If I may quote a promo we currently have running on the station…”How ’bout those Lynden Lions?” The Lynden football team won another state championship in the Tacoma Dome Saturday beating West Valley of Spokane 16-6. The Lions have won back-to-back titles and 3 in the last 4 years.
Now I’m admittedly not one of the great predictors of the 21st century…but I get credit for one involving the Lions. Lynden opened the regular season at Qwest Field in Seattle with a rather ugly loss against Archbishop Murphy, and I remember thinking at the time that it was very possible that they wouldn’t lose again this year. They had a veteran team full of stars that got a smack in the face from #2 ranked Archbishop Murphy and the wake-up call was received. The Lions ran the table. A huge regular season win over rival Ferndale 31-0. The playoff qualifier at home over Squalicum. A rainy state opener over Black Hills 14-7 at Civic Stadium. An even rainier second round win over Sequim in Silverdale. The state semi-final re-match over Archbishop Murphy 38-14, called by Coach Curt Kramme “probably the best we played in all 3 facets” all season long.
And then the grind-it-out state title win over West Valley, truly a heavyweight slugfest.
I hate to start naming names because I’ll probably leave somebody out but here goes: Quarterback Jordan Hastings ran that 4-receiver spread offense as well as anybody could. Ryan Seto was as dominant a physical presence as we’ve seen in Whatcom County in awhile.
Blair Bomber was the fastest guy on the field every time he played. Brett Bajema scored 2 touchdowns in the championship game and was probably even better on defense. It seemed like Justin Korthuis was in on every tackle. And the offensive line was called “the best in the state regardless of classification” by Squalicum coach Reed Richardson. And it was all brought together by Coach Kramme, who will probably have something named after him at Lynden High School the day after he retires.
A big salute boys. Very well done. You won’t be forgotten anytime soon.

Here’s how I see the top 10 picks in Saturday’s NFL Draft.

1. Detroit - Matthew Stafford, QB - Georgia
2. St. Louis - Jason Smith, OT - Baylor
3. Kansas City - Aaron Curry, LB - Wake Forrest
4. Seattle - Eugene Monroe, OT - Virigina
5. Cleveland - Michael Crabtree, WR - Texas Tech
6. Cincinnati - Andre Smith, OT - Alabama
7. Oakland - Darrius Heyward-Bay, WR - Maryland
8. Jacksonville - Mark Sanchez, QB - USC
9. Green Bay - Brian Orakpo, DE - Texas
10. San Francisco - B.J. Raji, DT - Boston College

Listen in to KPUG on Saturday to find out if I’m on the money. We’ll have complete live coverage from ESPN radio and  Seahawks headquarters beginning at 1pm.

Check back for my first blog!