SEQUIM — Last season, all Sequim had to do was beat Bremerton at home to lock up a postseason berth and avoid falling into a three-team tie.
The Wolves ended up losing to the Knights 14-13. Then they lost to Port Angeles in the first half of a three-team tiebreaker.
On Thursday, Sequim (3-2, 5-2) again finds itself a win over Bremerton (2-3, 2-6) away from securing a postseason berth and third place in Olympic League 2A.
This time, the game is on the road, and this time, the Wolves, Knights and Kingston (2-3, 2-6) are vying for two playoff bids.
The league was originally slated to send only three teams to the postseason, but Sammamish of the KingCo League has removed itself from postseason consideration due to a lack of healthy players.
Since KingCo only has two Class 2A teams, Sammamish’s opt-out left an opening for the Olympic League.
The two Olympic League teams that advance will have play-in games Tuesday, Nov. 3.
The third-place team, which currently is Sequim, will “host” the Seamount League’s third-place 2A team, which will be either Renton (3-2, 3-5), Foster (3-2, 3-5) or Hazen (2-3, 2-6).
If Sequim finishes third in Olympic 2A, the play-in game will be played at North Kitsap High School in Poulsbo. Sequim athletic director Dave Ditlefsen said Monday that these play-in games need to be played on artificial turf fields.
The winner of next Tuesday’s play-in game will face undefeated River Ridge (6-0, 8-0), the champion of the South Puget Sound League, or SPSL.
If Sequim finishes fourth in Olympic 2A, its play-in game will be on the road against the SPSL’s fourth-place team.
The SPSL has its own convoluted mess to sort out, with four teams in the running for three bids: Steilacoom (4-2, 4-4), Fife (4-2, 6-2), Franklin Pierce (4-2, 4-4) and Washington (3-3, 4-4).
The winners of the play-in games play again next Friday or Saturday for a state berth.
There are two simple postseason scenarios for Sequim: beat Bremerton or having Port Angeles (0-5, 1-7) defeat Kingston.
Port Angeles’ matchup with the Buccaneers has been moved up to Thursday in order to accommodate Kingston for its potential play-in game next Thursday.
So what happens if Sequim, Bremerton and Kingston are tied after Thursday’s games?
That has yet to be decided.
If Bremerton beats Sequim and Kingston beats Port Angeles, then the Knights, Wolves and Buccaneers will all have identical 3-3 league records.
League rules state the tiebreaker for a postseason berth should be decided with a playoff — such as the three-way tiebreaker between Sequim, Port Angeles and Kingston in 2014 — but the looming pigtail game next Tuesday would make that difficult because it would mean two teams would potentially play four games in an eight- or nine-day span.
Ditlefsen said Monday that a tiebreaker game is unlikely but not officially off the table.
“It would be hard to squeeze that in between Thursday and Tuesday,” Ditlefsen said.
However, the league’s other tiebreakers aren’t much help.
The Wolves, Buccaneers and Knights will each have 1-1 records against the other two teams in the tiebreaker, and they will have all beaten Port Angeles and North Mason and lost to Olympic and North Kitsap.
Ditlefsen said the league’s athletic directors are trying to figure out how a potential three-way tie would be broken.
One potential way is point differential in the three games between Sequim, Bremerton and Kingston.
Right now, even that is tied: Sequim beat Kingston 13-10 and Kingston defeated Bremerton 24-21. A three-point win by Bremerton over Sequim would take this tiebreaker element out of consideration.
Again, though, there is a simple way to settle this mess.
“We just need to take care of business,” Ditlefsen, who also is Sequim’s offensive coordinator, said.
By the way, Thursday will be Port Angeles’ season finale. The Roughriders are out of postseason contention and head coach Bret Curtis said the coaches have already decided it will not play a crossover game next week.
Olympic League 1A
Things are a lot more clear in Class 1A.
Port Townsend (6-0, 8-0) has claimed the Olympic League 1A crown. The eighth-ranked Redhawks finish the regular season at Charles Wright on Friday.
They will then likely host Bellevue Christian (2-5) in the district playoffs Nov. 6 or 7, unless the Vikings upset fifth-ranked Cascade Christian this week.
Port Townsend shut out Bellevue Christian 44-0 last month.
Klahowya has clinched second place in Olympic League 1A, but Chimacum (1-5, 1-7) and Coupeville (1-5, 1-7) are tied for the third and final postseason berth.
Chimacum athletic director Gary Coyan said Monday that the Cowboys and Wolves will play a tiebreaker, likely next Tuesday.
“We’re figuring out where it will be played,” Coyan said.
Since it is a league tiebreaker, the game cannot be hosted by either of the teams involved.
That doesn’t eliminate Memorial Field in Port Townsend, Chimacum’s home field, as a potential location as long Port Townsend High School is willing and able to host the game. Coyan added that hosting a game like this requires a lot of extra time and work.
Coyan said that in keeping with league precedent the tiebreaker likely will be a full game.
The winner of the tiebreaker will face Cascade Christian (8-0), the defending 1A state champion, next weekend.
Coyan said that the Cowboys want that opportunity, despite the odds being stacked against them.
“It says something about our guys that they want to play, even though they’ve had a tough year,” Coyan said.
Class 1B
The North Olympic Peninsula’s 8-man football postseason is refreshingly simple.
Two-time defending state champion Neah Bay is the Northwest Football League champion and therefore has earned automatic berth into the Class 1B state playoffs.
Clallam Bay will finish fourth in the Northwest Football League and will go on the road for Quad-Districts against District 4’s third-place team.
Quilcene is the SeaTac League’s third-place team and will face the Northwest Football League’s third-place team at Quad-Districts. Barring an upset of Lummi by Tulalip Heritage this Thursday, the Rangers will play at Tulalip Heritage next week.
The Peninsula’s other 8-man team, Crescent, has been eliminated from the postseason.
After playing at Quilcene this Saturday, the Loggers will finish their season with a crossover game at Darrington on Friday, Nov. 6.
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Sports Editor Lee Horton can be reached at 360-417-3525 or at lhorton@peninsuladailynews.com.
