conference’s fourth and final seed, were defeated 34-12 by the Lynden Lions Friday night in a Class 2A District 1 winner-to-state playoff game at Lynden High School.
“We didn’t play like we’re capable of,” Sultan head coach Jim MacDicken said. “We just didn’t play quite to the level-I think we played intensely and I think we played hard-but our execution had a little bit to be desired.”
Facing the Northwest Conference’s top team – and the team ranked third in Class 2A by washingtonpreps.com – the Turks needed to play solid, nearly error-free football in a steady rain to defeat Lynden (9-1 overall) and advance to the state tournament.
Unfortunately, Sultan (6-4) fumbled the first time it touched the ball on a punt return. That mistake didn’t lead to any points for Lynden, but later in the second quarter the Turks fumbled the ball away on their own 17-yard line. Three plays later the Lions’ Landon VandeHoef scored on a two-yard rush. Quarterback/place-kicker Chris Bolt kicked the extra point to make it 21-6 Lynden.
Bolt, who finished 11-19 for 82 yards and an interception for the Lions, also scored on a 5-yard quarterback keeper. Bolt, who is known more as a passer than a runner, was harried by the Turks’ defense throughout the game but was able to scramble for yardage to keep Lynden moving forward. Bolt rushed 15 times for 92 yards.
VandeHoef added touchdown runs of two and five yards and finished with 71 yards on 13 carries.
“They had to run the football,” MacDicken said. “We planned (our defense that way), but we thought we would be able to sustain more drives.”
Just three of Sultan’s 10 possessions went for more than four plays: two nine-play drives ended in punts and the third, of eight plays length, ended as time expired at halftime.
The Turks didn’t need a long drive to get on the scoreboard however. Josh Mann took a handoff, and after breaking a tackle behind the line of scrimmage, ran 73 yards for a touchdown on Sultan’s first play of the 2nd quarter. The conversion attempt failed and the Turks trailed 7-6.
Mann finished with 158 yards on 12 carries. Beau Champeaux was 8-of-19 passing for 81 yards for the Turks.
The Lions’ next opponent in the state playoffs will be Sequim.
At Lynden High School
Sultan0606-12
Lynden02167-34
Lynden-Bolt 5 run (Bolt kick)
Sultan-Mann 73 run (run failed)
Lynden-VandeHoef 2 run (Bolt kick)
Lynden-VandeHoef 2 run (Bolt kick)
Lynden-VandeHoef 5 run (kick failed)
Lynden-Johnson 10 run (Brown kick)
Sultan-Mann 23 run (time expired)
Records-Sultan 6-4 overall. Lynden 9-1.
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