Latest / Whatcom Preps Podcast / Whatcom Preps Podcast Episode 429 - 2026 Lynden Christian Lyncs Football Preview

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Whatcom Preps Podcast Episode 429 - 2026 Lynden Christian Lyncs Football Preview · Whatcom Preps Podcast

0:14
Speaker 1: Greetings and welcome into the Whatcom Preps podcast. This is
0:17
Speaker 1: episode 429, the 2026 Linden Christian football preview. And I
0:25
Speaker 1: am Tyler Anderson of Whatcom Preps. Really excited to be
0:29
Speaker 1: back again doing these. It's so much fun. And you know,
0:32
Speaker 1: an episode dedicated to a certain team is always really
0:36
Speaker 1: cool because we can do a deep dive and there's
0:38
Speaker 1: a lot of players to talk about here. Um, Coach
0:42
Speaker 1: Terpstra has built a powerhouse with the Lynx, multiple state
0:48
Speaker 1: tournament runs, still trying to get to that final game.
0:53
Speaker 1: But boy, they got to the semifinals last year. And
0:58
Speaker 1: so we'll talk about all that right now. Of course,
1:02
Speaker 1: Greg Terpstra in his fifth year with Lyndon Christian as
1:05
Speaker 1: the head coach, a record of 33 wins and just
1:08
Speaker 1: 11 losses. Last season went 10-2 before bowing out in
1:15
Speaker 1: the semifinals against the eventual state champion Royal Knights. A
1:20
Speaker 1: lot of big-time players gone from last year's team, including
1:23
Speaker 1: Eli Mayberry, Boyce Robertson, Trey Johnson, Gunnar DeKoster, Luke Van Rooyen,
1:28
Speaker 1: Jacob Penner, Jackson Juliet, among others. But you got some
1:33
Speaker 1: great players returning, and we'll talk about them a little bit.
1:36
Speaker 1: Let's talk about last season's games. They start off the
1:41
Speaker 1: year going traveling up north to Canada. They beat Vancouver
1:44
Speaker 1: College 42-16. Then they beat North Kitsap 56-7. They beat
1:47
Speaker 1: Okanagan 49-7. Beat Lakeside Nine Mile Falls 45-21. And then
1:50
Speaker 1: they shut Blaine out 41-0. Beat Sehome 17-6. Lost a
1:51
Speaker 1: heartbreaker to Mount Baker 34-33. turn around and beat Meridian
2:08
Speaker 1: 48-7 and finish the regular season by defeating Nooksack Valley 28-14,
2:15
Speaker 1: which earned them a postseason berth in the round of
2:18
Speaker 1: 24 where they played Natchez Valley and beat them 49-0
2:22
Speaker 1: to send them into the state playoffs. They did get
2:26
Speaker 1: a first round bye, so they moved right into the
2:29
Speaker 1: quarterfinals where they defeated Montesano 56-35 before bowing out against
2:32
Speaker 1: Royal 61 to 35. So this year's schedule, very different.
2:43
Speaker 1: And of course, Coach Terpstra makes no bones about it.
2:46
Speaker 1: He likes to schedule extremely tough games in the non-league.
2:50
Speaker 1: The league games are already extremely tough. Let's take a
2:54
Speaker 1: look at this schedule right now. And it starts off
2:57
Speaker 1: with a Thursday night game at home against 2A Franklin Pierce.
3:01
Speaker 1: That's a 6 p.m. game on Thursday the 3rd. And
3:06
Speaker 1: that's a big one right off the bat. Franklin Pierce,
3:08
Speaker 1: a team that, you know, was in the state playoffs
3:11
Speaker 1: last year at the two-way classification. So that's a tough
3:14
Speaker 1: one right away. Then they will go up north to
3:17
Speaker 1: take on Vancouver College. That'll be the following Saturday, week
3:21
Speaker 1: two game at 1.30 in the afternoon. Then they will
3:24
Speaker 1: go down and take on the Bellevue Wolverines. That will
3:28
Speaker 1: be week three game. They come back and host La
3:32
Speaker 1: Center in week four. And then they will play their
3:35
Speaker 1: first league game in week five, where they take on
3:39
Speaker 1: the Meridian Trojans at home. And then they'll be back
3:42
Speaker 1: in non-league, but it's no break here, as they will
3:44
Speaker 1: then host Archbishop Murphy. And then they'll be on the
3:48
Speaker 1: road at Nooksack Valley, host Mount Baker, and finish the
3:51
Speaker 1: regular season on the road against the Blaine Border Rites.
3:55
Speaker 1: So let's take a look at the position groups here.
4:00
Speaker 1: And in some of these, you return a lot of experience.
4:04
Speaker 1: And in some of them you don't. And one that
4:06
Speaker 1: you don't is quarterback. You do have three great candidates
4:12
Speaker 1: to choose from a senior, a junior and a sophomore.
4:15
Speaker 1: They all kind of present different strengths. And so the
4:19
Speaker 1: three that are battling right now, you've got the senior
4:22
Speaker 1: Dawson Hines, who we've seen plenty of on the hardwood
4:26
Speaker 1: do some amazing things last year and, you know, kind
4:30
Speaker 1: of spot roles at quarterback. He, He ran a little bit.
4:34
Speaker 1: He ran for 48 yards, but he also completed three
4:37
Speaker 1: out of his four passing attempts for 24 yards. He's
4:41
Speaker 1: obviously that the dynamic playmaker at quarterback where, you know,
4:46
Speaker 1: with the ball in his hands, he's the home run threat.
4:48
Speaker 1: You kind of you just have to account for his
4:51
Speaker 1: overall athleticism. Another quarterback in the running is junior Kellen Blankers.
4:57
Speaker 1: who served as more of the traditional backup last year.
5:00
Speaker 1: He got a little bit of run, was four of
5:02
Speaker 1: six for 13 yards. And then you have sophomore Grant Adams,
5:05
Speaker 1: who's a great athlete, basketball player, soccer player. He did
5:10
Speaker 1: come in, I believe it was in that round of
5:15
Speaker 1: 24 game where he did attempt to pass there. But man,
5:20
Speaker 1: all three of these kids look great. They all look
5:22
Speaker 1: like they could be a varsity starting quarterback. So, and
5:26
Speaker 1: Coach Dykstra, Coach Terpstra has said that he likes having
5:31
Speaker 1: multiple quarterbacks. I mean, he prefers that. He likes having
5:35
Speaker 1: a lot of guys that he could go to, and
5:38
Speaker 1: he has that. The thing is that they don't really
5:40
Speaker 1: have a ton of varsity experience. They combine for 11
5:44
Speaker 1: pass attempts in their varsity career. So that's going to
5:48
Speaker 1: be the big thing is who's going to be ready
5:50
Speaker 1: to take it. and, and run with it. And they've
5:54
Speaker 1: got a few games to figure it out. And the,
5:57
Speaker 1: they're going to be tough games. There are no walkovers
6:00
Speaker 1: in this schedule at all. And so, but they'll be
6:03
Speaker 1: able to figure things out. You got a great supporting
6:05
Speaker 1: cast around you. Some of those guys will be in
6:09
Speaker 1: the backfield and you've got to start off with Chris Coleman,
6:12
Speaker 1: the big bruising senior running back is back. He was
6:16
Speaker 1: an all state first team running back last year. 223
6:20
Speaker 1: attempts for 1,386 yards and 17 touchdowns averaged over six
6:26
Speaker 1: yards of carry. Yeah. I mean, he broke school records
6:31
Speaker 1: left and right. He is a big, big powerful back
6:35
Speaker 1: that people do not want to tackle. So expect him
6:39
Speaker 1: to get a big bulk of the carries. You could
6:42
Speaker 1: see some other guys get back there. You never know
6:44
Speaker 1: if a Gavin Van Lowe or Brady Arnold could get
6:47
Speaker 1: some carries and But Wyatt Kamphaus, who is traditionally a
6:51
Speaker 1: wide receiver and did an amazing job last year at
6:53
Speaker 1: wide receiver, you might see him get some carries in
6:56
Speaker 1: the backfield as well if they want to put Koiman
7:00
Speaker 1: as a second tight end out there. He has more
7:02
Speaker 1: of a tight end build to him, so you might
7:04
Speaker 1: see that happen as Wyatt Kamphaus, who is a receiver
7:08
Speaker 1: but looks like a running back, is built like a
7:10
Speaker 1: running back. You might see some moving around here, and
7:16
Speaker 1: Coach Terpstra's got a lot of guys that have that
7:19
Speaker 1: ability to morph into different positions and not miss a beat.
7:24
Speaker 1: So you could see that, but returning Chris Koyman, I mean,
7:28
Speaker 1: that's a, that's a huge deal right there. I mean,
7:31
Speaker 1: not a lot of teams return three all state first
7:35
Speaker 1: team players and Linden Christian does. So that's where their
7:39
Speaker 1: big strength is going to be. And then you look
7:42
Speaker 1: at the receivers, obviously Wyatt Camphouse, is a threat at
7:47
Speaker 1: wide receiver. He got 32 passes last year for 457
7:50
Speaker 1: yards and four touchdowns, averaging over 14 yards a catch.
7:56
Speaker 1: And you, I'm sure you'll see him out there quite
7:57
Speaker 1: a bit. You might see him in motion. You might
7:59
Speaker 1: see him in the backfield. It's about mismatches, getting him
8:03
Speaker 1: the ball in space and, and he can move side
8:06
Speaker 1: to side just as fast as he moves vertically. So
8:08
Speaker 1: that's always a really great thing for them to have
8:11
Speaker 1: in their back pocket. Caden Veldman last year, got 46
8:14
Speaker 1: passes for 544 yards and seven touchdowns, nearly 12 yards
8:17
Speaker 1: a catch. Um, He's more of a true tight end,
8:24
Speaker 1: but you could see him split out. Think about years
8:27
Speaker 1: past when you had Caden Stite and you had Trey Bosman.
8:30
Speaker 1: These are all state tight ends that they would split
8:34
Speaker 1: out from time to time. And you could totally see
8:36
Speaker 1: Caden Veldman doing that. So six, four, six, five, 235 pounds,
8:43
Speaker 1: just a monster out there. And, you know, really, really
8:47
Speaker 1: hard to cover. Um, you know, he's up there near,
8:50
Speaker 1: you know, in basketball season, he's up there and block
8:53
Speaker 1: shots and rebounds and different things like that. So getting
8:56
Speaker 1: the ball up and having them going and getting it, uh,
8:58
Speaker 1: he's going to provide a great target for whoever will
9:01
Speaker 1: be the quarterback. Um, so he returns with some really good, um,
9:06
Speaker 1: receiving numbers there. I mentioned Chris Coyman as a possible
9:09
Speaker 1: second tight end, and that could happen from time to time.
9:12
Speaker 1: He's very good at catching the balls out of the backfield.
9:15
Speaker 1: He caught 15 passes for 154 yards last season. Dawson Hines,
9:20
Speaker 1: if he's not playing quarterback, you can bet he'll be
9:23
Speaker 1: playing wide receiver. He had 13 catches for 185 yards
9:27
Speaker 1: and two scores last season. Other guys that you could
9:30
Speaker 1: see in the mix split out wide, Jackson Yoon, Trey Morlag.
9:35
Speaker 1: They each had a catch last year. And they're both
9:38
Speaker 1: very quick-footed, run good routes. So you could expect them
9:43
Speaker 1: to be in the mix. And, you know, Jermaine Zorink
9:49
Speaker 1: could do some stuff as well. There's a freshman, Zeke Rosema,
9:52
Speaker 1: who has impressed. So you got a lot of different guys.
9:57
Speaker 1: And then one that I'm really excited about is Justin Kueh.
10:02
Speaker 1: He was a guy that played on the offensive line
10:04
Speaker 1: last year, got a lot quicker this year, did what
10:10
Speaker 1: was best for the team last year playing offensive line,
10:14
Speaker 1: and the reward for that is getting faster in the offseason.
10:19
Speaker 1: And now he'll probably be another tight end that they
10:22
Speaker 1: could use. Don't be surprised if they go three tight
10:24
Speaker 1: with a single back, you know, and just power run
10:28
Speaker 1: it at you. But Justin Kiewik can probably make plays,
10:33
Speaker 1: you know, the former lineman, but he's so just athletic.
10:38
Speaker 1: And he's another mismatch problem. Again, with the mismatches at
10:42
Speaker 1: the 1A level, when you have this many guys, you
10:45
Speaker 1: can usually find a weak spot on the opposing defense.
10:49
Speaker 1: And I'm sure that's what they're going to try to
10:51
Speaker 1: aim to do. Another thing that's really exciting about this
10:54
Speaker 1: year's Linden Christian Link football team is it's the first
10:57
Speaker 1: year in a long time where they return more starters
11:01
Speaker 1: than not on the offensive line. So you're talking Kyler Sterk,
11:05
Speaker 1: who this will be his fourth year as a starter. Um,
11:09
Speaker 1: and he was an all state first team player last
11:11
Speaker 1: year and Eli stamps are the two guards. They are
11:15
Speaker 1: so strong and so quick at what they do. I mean,
11:19
Speaker 1: everything is just, you know, you're not going to find
11:22
Speaker 1: a better hair of guards probably, um, in the county.
11:27
Speaker 1: They are phenomenal. I really, really like Moses Hemness at
11:32
Speaker 1: tackle about six, four, 240 pounds. Got to start there
11:36
Speaker 1: as a sophomore last year. He's gotten bigger and stronger.
11:39
Speaker 1: So I'm really excited to see what his progression will be.
11:42
Speaker 1: I think that he's knocking on the door of being
11:45
Speaker 1: an all-league guy. And then it's about who's going to
11:48
Speaker 1: play those other two spots. Who's going to be center?
11:51
Speaker 1: Who's going to be right tackle? I really don't know.
11:56
Speaker 1: I mean, it's a battle. There's lots of guys probably
11:59
Speaker 1: battling for that center spot. I kind of like Peter
12:02
Speaker 1: Enfield as the right tackle guy. It's about 6'4, 210 pounds.
12:07
Speaker 1: You know, played this little defense last year. I could
12:10
Speaker 1: see him being the right tackle. I don't know if
12:12
Speaker 1: he has the edge or not. You got a lot
12:14
Speaker 1: of other younger guys that are up and coming. The
12:16
Speaker 1: big question mark for me is who's the center going
12:19
Speaker 1: to be? Because, you know, Luke Van Royen was such
12:22
Speaker 1: a good one last year. And it's, as far as
12:25
Speaker 1: I know, it's open, but I, you know, we'll have
12:28
Speaker 1: to see. I mean, they could have a guy all
12:31
Speaker 1: primed and ready and I would have no idea, but
12:34
Speaker 1: you know, we'll just have to wait and see. You
12:37
Speaker 1: turn around and go on the defensive line. And, you know,
12:42
Speaker 1: I think one of the advantages that Lyndon Christian has
12:45
Speaker 1: over most 1A schools is they might have the luxury
12:49
Speaker 1: of not having any of their offensive linemen play on
12:53
Speaker 1: the defensive line. And that's just unheard of at the
12:57
Speaker 1: 1A level. But so you got a lot of different
13:00
Speaker 1: guys that who are going to be those three down linemen.
13:04
Speaker 1: So you're looking at like Mason Berenson, Isaac Kramer, Dylan Haskell,
13:08
Speaker 1: Silas Houston, Zach Anker, maybe Peter Enfield as well. Those
13:14
Speaker 1: guys would all be battling if they're not already starting
13:17
Speaker 1: on the offensive line. Now, I wouldn't, I mean, I
13:19
Speaker 1: would put Kyler Sturck in there at the nose, you know,
13:23
Speaker 1: if the situation calls for it, a short yardage situation,
13:27
Speaker 1: a goal line situation. So you might see that. at
13:30
Speaker 1: some point. I mean, you probably definitely will see that. And,
13:34
Speaker 1: you know, don't be surprised if like an Eli Stamps
13:37
Speaker 1: would get down there as well. We'll just have to
13:40
Speaker 1: wait and see. He's more of an inside linebacker, but,
13:43
Speaker 1: you know, think about Trayson Johnson last year, who was
13:45
Speaker 1: an inside linebacker and played nose tackle. He could kind
13:48
Speaker 1: of go inside out, made a ton of tackles. I
13:52
Speaker 1: could see Eli Stamps kind of filling that role as
13:55
Speaker 1: a guy that could do either one. I But then
14:00
Speaker 1: he's got the foot speed as well to be a linebacker. So,
14:03
Speaker 1: you know, you have that luxury of being able to
14:05
Speaker 1: kind of go back and forth. So that's kind of
14:07
Speaker 1: how their defensive line looks. Like I said, they're really
14:11
Speaker 1: aiming to try to have three guys that are not
14:13
Speaker 1: any of the five starting offensive linemen, which would be
14:15
Speaker 1: a huge luxury to have. When you look at the
14:19
Speaker 1: linebacking core for the Linden Christian Lynx, it has been
14:23
Speaker 1: a strength forever. You know, whether you had four guys–
14:29
Speaker 1: from outside, inside, inside, and then outside again, they were
14:31
Speaker 1: all like 6'3 or 6'4, a lot of wingspan, a
14:35
Speaker 1: lot of coverage of the field, and it looks to
14:40
Speaker 1: be a lot of the same again. Eli Stamps and
14:45
Speaker 1: Gavin Van Lowe played a lot of inside linebacker last year.
14:48
Speaker 1: Caden Veldman is the wild card now. He's that third
14:52
Speaker 1: all-state returning player, and he's an all-state linebacker last year.
14:57
Speaker 1: will he be on the inside or the outside? And
14:59
Speaker 1: I think it's going to be a lot has to
15:02
Speaker 1: do with personnel. Maybe if someone's dinged up or if
15:06
Speaker 1: someone needs a blow or someone just, whatever he, he,
15:10
Speaker 1: he started on the outside and he's been doing that
15:12
Speaker 1: for a while. He played a lot on the inside
15:15
Speaker 1: last year when there were, you know, an injury here
15:18
Speaker 1: and there, different things happening. So, um, He could do
15:23
Speaker 1: either one and whatever he does, he's going to be
15:25
Speaker 1: fantastic at it. I mean, he was the Northwest Conference
15:28
Speaker 1: 1A defensive player of the year last year and doing
15:32
Speaker 1: it at each position. So we'll just have to wait
15:35
Speaker 1: and see. If he's on the outside, then you'll probably
15:37
Speaker 1: see Eli Stamps and Gavin Van Lowe in the inside.
15:41
Speaker 1: If he's on the inside, he'll probably be teamed up
15:44
Speaker 1: with Van Lowe and Stamps might go down and be
15:46
Speaker 1: a nose tackle. You could see that as a possibility.
15:50
Speaker 1: And then when you look at the outside linebackers, if
15:52
Speaker 1: Veldman's not on the outside, obviously you have Chris Coyman
15:55
Speaker 1: on one side. You got Justin Kiewik. You got a
15:58
Speaker 1: guy like Graham DeYoung, who's now about 6'4, 200 pounds,
16:02
Speaker 1: that could fit that spot as well. So you got
16:05
Speaker 1: so many. You got basically six different guys for four spots. And,
16:09
Speaker 1: you know, it's about if Chris Coyman needs a break
16:13
Speaker 1: or even if Veldman needs a break or whatever, Kiewik.
16:16
Speaker 1: you got lots of guys that can come in and
16:18
Speaker 1: fill those spots right away. And that's such an advantage
16:22
Speaker 1: at the 1A level. And they're so incredibly talented. In
16:27
Speaker 1: the secondary, you know, the two that have the most experience,
16:31
Speaker 1: Wyatt Camphouse and Dawson Hines. Camphouse as a corner, Hines
16:36
Speaker 1: as a free safety. So it's going to be, who
16:39
Speaker 1: are those other two spots? And again, you got a
16:41
Speaker 1: lot of guys pushing the, for just two spots, Jackson Yoon,
16:46
Speaker 1: Trey Morlake, Grant Adams, Zeke Rosema. And then you got
16:51
Speaker 1: like Court Vanderleest, who has been a linebacker. He's been
16:55
Speaker 1: looking good at safety. You have the Senti brothers, Sam
16:58
Speaker 1: Senti and Josh Senti. You know, that name, that Senti name,
17:02
Speaker 1: you go back, you know, a few decades ago and
17:08
Speaker 1: the Sentis that they had back then, you know, Chris
17:11
Speaker 1: Senti and They had some really good ones in the
17:14
Speaker 1: late 80s, early 90s. And so you start to see
17:18
Speaker 1: these names start to resurface quite a bit, which is
17:20
Speaker 1: pretty cool. You know, I think of like Wyatt Campouts.
17:23
Speaker 1: Like I played against his dad, Joel. So it's so
17:27
Speaker 1: fun to see these names come up over and over again.
17:31
Speaker 1: I know I've talked about that a lot, but I
17:32
Speaker 1: just think it's really great to see. And so you
17:35
Speaker 1: have a lot of different guys there. that could fill
17:39
Speaker 1: those spots. As far as numbers go on the defensive
17:41
Speaker 1: side of the ball last year, Caden Veldman, like I said,
17:44
Speaker 1: was an all-state player. He had 64 tackles, 15 and
17:48
Speaker 1: a half tackles for loss, three sacks, eight passes broken up,
17:53
Speaker 1: two interceptions, two forced fumbles, two fumble recoveries. Now that
17:57
Speaker 1: is an incredible year. Another incredible year was had by
18:00
Speaker 1: Wyatt Camp House, who had 41 tackles. I think he
18:03
Speaker 1: led Whatcom County with 12 passes broken up. three forced
18:07
Speaker 1: fumbles and three fumble recoveries. So a very opportunistic player
18:11
Speaker 1: that's looking to punch the ball out, but strong enough to,
18:14
Speaker 1: as he's doing that, he could also bring a ball
18:17
Speaker 1: carrier down. So that's a really good benefit to have.
18:21
Speaker 1: Eli Stamps last year, 39 and a half tackles, four
18:24
Speaker 1: and a half tackles for loss and three sacks. Gavin
18:26
Speaker 1: Van Lowe had 38 tackles and two tackles for loss,
18:29
Speaker 1: two passes broken up, an interception, a fumble recovery. Chris
18:33
Speaker 1: Coyman as an outside linebacker, He had nine passes broken
18:37
Speaker 1: up as an outside linebacker. Some of those were maybe
18:39
Speaker 1: tipped at the line of scrimmage, but he's very, very
18:42
Speaker 1: good at playing the flats. He also had 29 tackles,
18:45
Speaker 1: five and a half tackles for loss, four sacks and
18:48
Speaker 1: two forced fumbles. Dawson Hines last year, 27 tackles, three interceptions,
18:53
Speaker 1: three passes broken up and a forced fumble. Justin Kiewik,
18:57
Speaker 1: 22 tackles, two tackles for loss, two sacks and two
19:00
Speaker 1: fumble recoveries playing mostly on the defensive line. now probably
19:04
Speaker 1: getting moved to an outside linebacker. I'm sure they're just
19:07
Speaker 1: going to find a way to get him on the field.
19:09
Speaker 1: Peter Enfield last year, 20 and a half tackles, two
19:12
Speaker 1: and a half sacks, one fumble recovery. Trey Morleg with
19:15
Speaker 1: 15 tackles, two passes broken up and a fumble recovery.
19:19
Speaker 1: And Court Vanderlees in limited time, seven and a half tackles,
19:23
Speaker 1: a tackle for a loss and a fumble recovery. A
19:26
Speaker 1: lot of other guys, you know, getting some run late
19:31
Speaker 1: in the year, you know, like Moses Hemness, Cliff Rensink,
19:34
Speaker 1: Braden Angles, Isaac Kramer, Axel Neville, Will McImer, Graham DeYoung,
19:40
Speaker 1: Silas Houston, Brady Arnold. I mean, so many of these
19:43
Speaker 1: guys doing some good things last year. So really, really
19:48
Speaker 1: excited to see They're so deep. They have so many options.
19:53
Speaker 1: And when I get asked, and I get asked this probably,
19:56
Speaker 1: I don't know, 10 times every year at around this time,
19:59
Speaker 1: is which Whatcom County team is going to make the
20:01
Speaker 1: biggest run? And when I really think about it, my
20:07
Speaker 1: initial gut is to say Linden Christian. Despite not bringing
20:12
Speaker 1: back a quarterback that has that much varsity experience, they
20:15
Speaker 1: just have so many weapons on the field at one time.
20:19
Speaker 1: They're the only team that returns three All-State first-team players.
20:24
Speaker 1: And it's just a really, really good group. And I
20:27
Speaker 1: really liked that freshman group last year. And What happens
20:31
Speaker 1: is when they become sophomores, their body changes. You find
20:35
Speaker 1: out who some really true great athletes are. And all
20:39
Speaker 1: of a sudden, a sophomore will pop up out of
20:41
Speaker 1: nowhere and be a big time contributor to your team.
20:45
Speaker 1: And I wouldn't be surprised if Lyndon Christian's got a
20:48
Speaker 1: handful of those guys. So all those things combined. And
20:53
Speaker 1: if they can get through their tough schedule unscathed, then
20:58
Speaker 1: they'll be very much battle-tested for the postseason. So I
21:02
Speaker 1: think they could do quite some damage. They'll be okay. Kicker-wise,
21:08
Speaker 1: I mean, Jackson Yoon last year broke the school record
21:10
Speaker 1: for the longest field goal made. I think it was
21:12
Speaker 1: a 47-yarder. And he was great last year, but Grant
21:15
Speaker 1: Adams is pushing him as well. Both capable of kicking
21:19
Speaker 1: 50-yard field goals, which is awesome. At punter, usually Coach
21:25
Speaker 1: Terpstra likes to put his quarterback back there. So whoever
21:29
Speaker 1: that would be, Hines, Blankers, or Adams, I could see
21:32
Speaker 1: them going back and punt. Caden Veldman might get a
21:35
Speaker 1: shot at it, which is a big, strong leg. And,
21:38
Speaker 1: you know, another weapon back there. If he sees an opening,
21:41
Speaker 1: he's going to take it and run over some people.
21:44
Speaker 1: So a lot of options there. And even in the
21:47
Speaker 1: return game, they had a lot of experience with Wyatt
21:50
Speaker 1: Camphouse and Dawson Hines. Both have done a lot of
21:53
Speaker 1: kick returning and punt returning over the last year or two.
21:56
Speaker 1: So when you really look at everything, it's just, it's, it's,
22:02
Speaker 1: there's no weaknesses. The only weakness would be experience at
22:05
Speaker 1: quarterback and, you know, but the, but the names they
22:10
Speaker 1: have there are very good. So if they can pick
22:13
Speaker 1: it up quickly, the sky's the limit for the links
22:17
Speaker 1: this year. I think that there's some really, really good
22:19
Speaker 1: things that could be in front of them. You return
22:23
Speaker 1: those so much talent and, and, And a winning tradition.
22:27
Speaker 1: I mean, they expect to win. And it's crazy when
22:30
Speaker 1: you think about the last handful of years where they
22:36
Speaker 1: were so close. Like they haven't won an outright league
22:40
Speaker 1: championship in a little while, which is crazy to think
22:44
Speaker 1: about based on how great they've been in the deep
22:46
Speaker 1: playoff runs they made. I mean, last year they lost
22:49
Speaker 1: that heartbreaker to Baker. That's hard to say. Heartbreaker to Baker.
22:54
Speaker 1: And so they finished second in the conference. The year
22:57
Speaker 1: before that, they lost the final game of the season
23:00
Speaker 1: to Nooksack Valley. So Nooksack Valley was the conference champion
23:04
Speaker 1: outright at the 1A. And the year before that, they
23:10
Speaker 1: might have won it that year. I mean, it's just
23:13
Speaker 1: been– I think they did win it that year, but
23:14
Speaker 1: like the year that Kate Eldridge got hurt. I mean,
23:17
Speaker 1: it was– they were the number one ranked team in
23:19
Speaker 1: the state. But then when Baker got them in that game,
23:21
Speaker 1: there was a three-way tie for first. So it was,
23:24
Speaker 1: you know, there wasn't an outright championship there. They've always
23:30
Speaker 1: been near the top. And if they weren't at the top,
23:34
Speaker 1: they were one game away. And so I wouldn't expect
23:36
Speaker 1: it to be much different this year. The 1A is
23:38
Speaker 1: going to be extremely challenging. I really feel like the
23:43
Speaker 1: teams that were kind of the have-nots last year are
23:48
Speaker 1: are much improved. So you're not going to see, or
23:51
Speaker 1: at least I don't think you're going to see these
23:52
Speaker 1: big blowouts in league games. Like we saw last year,
23:55
Speaker 1: I think the games will be much more competitive and
23:58
Speaker 1: I could really see, you know, scenarios where everybody kind
24:03
Speaker 1: of beats everybody else and there's going to be a
24:05
Speaker 1: big giant tie and then we'll have a big tie breaker. And,
24:08
Speaker 1: and so don't be surprised if that happens, but it
24:11
Speaker 1: makes for great competition games. during the league games. And
24:14
Speaker 1: that's what we're all excited about. So, uh, yeah, it's
24:17
Speaker 1: going to be, it's going to be fantastic. I can't wait. Uh,
24:21
Speaker 1: it's always great to see the links and it's, and what's,
24:24
Speaker 1: what's fun is that, you know, the first kickoff of
24:27
Speaker 1: the year, I know exactly where I'll be. I will
24:30
Speaker 1: be at Linden Christian high school at six o'clock on
24:33
Speaker 1: that Thursday. Um, the 3rd, and kicking off against Franklin Pierce. And,
24:39
Speaker 1: and it's fun that it has its kind of own
24:41
Speaker 1: standalone hour, at least because at seven o'clock Bellingham and
24:45
Speaker 1: Archbishop will be underway at civic stadium. And so I'll
24:48
Speaker 1: buzz out, just catch some of that before I head
24:50
Speaker 1: out to a volleyball game that night. But it's fun
24:54
Speaker 1: when I know exactly where I'll be for that first kickoff,
24:57
Speaker 1: because I do get the goosebumps still. I still get the,
25:00
Speaker 1: butterflies in my stomach. I still get really excited about
25:03
Speaker 1: this and standing on the sidelines and witnessing history. And
25:07
Speaker 1: I always say that. I love the history of everything
25:11
Speaker 1: included with Whatcom County High School sports. And knowing that
25:17
Speaker 1: I'm on the sideline witnessing it, that tonight's game is
25:21
Speaker 1: tomorrow's history. I just think that's the coolest thing. And
25:25
Speaker 1: to be able to be a small part of it
25:27
Speaker 1: and attempt to chronicle it has been such a great
25:32
Speaker 1: lifelong passion of mine. So I'm so thankful I'm able
25:35
Speaker 1: to continue to do this. So, and having great teams
25:39
Speaker 1: like the links, I mean, that makes it, that makes
25:41
Speaker 1: it so much better. I mean, if, if we had
25:44
Speaker 1: a bunch of teams up here that just got smoked
25:45
Speaker 1: by everybody else, it wouldn't be as fun. I would
25:49
Speaker 1: still love it, but because we have some successful programs
25:53
Speaker 1: and great coaches, it makes it a lot of fun.
25:56
Speaker 1: So there you had it. That is the, Linden Christian
26:01
Speaker 1: football preview for 2026. This has been episode 429. I
26:06
Speaker 1: am Tyler Anderson of Whatcom Preps, and I will talk
26:09
Speaker 1: to you tomorrow.