SEQUIM — Up 14-3 with 1:25 left in the first half after a 60-yard Gavin Velarde interception return for a touchdown, Sequim allowed 27 straight points to Bremerton and fell 30-22 in the Wolves’ Olympic League opener.
The Knights (2-0, 4-0) lanced Sequim (0-1, 2-2) for 333 rushing yards on 57 carries for the game, headed up by Semaj Cook’s 26 carries for 137 yards and two fourth-quarter touchdown runs from 5 and 2 yards out.
“They have a nice package, a quarterback who can throw, athletes who can run and athletes who can block and are big,” Sequim coach Erik Wiker said. “They have all the right people. They have a good scheme and keep running it.”
Meanwhile, the Wolves’ offense mustered -6 yards rushing on 19 attempts and completed 12 of 28 passes for 172 yards, two touchdowns and two interceptions.
“I think the trenches were it [where the game was won],” Wiker said. “They had more guys, lineman-wise that can play. When Johnnie [Young] went down [to injury] we had to play a freshman left tackle, somebody else went down and that’s where we are super thin and I think that’s where that was a big advantage for them.”
Bremerton ran on 37 of 39 offensive plays in the second half, including a nine-play, 95-yard drive finished off by a 29-yard Brock Criss TD scamper through the heart of the Wolves’ defense to take the lead early in the third quarter. All told, the Wolves allowed 10 or more yards on seven of those rushing attempts.
The Knights took advantage of injuries along the Sequim defensive line that forced the Wolves to play two freshman defensive tackles for much of the game.
Sequim trailed 30-14 late in the fourth quarter but put together a seven-play, 63-yard drive, highlighted by Nate Despain’s 42-yard catch-and-run, and capped by a 4-yard touchdown pass from Riley Cowan to Velarde. Despain then caught a two-point conversion pass from Taig Wiker to pull within 30-22 with 2:38 to go.
Kyler Rollness recovered the ensuing onside kick for the Wolves, but two plays into a potential game-tying drive, Cowan was intercepted.
Sequim then forced Bremerton into a fourth-and-2 situation near midfield, but used a hard snap count to draw the Wolves offsides with 1:48 to play, salting the game away.
“Clean things up, that’s a 4-0 team, and I think we could have beat them,” Wiker said. “I think we should have beat them. First half too, on offense and everything it was like one person not making a block on a screen otherwise its a big play. All those little tiny things here and there. Defense played great in the first half.”
Sequim stood tall defensively early on, stiffening on Bremerton’s first three possessions — all of which advanced inside of the Wolves’ 10-yard line — and allowing just one field goal in three tries.
Despain made an impact defensively on the third Knights’ drive, rushing through the Bremerton line from his safety position and stuffing the Knights for a 9-yard loss.
“Despain is awesome, a great kid, very coachable,” Wiker said. “He’s wonderful to have on the team. A great teammate. And man, defensively, he’s one of our best defenders period.”
Sequim scored its first touchdown when Cowan connected with Rollness on a 29-yard vertical route, hitting the junior receiver as he dove in the end zone.
And Velarde’s interception return was a thing of beauty, identifying a ball thrown up for grabs, moving forward to make the grab and taking off on the return, untouched for the score.
But injuries, blown assignments and other small mistakes did Sequim in.
“We are real close to being real good,” Wiker said. “And it’s one of those things we can always be real close or we can turn a corner. We have a tough game this week [at No. 10 North Kitsap], but I think we can run it after that if we want to. I think we can beat Olympic. We played these guys tougher than Olympic. Are we going to play that tough or get down? I think we can get better each week.
“I think we stopped ourselves more than they did. They played great but it’s that close, or that close [on a few plays].”
Bremerton 30, Sequim 22
Bremerton 3 7 7 13— 30
Sequim 0 14 0 8— 22
First Quarter
B—Moran 24 field goal 7:16
Second Quarter
S—Rollness 29 pass from Cowan (Rice kick) 8:04
S—Velarde 63 interception return (Rice kick) 1:25
B—Perrigo 4 pass from Boekenoogen (Moran kick) :11
Third Quarter
B—Criss 29 run (Moran kick) 7:41
Fourth Quarter
B—Cook 5 run (Moran kick) 8:57
B—Cook 2 run (kick failed) 4:08
S—Velarde 4 pass from Cowan (Despain pass from Wiker) 2:38
Individual Stats
Rushing—B: Cook 26-137, Saylor 16-75, Joiner 9-58, Criss 4-49, Boekenoogen 2-14. S: Gresli 2-13, Velarde 2-5, Conn 3-1, Rollness 1-(-8), Cowan 11-(-17)
Passing—B: Boekenoogen 8-17-112-1 TD, 1 INTS: Cowan 12-28-172, 2 TDs, 2 INTs.
Receiving—B: Saylor 2-40, Saunders 2-32, Criss 1-27, Perrigo 2-13. S: Velarde 5-74, Despain 1-42, Rollness 3-30, Young 1-17, Wiker 1-8, Conn 1-1.
