NWC Early Team Previews: 1A – Meridian & Blaine

<!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>As the summer approaches, I wanted to take a deep dive into the NWC and take a look into each team and see how they could compete this upcoming year.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Meridian Trojans </strong>- 6-4 (1-3) </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>The Trojans had a great building season last year. They have a young QB but he will be losing a couple key targets. One of them being senior wideout Hunter Jones, who had 41 receptions with 522 yards and 6 touchdowns. The other is Amrit Nagra, who brought in 13 catches for 105 yards and a touchdown. Jones also contributed at a high level on the defensive level, compiling 43.5 tackles, 6 interceptions, and 5 pass deflections. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Meridian will be bringing back soon to be senior running back/linebacker Joshtyn Elmer. He ran the ball 115 times for 1,064 yards and 11 touchdowns. Defensively, he had 79.5 tackles, 11 for loss, and 2 sacks. Soon to be junior starting QB Jaeger Fyfe will also be returning. I expect him to take one of the biggest steps within the conference and have a great season on the field. Last year he compiled 1,270 yards passing and 9 passing touchdowns. He contributes on the defensive side of things as well, having 27.5 tackles and 13 passes deflected. Other players to keep an eye on include '25 graduate [player_tooltip player_id='957347' first='Landen' last='Downey'] who plays RB/DB. He will compliment Elmer once again to create a dynamic running back duo. '25 graduate Jaxson Hurlbut (6'0" 195lbs) will help anchor the offensive line and help lead the linebacking core. He compiled 29.5 tackles last season with 8.5 of those being for loss. '25 graduate [player_tooltip player_id='1136341' first='Lincoln' last='Hoefer'] (6'5" 235lbs) will also help anchor the offensive and defensive lines, last season he had 4 sacks.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Games to keep an eye on: September 29th vs Nooksack Valley, October 13th vs Lynden Christian, October 20th @ Mount Baker</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Blaine Borderites</strong> - 1-9 (0-4)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Blaine had a disappointing season last year and is looking to head in the right direction with a new coach at the helm. Good thing for the Borderites, they are a very young team. They will be losing starting QB Kael Evinger and starting RB Lawerence Creasey. Evinger threw for 1,250 passing yards with 10 touchdowns.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>For those who are returning for the Borderites, they will have '24 WR/DB Riley Ihde who might be one of the best kick returners in the NWC. He had 397 yards on about 20 attempts. He also had 475 yards receiving with 5 touchdowns on the offensive side of the ball. Defensively, he had 65.5 tackles and 4 pass deflections. Another fellow WR coming back is '24 graduate Hunter Vezzetti who brought in 42 receptions last year with 600 yards and 6 touchdowns. '25 graduate Colby Shipp will be returning and could have a big workload coming his way with a new starting quarterback coming in. Last year Shipp had 158 carries for 511 yards and 3 touchdowns. '24 graduate Victor Gervol (6'1" 245lbs) will return to anchor the offensive and defensive lines. He compiled 38.5 tackles, with 4 sacks on the season. My best guess is soon to be junior Colin Davis will be the new play-caller for the Borderites but, things can always change during the summer before the season starts. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Games to keep an eye on: September 1st vs Port Angeles, October 6th vs Meridian</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph -->