SPORTS
by Jack Kintner

Slivers

Support your local sports calendar
Local merchants are warned that the Kelly Publishing Company is again making local calls claiming to be authorized by Blaine high school to sell athletic calendars for the coming season.

“We only put out one calendar,” said Blaine athletic director Gary Clausen, “and it has nothing to do with these people.”

Volleyballers go the distance at Nooksack.
Led by Janell Rouse (11 kills) and Adrienne Greer (4 kills) and outstanding performances in serve by Veronica Rooney (16 for 17 with four service aces) and team captain Gabby Galbraith (14 for 15), Blaine took Nooksack to five games before finally snapping their necks in the fifth game 15-10.

They began strongly, winning the first game 25-19 and the second 25-11, but beating Nooksack is always a little like trying to drown a cat, and the Pioneer girls came back to had Blaine two defeats in a row, 13-25 and 21-25. The final game was tied at 10 when Rooney reared back and smacked one of her four aces, and that ended what was the girls’ best conference outing to date.

Against Squalicum in a home game last Thursday, September 21, the girls held their own for much of the match but were eventually overwhelmed with a savage frontal attack from the Squalicum storm. They split the first two games, 22-25 and 25-21, then lost the third 25-19 and the fourth and final game 22-25 to go 1-3. Blaine’s front wall of Adrienne Greer, Janelle Rouse and Veronica Rooney, all 5’10”, contended evenly with Squalicum most of the night but in the end Blaine was outdone by shot placement and consistency.

Blaine’s on the road on Thursday, September 28, at Meridian before returning for a home date with Sedro Woolley on October 3.

Football team shines in the bright lights of the big city
In a game that saw two touchdowns called back, Blaine won its second game of the year against Bellingham two weeks ago 24-0 with a defense that completely stopped anything Bellingham tried to do. The Red Raiders managed only 35 yards of total offense in the second half. The bright lights of Civic Field shown brightly on the B’s snazzy white road uniforms.

Tygr Cain scored on a 10 yard pass from Joey Paciorek, nicknamed “Shoeless Joe” for having forgotten his football shoes back in Blaine. Coaches solved that problem with a quick visit to Big 5. Paciorek’s new cleats looked nice and shiny in the bright stadium lights and he scored twice, once Michael Vick style by leaping over three defenders into paydirt. Patrick Mulholland also scored a 38-yard field goal in the second quarter. As for scores that came back, standout Freddy Johncox caught one second quarter pass deep in the end zone but was ruled to have bobbled it out of bounds. Alex Bresnan intercepted a pass for a long score but a questionable clipping call brought that one back, too.
Blaine’s winning streak was stopped the next game, a road engagement with Mount Vernon last Friday night, by a few big plays that got away from Blaine’s otherwise stalwart defense.

The Borderites are home Friday night for homecoming against Sehome on Friday September 29 at 7 p.m.