QUILCENE — A big second quarter was enough for Quilcene to put Muckleshoot away in a game that was eventually cut short by fighting on the field.
After a scoreless first quarter filled with sloppy play and turnovers, the Rangers scored three touchdowns in eight plays to take a 22-0 lead.
Jacob Pleines scored the first touchdown on a 4-yard run and then Colton Pol on a 38-yard run.
A few plays later, Pleines scrambled and spun away from the Muckleshoot pass rush, and then threw a dime across his body to the opposite hash mark for a 29-yard touchdown to Josh King.
“He made a frickin’ amazing play,” Quilcene coach Nic Dahl said of Pleines.
Pleines added a 28-yard touchdown run in the third quarter to give the Rangers a 30-0 lead.
Quilcene used onside kicks and turnovers to regain possession of the ball during their scoring onslaught.
With a commanding 30-0 lead, though, the Rangers kicked it long and made a big tackle on the return.
More fighting broke out, so the referees ended the game out of concern for the players’ safety.
The game had been chippy from the beginning.
One player had already been ejected for taunting and three players were tossed for an earlier fight.
Dahl said his two players ejected in the fight were sticking up for a teammate who was being attacked after an onside kick.
“It was ridiculous,” Dahl said of Saturday’s game.
“It seemed Muckleshoot showed up to fight, not to play football.”
Dahl said the Kings’ intention seemed clear from the beginning. Quilcene won the coin flip, and deferred to the second half, but Muckleshoot then also deferred, meaning it would kick off at the beginning of both halves.
“There was a lot of chirping early, and then we put it on them [with three quick scores],” Dahl said.
“All of a sudden, it was fight after fight after fight.”
Due to the ejections, the Rangers will be without two-way players Colten Pol, James Hanson and Brandon Bessey for at least next week’s game against Evergreen Lutheran.
“It was so embarrassing, because that’s not the kind of team we are,” Dahl said.
Pleines finished 5 for 12 with 107 yards passing, one touchdown and one interception, and 46 yards on the ground.
King ran seven times for 80 yards and caught four passes for 79 yards.
J.J. Smith had 73 yards on eight carries, and Pol carried four times for 63 yards.
Pol led Quilcene with nine tackles, and had a sack and a forced fumble.
Eli Harrison had eight tackles, and King contributed seven.
Triston Williams and Hanson each had a sack and Pleines intercepted a pass.
With a win next week, the Rangers would wrap up the Northwest Football League South Division title.
Port Townsend 63, Life Christian 12
TACOMA — Jacob King threw two touchdown passes, ran for a score and returned an interception for another to lead the Redskins romp.
Port Townsend scored at least two touchdowns in each quarter of Saturday’s Nisqually League win.
King hooked up with Skyler Coppenrath for touchdown scores of 3 and 12 yards, and ran one in from 42 yards out.
Matt Cain added touchdown runs of 51 and 63 yards, Tim Russell ran a pair in from 11 and 7 yards out and Besher Little scored the Redskins’ final touchdown on a 20-yard run.
Port Townsend (2-2, 5-2) finishes the regular season against Tacoma Baptist at Curtis High School on Saturday night.
The Redskins have secured third place in Nisqually League Division 1, and therefore will play Division 2’s second-place team, Charles Wright (2-1, 4-1), in the league crossover game on Nov. 1 or 2.
Neah Bay 68, Lopez 24
OAK HARBOR — The top-ranked Red Devils cruised past the previously undefeated Lobos at Oak Harbor High School on Saturday afternoon.
Josiah Greene hooked up with Zeke Green for touchdown passes of 43 and 19 yards in the opening quarter at Neah Bay built a 22-6 lead in the first 12 minutes.
Josiah Greene found Tyler McCaulley for a 57-yard touchdown pass and Cody Cummins had a couple of touchdown runs to give the Red Devils a 52-18 lead at halftime.
Cummins and Collin Haupt each added a touchdown run in the second half to close out Neah Bay’s scoring.
The Red Devils’ main threat to the top ranking in class 1B was defending champion Liberty Christian, but after the Patriots’ loss to Colton on Friday night, the No. 1 spot should be Neah Bay’s as long as they keep winning.
The Red Devils (3-0, 6-0) next play at Crescent (0-3, 0-7) on Saturday. The Loggers lost to Tulalip Heritage 82-0.
