Peninsula Daily News
PORT ANGELES — Olympic Peninsula Eagles head coach Mike McMahan wasn’t worried about his defense.
As the semipro football team’s season opener against the Cascade Xtreme (Bellevue) illustrated, that was with good reason.
The Eagles forced four turnovers and kept the Xtreme out of the end zone all day as they cruised to a 30-0 victory before the hometown faithful at rainy Roosevelt Elementary School on Saturday.
“The guys came out and played hard,” McMahan said. “They left it out on the field and gave it everything they had. It was a really good game.”
Defensive back Eric Johnson Jr. had two interceptions, one of which he returned for a touchdown, and Ron Wright had three sacks and one forced fumble to lead the defense.
Troy Jones added two sacks and one forced fumble of his own for the Eagles, who were donning brand-new green-and-white jerseys donated by Elwha River Casino.
“I thought the team played outstanding,” McMahan said. “The whole team just really gelled together.
“It’s kind of what I hoped we could be.”
Quarterback Steve Monger opened the scoring with a one-yard sneak in the first quarter to put the Eagles up 6-0.
In the second quarter, he found Chuck Ellison for a 12-yard touchdown pass, then Brandon Wixon ran in the two-point conversion to put Peninsula ahead 14-0 at halftime.
After that, the Eagles leaned on their offensive line and started grinding out yards with running backs B.J. Johnson and Like Dixon.
“Our MVPs of this game was our offensive line,” McMahan said. “We pounded the ball on these guys. “We just controlled the line of scrimmage.”
Eric Johnson Jr. returned an interception 36 yards for a touchdown in the third quarter, and B.J. Johnson found the end zone on a 3-yard run in the fourth to put the game away.
The game raised approximately $100 for the Dream Park Foundation.
The Eagles will hold a canned food drive promotion at next Saturday’s home game against the Portland Inner City Shine at Roosevelt.
Fans who bring four cans to the game will get in for $2.