SPORTS
By Neil Macdonald

Niel's Notes
Bianchi Stays Undefeated
Blaine boys went 1-1 in tennis action, defeating Friday Harbor 5-2 in the Wolverines den on September 18 and losing 6-1 to undefeated Bellingham on September 20 at B’ham.
Borderite senior Scott Bianchi topped FH’s Dylan Gerhardstein 8-0 and stopped B’ham’s Brian Beaumont 6-3, 6-2 in No. 1 singles to extend his undefeated skein to six straight opponents. Other Results:
At Friday Harbor – Singles: Peter Moskovitz (Bl) d. Drew Allen 2-2 (injury default); C. J. Stauffer (Bl) d. Dan Herbert 8-1; Justin Farmer (Bl) d. Jesse Kjolso 8-0. Doubles: Jack Freal/Lucas Werdal (Bl) d. Alex Altman/Jake Byron 8-1; Kohl Metzger-Bell/Liam Knight (FH) d. Mikey Allan/Alex Cross (Bl) 8-5; Ben Freeman/Jake Schulte d. Kooper Westhoven-Koch/Stephan Morrisey (FH) 8-5.
At Bellingham – Singles: Eddie Estrada (Be) d. Grant Sanders 6-1, 6-2; Colin Gowan (Be) d. Farmer 6-0, 6-0; Colin Simon (Be) d. Kyle Dhanani 6-1, 6-2. Doubles: Danny Patterson/Chris McCoy (Be) d. Moskovitz/Stauffer 6-4, 7-5; Chris Wells/A.J. Murray (Be) d. Freal/Werdal 6-1, 6-2; Joe Stuckrath/Joe McClenahan (Be) d. Allan/Cross 7-5, 6-0.

Split in V-Ball
Blaine defeated Granite Falls three games to two on September 18 and lost three games to one to Lynden Christian on September 19 at the Big Orange in North Cascades Conference girls volleyball action.

Blaine gets fourth straight shutout win
Coach Dan Steelquist’s Lady B soccer side downed Lakewood 4-0 on September 21 at the Pipe to post their and GK Shela Robertson’s fourth straight shutout win in NCC soccer play.
After opening the ’02 season with a 3-0 upset win over highly-rated Meridian on September 12, Blaine edged Nooksack Valley 1-0 at NV in OT on September 17 and topped Sultan, the NCC’s south side title-contender, 2-0 at the Pipe on September 19.
The wind-filled, skin-chilled win over Sultan, fourth in State in ’01, coming after the Meridian upset, put the Lady B’s on every coach’s and Robertson on every shooter’s ‘to beat’ list. Shutout Shela, NCC defensive player of ’01, hasn’t even let sportswriters sneak an “I” into her first name, let alone give up a goal. Take the Sultan game.
Robertson stifled Jenny Brown’s bid for an early goal from close in. Made a sprawling save when an errant ball off a Blaine defender went seeking refuge in the lower right corner of the Lady B net, and took the ball off the encroaching foot of an on-coming Turk about five feet out. All in the first half.
After the half ended nil-nil, Robertson repeated her off-the-foe’s foot bit, depriving an offending Turk forward of the ball once again from close in.
Sultan’s fortunes turned a bit bleak a little later when the Turks lost Katie Brown, their top scoring threat, to a yellow card. Her removal was based on the Turk’s policy of taking a carded player instantly out of the game to eliminate the possibility of getting a second yellow and an automatic suspension from the team’s next game.
Andrea Harmening scored at 58 minutes and 65 minutes to win it for Blaine. Krista Jones assisted on the first goal, Jenna Makalai and Ainsley Nix, set up the second.
The NV game was back-and-forth, see-saw, teeter-totter soccer until Nix crossed to Kimberly Harmening, who scored with two minutes left in OT.
Andrea and Kimberly scored in the first half against Lakewood, with Jenna Makalai and Kristina Francis assisting. Andrea H scored again in the second half. Linsey Taylor got the assist, then completed the Lady B scoring with a goal off a Kimberly H pass.
The Lady B’s play South Whidbey at 4:30 p.m. on September 26 at the Pipe.
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Lopez scores 3 TDs in overtime loss to Granite Falls
Blaine Borderite football team learned, what the wise man said, that the tragedy of man is not that he loses, but that he almost wins.
This rather esoteric piece of philosophic wisdom came on September 20 when the Granite Falls Tigers defeated the Borderites 36-30 in OT in North Cascades Conference football at G-Falls.
After regulation time expired with the B’s and T’s tied 30-30, GF’s Panthera tigris scored a go-ahead TD on their first OT possession. Blaine’s chances to get back in the game went south when the Tigers intercepted a second-down pass attempt.
Senior Rhyan Lopez led the Borderites offensive assault, scoring three touchdowns. He got Blaine’s first TD on an 80-yard kickoff return, then made a pair of pass receptions for 72 and 19 yards for the Borderites’ second and third TDs. Altogether, Rapid Rhyan caught four passes for 148 yards. Kevin Farmer, another senior, got 47 yards on three receptions.
Sophomore QB Bryan Galbraith completed 7-of-16 pass attempts for 200-plus yards, threw two TD passes, and gained another evening of experience. As did junior Brian McCall, who got Blaine’s other TD, taking the ball over on a short yardage plunge. That experience could put Blaine on the successful side of the ball. It’s a matter of time, of course.
The Borderites play Nathan Hale Raiders down south on Saturday, September 28. The Raiders are 0-2 so far this season with losses of 21-7 to Blanchet and 30-0 to Bellingham.

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