By Michael Carman
The Associated Press
PORT TOWNSEND — A halfback pass straight out of backyard football as time expired pushed Port Townsend past rival Chimacum 24-22 in Friday night’s Quimper Quarrel at Memorial Field.
The touchdown was executed exactly as the Redhawks planned — only they had no chance to huddle or call any play with the clock ticking down at the Cowboys 5-yard line.
Instead, they improvised one of the most memorable endings in the longtime Jefferson County rivalry.
With Port Townsend (2-3, 4-4) in a mad scramble to get the snap off before the final buzzer sounded, senior running back Dylan Tracer took a toss to the right sideline from quarterback Noa Montoya, was bottled up by Chimacum’s Logan Hicks, but somehow managed to get the pass off to an all-alone Josh Davis in the short, right corner of the end zone — setting off a field-storming celebration by the Redhawks.
Port Townsend wins the Quimper Quarrel 24-22 over Chimacum on Dylan Tracer’s desperation HB pass to Josh Davis on final play. Chaotic to say the least. #wafbscores pic.twitter.com/Cde5wsOJGK
— Michael Carman (@MikeCarmanPDN) November 2, 2019
“Noa looked at me, gave me the eye that he was going to pitch me the ball and my guy Josh found an opening,” Tracer said. “That’s a way to end the game. We needed it. We had a good week at practice and it shows what we are capable of.”
Davis found himself wide open in the end zone when the Chimacum defense swarmed to tackle Tracer.
“I looked back and Dylan was scrambling, so I put up my hands and was kind of expecting a throw because it looked like he was going to be tackled,” Davis said. “I was so nervous and my heart hurt a little bit. [Time slowed down] and it looked like they tipped it. It was close.”
Davis said he thought about how disappointed he would have been to have dropped the game-winner.
“That was definitely in my head,” he said. “I didn’t want to let the team down, the community down in that situation.”
Redhawks head coach Patrick Gaffney was wowed by the play and the game as a whole.
“That’s Dylan and Noa drawing that up in the dirt and that’s them taking the game over in the fourth,” Gaffney said.
“I don’t know what to say about it other than that’s the greatest game I’ve ever been a part of. For what these kids did — they worked the whole time and that was all heart. To win that one in the end …”
Montoya and Tracer each came up huge on both sides of the ball in the final frame to both preserve and prolong Port Townsend’s winning streak to eight games against their rivals.
Tracer, a force at linebacker for Port Townsend, moved to defensive tackle for a series early in the fourth quarter in an effort to do something — anything — to slow down Chimacum’s rampaging running game.
Cowboys sophomore Anson Jones totaled 154 rushing yards on 19 carries and junior back Kyle Caldwell had 15 carries for 95 yards behind Chimacum’s large offensive line.
“The kid is a handful,” Chimacum head coach Chris Storm said of Jones. “He’s elusive but he can run right over people. He’s a natural back even when the blocking isn’t there.
“He and Kyle — they didn’t have much of answer for them.”
And Jones also caught four passes for 50 yards — most coming on an effective middle screen.
“We had to try something,” Gaffney said. “So we put Dylan up front and we got some penetration. They did a great job of running up the middle and calling some screens on us and we couldn’t stop that.”
The move to defensive tackle worked as Tracer bulled his way into the backfield for a tackle for loss and a no-gain and freshman Hunter Heim — all 5-foot-5 of him — added a second tackle for loss on the night to go with an earlier drive-killing sack to put Chimacum in fourth-and-long.
“That was a big surprise,” Tracer said of Heim’s two big stops. “He came in when we needed it. We needed to slow them down up the middle. I moved in there and we made things happen.”
Montoya then intercepted the Cowboys’ fourth-down pass near the goal line and two plays later Tracer went 68 yards off the left side for the go-ahead touchdown with 6:59 to play.
Chimacum answered almost instantly as senior Carson McConnell hauled in classmate Henry Brebberman’s deep bomb down the sideline for a 55-yard TD to put the Cowboys back up 22-18 with 5:52 left.
Chimacum recovered the onside kick — the Cowboys attempt the onside on every kickoff — but a penalty, one of 18 called on Chimacum during the game — required a re-kick recovered by the Redhawks.
The Cowboys also lost a touchdown to a holding call and recovered a fumble that was ruled an inadvertent whistle earlier in the contest.
“Honestly, we played really well,” Storm said. “We had some detail stuff — getting that touchdown called back because of a holding call. Young team stuff. The inadvertent whistle that killed us.
“In a game that close, any little thing changes it.”
Port Townsend converted three third downs and the final score came on a fourth down during the final drive.
Montoya and Tracer rolled up all 52 yards on the final drive on the ground.
“And that’s what we said — at the end of the game No. 5 [Montoya] and No. 24 [Tracer] are the only guys that are going to touch the ball and we are going to win this thing running behind No. 60 [Wes Blue].”
Storm complimented Port Townsend’s big three senior stars for their play.
“Noa and Tracer, those kids are lifetime football players. And so is Wes Blue, I coached him [in little league]. They stepped up.”
Montoya was relieved after the game. He had thought about how much it would have stung to lose to their rivals as seniors.
“That’s what I was concerned about,” Montoya said. “We haven’t been doing so well against teams that they have been playing well against. They’ve been playing some good football and I was really concerned about playing them. I didn’t want anything to happen and I didn’t want to lose to Chimacum.”
Port Townsend 24, Chimacum 22
Chimacum 8 8 0 6— 24
Port Townsend 6 6 0 12— 22
First Quarter
C—Caldwell 19 run (Caldwell run)
PT—Tracer 45 pass from Montoya (run failed)
Second Quarter
C—Caldwell 3 run (Jones run)
PT—Montoya 9 run (run failed)
Fourth Quarter
PT—Tracer 68 run (run failed)
C—McConnell 55 pass from Brebberman (run failed)
PT—Davis 5 pass from Tracer (End of Game)
Individual Stats
Rushing—C: Jones 19-154, Caldwell 15-95, Brebberman 7-0. PT: Montoya 16-137, Tracer 13-113, Massie 6-13.
Passing—C: Brebberman 8-16-158, INT. PT: Montoya 1-6-45, TD; Tracer 1-1-5, TD.
Receiving—C: McConnell 2-59, Jones 4-50, Daanan/Devas 1-37, Smith 1-8. PT: Tracer 1-45, Davis 1-5.
