PORT TOWNSEND — Hundreds of high school football games have been played on the spongy grass surface of Jefferson County Memorial Athletic Field since it opened in fall 1947.
But the venerable venue had hosted nothing like what took place Friday night as Port Townsend beat archrival Chimacum 79-51 in an offensive onslaught for the ages. The two teams combined for 19 touchdowns, 130 points and 1,165 yards of offense in a game that neared four hours in length.
The Redhawks snapped the school record for points scored in a game, beating the Cowboys 79-51 in a Quimper Quarrel contest that also set the mark for highest combined scoring total in the history of the rivalry and Memorial Field.
It also was the seventh straight win for Port Townsend over its rivals.
Port Townsend senior Nico Winegar said the goal was to put up 50 points and gain 500 yards on Chimacum.
Mission accomplished.
The Redhawks pushed past that mark easily on the ground, rushing for 589 yards on 39 carries — a staggering average of 15.1 yards per carry.
“I’ve never played in anything like this,” Winegar said. “They are our rivals and we got caught spray-painting their couch [on the Chimacum campus] last night, so it’s nice to get a little payback and drop 79 points on them.
“We played as a team, we didn’t have any weak spots offensively. We may have one of the smallest lines but they blocked perfectly and the fundamentals were insane.
Our goal was 500 yards this week and 50 points and we crushed that. We crushed that.”
All told Port Townsend (3-3, 4-5) put up 801 yards of offense on Chimacum (0-6, 1-7), while the Cowboys posted a relatively reserved 377 yards, 200 coming on the ground. Add in kickoff returns on the 19 TDs, plus punt return yards and the total yardage likely neared another 150 to 200 yards.
Take your pick of a comparison: akin to an 8-man football game, a midwinter basketball game or a track meet — they all fit.
The Redhawks scored first, taking the opening kick and driving 65 yards in 11 plays before senior Cole Crawford found the left sideline and ran in from 13 yards out.
Chimacum answered — going 85 yards on eight plays and scoring on a 2-yard run by senior Logan Storm to tie the game at 7-all.
The first of the game’s numerous scoring runs followed. Port Townsend put up four straight TDs, including two scores in a row after recovering an onside kick, to take a 33-7 lead —aided by numerous unsportsmanlike conduct penalties on the Cowboys and a recovered onside kick.
Chimacum answered by scoring three of the game’s next four touchdowns, all in the second quarter, to pull within 39-29 at halftime.
Wyatt Pennington came on at quarterback and led the Cowboys through the air on those three TD drives.
“We really have two starting quarterbacks,” Chimacum coach Chris Storm said of Pennington and Cole Dotson. “They have different skill sets. And Cole was really sick all week and Wyatt did a great job for us coming in at QB.”
Port Townsend skunked the Cowboys 20-0 in the third quarter and scored on the first play of the fourth, a 22-yard TD pass from Noa Montoya to Dylan Tracer, to go up 65-29.
The Redhawks put in their substitutes and Chimacum took advantage, scoring three straight touchdowns to make a game of it at 65-51 with 5:10 to play.
“We really intended to take our foot off the pedal, we subbed everybody we could and they decided not to do the same,” Port Townsend coach Patrick Gaffney said. “We gave up a lot of points, we played every kid [but we had to put the varsity players back in the game].”
The Redhawks recovered Chimacum’s final onside kick attempt and capped the wild win off in style with two straight one-play scoring drives.
Montoya busted loose on the left sideline for a 59-yard TD. Montoya finished with 172 yards and three rushing TDs on eight carries and completed 13 of 19 passes for 212 yards and three more scores.
After stopping the Cowboys defensively, Dylan Tracer followed with a 38-yard TD scamper to push his rushing totals to 231 yards and two TDs in 14 carries. He also caught three passes for 64 yards and a score.
“Everybody,” Gaffney said of who played well for his offense. “Noa had another great night, Nico, Dylan, Cole [Crawford], [lineman] Jakob Minor. Bryan Fenton caught his first pass. “I’ll tell you more than a lot of groups, these kids support each other. They never get down on each other if someone makes a mistake. It’s a good culture and the kids believe in it.”
Gaffney said his first Quimper Quarrel was one to remember.
“It was a fun game, my first introduction to the rivalry,” Gaffney said. “Some of my coaches grew up here in Port Townsend and we’re pretty into it and I can see why. “There was a lot of energy in this game.”
Port Townsend 79, Chimacum 51
Port Townsend 13 26 20 20— 79
Chimacum 7 22 0 22— 51
First Quarter
PT—Crawford 13 run (Montoya kick)
C—Storm 2 run (Purser kick)
PT—Winegar 1 run (kick blocked)
Second Quarter
PT—Montoya 1 run (run failed)
PT—Tracer 9 run (Crawford pass from Montoya)
PT—Crawford 13 pass from Montoya (run failed)
C—Storm 1 pass from Pennington (Purser kick)
C—Storm 1 run (Purser kick)
PT—Reaux 13 run (PAT intercepted)
C—Glanz 38 pass from Pennington (Purser pass from Pennington)
Third Quarter
PT—Winegar 12 run (Winegar run)
PT—Montoya 1 run (run failed)
PT—Woodley 4 pass from Montoya (pass failed)
Fourth Quarter
PT—Tracer 22 pass from Montoya (run failed)
C—Glanz 32 run (Pennington run)
C—Storm 8 run (Pennington run)
C—Storm 6 pass from Pennington (run failed)
PT—Montoya 59 run (Winegar run)
PT—Tracer 38 run (run failed)
Individual Stats
Rushing—PT: Tracer 14-231, Montoya 8-172, Winegar 9-86, Crawford 5-82, Makkula 1-13, Campbell 1-3, Markel 1-2. C: Preston 10-89, Storm 13-49, Glanz 3-42, Dotson 2-18, Pennington 1-1, Purser 1-1.
Passing—PT: Montoya 13-19-212, 3 TDs; C: Pennington 12-20-180, 3 TDs, INT Dotson 1-2-(-3).
Receiving—PT: Winegar 7-136, Tracer 3-64, Crawford 1-13, Woodley 1-4, B. Fenton 1-(-5). C: Purser 3-66, Preston 4-62, Glanz 1-38, Devas 1-11, Storm 4-0.
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Sports reporter/columnist Michael Carman can be contacted at 360-417-3525 or at mcarman@peninsuladailynews.com.
Steve Mullensky/for Peninsula Daily News The Redhawk offense clears a path for Cole Crawford to gain yardage for a first down during a game against Chimacum on Friday in Memorial Field.
