Braves defeat Lummi for third straight grid win

The La Conner High football team saved its best for last at Lummi Thursday night.

The Braves (3-1) overcame a slow start to claim their third straight triumph, a 27-6 road victory under new head coach Jeff Scoma and using the Wing-T attack he brought to La Conner this year from the vaunted Bellevue High program.

The convincing win at Lummi means La Conner can capture the spring NW2B grid crown by prevailing at Darrington Friday, the season finale for both clubs. Kickoff is 6 p.m.

For those into comparative scores, Lummi defeated the Loggers 38-24 in Darrington on April 16.

The host Blackhawks fought La Conner on near equal terms in the early going. “It was a slow start,” Scoma told the Weekly News afterward, “but we got much better in the second half. It’s always good to finish strong.”

Braves assistant coach Charlie Edwards agreed.

“It was a very humid game start,” he said. “The boys were tired after warmups. But once they figured out that sometimes you’ve got to play tired, things fell into place.”

Indeed, it was a script similar to the one La Conner followed a week earlier when the Braves routed longtime rival Concrete 48-14 with a dominant effort after the break.

Lummi, which edged La Conner 12-6 in overtime when the teams last met, in mid-September 2019, entered last week’s rematch sporting a 3-1 mark, including its two-score win over Darrington.

La Conner’s strong second half performance meant there would be no extra session with Lummi this time around, however. The Braves held a slim 6-0 lead at intermission, then closed with a 21-6 spurt.

“We were able to move the ball on the ground up and down the field,” said Scoma.

A couple false start penalties were all that briefly stalled the Braves as they piled up first downs and controlled the clock.

Freshman running back Tommy Murdock scored his first career touchdown for the Braves. Cole Hagen, Bradey Wyles and Kali Adams also found the end zone for La Conner, with Alden Schnabel handling conversion attempts.

Adams, a 5’4”, 130-pound sophomore, led the victors by topping the 100-yard rushing mark.

A key for the Braves, something that has become a most pleasant trend, was the stop unit’s ability to force turnovers. It has become a priority in La Conner’s game planning.

“I try to predict our takeaways every game,” said Edwards. “Usually, the boys exceed my expectations.”

Thursday, the Braves defense produced five turnovers. Soma said that cannot be overstated because of the Blackhawks’ potent, quick-strike offense.

Taking those possessions away from Lummi was crucial in keeping the Blackhawks in single digits, he said.

Four of the takeaways were pass interceptions. The Braves also recovered a Lummi fumble.

Scoma noted that after years of La Conner making deep playoff runs under former coaches Johnny Lee and Peter Voorhees, the Braves have been in rebuild mode the past three seasons – since this year’s seniors were freshmen.

“We were 3-24 combined the last three years,” Scoma said. “We have matched our win total this year (alone) and aim to beat it next week.”

Nobody is enjoying La Conner’s 2021 football resurgence more than those seniors.

“Our seniors,” Edwards stressed, “appreciate every part of winning.”

A win at Darrington Friday night and an accompanying NW2B championship, would be something their teammates, coaches and fans would appreciate as well.