PORT ANGELES — Football fans had to wait 47 years for the resumption of the Port Angeles-Port Townsend rivalry.
Those in attendance had to wait 47 minutes and one second for the outcome to be decided when Roughriders senior Nathan Angevine intercepted a Jeff Seton pass at the Port Angeles goal line with 59 seconds left in the fourth quarter.
Angevine’s pickoff secured a 14-13 victory over the Redhawks on Friday at Civic Field in the first game between the two schools since 1967.
“I think Nate did an incredible job there at the end,” Riders coach Tom Wahl said.
“The resiliency was huge. That was the main point I focused on in my message to the guys: they hung in there, they didn’t give up. They persevered and weathered some pretty good challenges.”
One of those challenges was self-inflicted.
With the score tied at 7-apiece late in the third quarter and Port Angeles pinned deep in its own territory thanks to an Austin Khile punt, the Roughriders committed their biggest error of the evening.
On third-and-6 from the Port Angeles 20-yard line, Angevine went back to pass but quickly felt pressure from behind from Port Townsend linebacker Zach Wilson.
With Wilson bearing down, Angevine uncorked an unwise pass off his back foot that was intercepted and returned 25 yards for a score by Redhawks junior cornerback Jacob Ralls.
“Jacob Ralls, that was one of the best games at corner I’ve seen in years.” Port Townsend coach Nick Snyder told his team after the game.
“Some of the best hits, and the way he came off that corner to make that play was special.”
Angevine, for his part, took the mistake in stride.
“I knew we were going to come back firing,” Angevine said.
“Everybody came up to me and told me to shake it off. That’s the camaraderie of our team, everybody told me ‘Shake it off, we got you, don’t worry,’ and that’s why we came back down and threw the touchdown and ended up winning.”
The two teams traded passing touchdowns in the first half.
Port Townsend got untracked with a seven-play, 68-yard scoring drive late in the first quarter.
Seton took the snap in the Pistol formation, rolled left and fired a strike to an all-alone Isaiah Mason for a 30-yard touchdown pass and a 7-0 lead with 1:31 left in the quarter.
Port Angeles answered on the ensuing possession, marching down the field on a 12-play, 71-yard drive that chewed up more than six minutes of clock.
The drive included two fourth-down conversions, one a 7-yard gain by Sam Burton and the other a 16-yard keeper by Angevine on fourth-and-3 from the Redhawks’ 30-yard line.
Angevine came through with an 11-yard touchdown toss to tight end Caleb West to tie the game 7-7.
The score stayed knotted at halftime and for most of the third quarter until Ralls’ pick-six with 1:25 to play in the third quarter.
A botched Port Townsend snap on the PAT led to the blocked conversion kick.
The two teams then traded punts before Port Angeles started the game-winning drive at its own 34-yard line.
Facing a third-and-2, Angevine rushed into the middle of the Redhawks’ defense before bouncing to his left and rumbling 36 yards to the Port Townsend 22.
“Their linebackers and safeties were pursuing so hard, they all crashed in and I took it left,” Angevine said.
Two plays later, Angevine found Taylor Millsap for the go-ahead score with 3:12 left.
“I saw a whole lot of green and I wanted to take that and run,” Angevine said.
“The corner[back] opened his shoulders one time and Taylor got a step and I knew I had to throw it.”
Port Angeles attempted an onside kick but Port Townsend recovered on the Riders’ 48-yard line.
Seton found running back David Sua for 11 yards on a screen pass, and Khile for 26 yards to push the ball to the Port Angeles 12-yard line with 1:36 to play.
Then Port Townsend stumbled a bit, with penalties pushing them back to a third-and-17 from the Riders’ 20-yard line.
Seton looked for the seam route to the end zone with his pass, and Angevine read the play coming across the middle to intercept the pass just in front of his own goal line.
“I had no question where he was going with it, he was coming up the seam,” Angevine said of Seton’s pass.
Cut to Port Angeles pandemonium.
“It feels like freshman year,” Angevine said of the win.
“We got on a roll early that year and kept it going . . . and look at this, everyone is loving this.”
The mood was much more somber at the other end of the field.
“It was a lack of pursuit and hustle at critical points in this game,” Snyder told his team.
“We had that one and let it slip away and now we have to learn how to rise up and learn from it and get better.”
For the most part, Snyder was impressed with his team and his senior quarterback.
“Before that last pass, Jeff was just phenomenal tonight,” Snyder said.
Seton finished 8 for 11 for 145 yards with one touchdown and the interception.
Sua rushed 13 times for 54 yards for the Redhawks.
Angevine rushed 12 times for 72 yards and was 5 of 13 passing for 74 yards with two touchdowns and one interception.
“Like I told the boys, there are lots of issues with our X’s and O’s, but we can change those,” Wahl said.
“But the one thing you can’t change is the heart this team showed tonight.”
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Sports reporter Michael Carman can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 5152 or at mcarman@peninsuladailynews.com.
