Washougal falls just short against Lynden, 29-26

BELLINGHAM — Washougal’s magical football season came to an end Saturday as the Panthers lost a heartbreaker to No. 3 seed Lynden, 29-26.

“We obviously wanted to go further but I think we surprised some people,” coach Dave Hajek said. “Didn’t surprise us, though.”

The Panthers came out on fire, scoring the first two touchdowns of the game on passes from Dalton Payne to Jakob Davis. Payne was superb on Saturday as the senior threw for 310 yards and four touchdowns.

Lynden answered right back with two scores of its own. But Washougal had the last word of the first half as Payne hooked up with Julien Jones on a 19-yard pass with less than a minute to go to give the road team a 20-14 lead.

Despite being on defense to start the second half, Washougal was the first to score in the third quarter. Payne found Brevan Bea on a fade for what would be Washougal’s final scoring play.

The Panthers’ defense was stout but had the most trouble with Lynden’s rushing attack, led by Steven DiLorenzo. The senior ran 26 times for 180 yards and the game-winning touchdown.

DiLorenzo almost gave the Lions the lead on a 25-yard touchdown catch with 10 minutes left in the fourth but was called for an illegal touching penalty that wiped out the score and resulted in a loss of down. Lynden failed to convert on the subsequent fourth down and Washougal started marching up 26-21.

“I thought we had dodged a bullet there,” Hajek said.

The Panthers were at the Lynden 6-yard line and threatening to put the game away with five minutes left when Brock Heppner stripped Washougal for the first turnover of the game. DiLorenzo would score about four minutes later on a drive that needed two conversions on fourth down to continue.

The Panthers finally surrendered the lead with 1:15 left in the game but still had time to put a drive together trailing by three. Washougal went 30 yards on two plays, but Payne was intercepted with 45 seconds left to seal it for the Lions.

LYNDEN 29, WASHOUGAL 26

Washougal 14 6 6 0–26

Lynden 0 14 7 8–29

First quarter

Wash — Jakob Davis 12 pass from Dalton Payne (Peter Boylan kick)

Wash — Davis 23 pass from Payne (Boylan kick)

Second quarter

Lyn — Brock Heppner 19 pass from Baylor Ayres (Marko Samoukovic kick)

Lyn — Heppner 1 run (Samoukovic kick)

Wash — Julien Jones 19 pass from Payne (kick failed)

Third quarter

Wash — Brevan Bea 13 pass from Payne (pass failed)

Lyn — Heppner 12 pass from Ayres (Samoukovic kick)

Fourth quarter

Lyn — Steven DiLorenzo 35 run (DiLorenzo run)

Individual statistics

RUSHING — Washougal: Boylan 6-23, Bea 4-5, Gavin Multer 7-37, Payne 1-6; Lynden: DiLorenzo 26-180, Heppner 10-47, Ayres 13-56.

PASSING — Washougal: Payne 23-32-1-310; Lynden: Heppner 0-2-0-0, Ayres 7-15-0-107.

RECEIVING — Washougal: Jones 4-77, Boylan 2-12, Bea 8-95, Davis 4-65, Tanner Coons 1-7, Judson Mansfield 2-36, Erik Christman 1-8, Gabe Kent 1-10; Lynden: Heppner 5-59, Ian Jacob 2-48.