SPORTS
By Neil Macdonald

Niel's Notes
Soderbom Paces Blaine
Freshman Dusty Soderbom paced Blaine, finishing 25th with a 9:01 time in the 2.4 K (1.485 miles) North Cascades Conference cross country jamboree run on September 12 at Skagit Valley Community College.
The seven other Borderites runners who competed were: 62nd – Garrett Highley, 10:03; 77th – Ken Cunningham, 10:37; 78th – Kevin Teng, 10:38; 86th – Ryan Goodwin, 10:56; 96th – Richie Tewes, 11:22; 98th – Jon Freeman, 11:25. Only runners who had completed the required 10 practices were eligible to compete.
The Borderites compete on September 21 in the South Whidbey Invitational at Langley.

Blaine V-Ball
Blaine dropped a non-conference away decision to Friday Harbor 15-8, 15-12 and 15-13 in girls volleyball on September 12, then traveled to Everett for a series of set-tos with 4A and 3A competition in the Mariner Invitational on September 14.
The 2A Lady Bs lost 15-5, 15-11 to 4A Ballard; split 1-15, 15-6 with 3A Olympic; lost 15-9, 15-13 to 3A Arlington; beat 4A Nathan Hale 15-8, 15-8 and were defeated 15-3, 15-9 by 3A Anacortes. Definitely a respectable run of scores for a 2A team in 3 and 4A land.

Bianchi, Sanders on top
Borderites Scott Bianchi and Grant Sanders emerged as finalists in the Blaine Boys Tennis Invitational after play ended on September 14, but with the decisive finale, slated for September 16, cancelled due to rain, the pair decided to either share the honor or, perhaps, play a friendly final during practice sometime. After all, what’s a title among friends.
Bianchi defeated Friday Harbor’s Drew Allen 6-0, 6-0 and Lynden’s John Mayberry 6-1, 6-2 on September 14 to reach the finale. Sanders got there by edging Coupeville’s Nathaniel Mouw 6-3, 3-6, (7-4) and beating Lynden’s Nate Louws 6-0, 6-2.

SW runs over Blaine
“They got almost all their yards after initial contact,” Blaine coach David Fakkema said shortly after South Whidbey ran through his Borderites for 352 yards and a 42-16 victory in North Cascades Conference football at Blaine on September 13.
“They dominated us up front,” Fakkema said, adding, “and wore us down.”
The latter – the wearing down – was, perhaps, inevitable. The Borderites dressed 21 players; Whidbey 30. Blaine’s starting eleven averaged 175.9 pounds, Whidbey ‘s 192.7. That put the Borderites on the light side of a 16.8-pound per person disadvantage.
SW led 14-7, 28-10 and 42-10 at the quarters. Le scored Blaine’s first TD and Brian McCall, the second. Both came on short-yard bursts through the middle. SW’s Andy Wills, the back du jour, rushed for 181 yards on 11 carries. SW rushed for 352 yards, Blaine for 112. Each team gained 122 yards passing. The game was marred by a flurry of 14 fumbles, Blaine losing possession on 5-of-8 and SW on 2-of-6.
Blaine plays Granite Falls on September 20 at GF. ..

Blaine upsets Meridian in girls’ soccer opener
Blaine, picked by pundits for third in the NCC this year, opened their 2002 North Cascades Conference girls’ soccer season with a 3-0 upset of highly-rated Meridian in a sunny Shangri La of September 12th at the Pipe.
The Trojans, second in State in 2001, had opened their season with a 3-1 win over South Whidbey at Laurel on September 10 and appeared ready to conduct business as usual. Appearances, however, can be deceiving.
Whether the Lady Bs are the real thing or whether they caught the Lady Ts off guard should be answered shortly. Blaine hosts Sultan, fourth in State in ’01, on September 19 at 4:30 p.m. If the Turks get the works, then the Lady B’s will have no peers as far as the seers of soccer are concerned.
Andrea Harmening accepted a pass from Jenna Makalai, dodged past a Meridian defender and scored Blaine’s initial goal 33 minutes into the first half of the B-T tilt.
Linsey Taylor scored Blaine’s second goal early in the second half on a penalty kick. Both GKs encountered this detesting test before game’s end. A PK for a GK is an enigma of a dilemma. There aren’t many people aboard this planet who can intercept a ball if it is sent with sufficient swiftness to left or right of the keeper if the latter waits to see which way the ball has been struck. Keepers, therefore, have three choices – dive left or right as soon as striker’s foot hits ball or stand firm. The Trojan keeper twitched left as Taylor’s toes touched the ball and watched Taylor’s low shot go by in the right lane.
Blaine GK Shela Robertson faced Jen Johnson’s PK attempt at the 76-minute mark. Relying on her rapid-fire reflexes, Robertson made a superb sprawling left-side stop. Kristina Francis got the Lady Bs third goal, escorting the ball through a jumble of Lady Ts before burying it in the Trojan net. . .
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