PORT TOWNSEND — Port Townsend tied it up with 34 seconds to play on a Noa Montoya to Dylan Tracer touchdown pass and won it on an unconventional two-point play in a come-from-behind effort 36-34 against the Concrete Lions.
“It was back-and-forth all game, one of those whoever has ball last will win it deals,” Redhawks coach Patrick Gaffney said of Friday night’s nonleague contest at Memorial Field.
“Our seniors really stepped it up all night and earned this one for us,” Gaffney said.
After Concrete went ahead 34-28 with less than two minutes to play, Port Townsend senior Kesem Coggins set the Redhawks up with good field possession on a solid return to near midfield.
“They got a tripping penalty, a guy tried a soccer slide tackle, which is unfortunate because his leg is injured,” Gaffney said of Coggins. “We are hoping it’s just a bone bruise and not a broken leg.”
Port Townsend’s run-heavy wishbone offense isn’t really designed for last-minute drives, but Montoya, the team’s senior quarterback, hit Tracer on three straight pass plays.
One of those plays included the tying touchdown from about 20 yards out.
“We went to run in the 2-point conversion and Dylan looked like he got stopped,” Gaffney said. “But he fumbled it and Noa ended up recovering it and getting the two points.
“In the NFL, the guy who fumbles it is the only one who can recover it in the end zone. I don’t know if that’s the same for high school, but we will take it.”
Concrete had one last chance and tried a double reverse flea flicker but Gaffney said Montoya intercepted the pass to seal it.
“It was a pretty crazy game,” Gaffney said. “Concrete is huge, they were so much bigger than us. But we played like a team and trusted each other to do their jobs.”
Gaffney had praise for Tracer — the team’s best player on both sides of the ball.
“Dylan sets everything up for us, he runs so hard and pretty soon everybody is on him and trying to get him, so our other guys can get going. He set up Logan Massie for some long runs tonight.”
And Montoya earned praise for his play as well.
“Noa was a leader from the first snap to the final snap,” Gaffney said. “He ran our offense really well, bootlegged it a couple of times for some big gains and ran it in twice on QB sneaks.”
Montoya also hit Murphy Kleeman for a 70-yard catch-and-run TD on a 3rd-and-18 play in the third quarter.
“Noa hit him in stride on a post route thrown between two guys,” Gaffney said.
Jerome Reaux Jr. made a big defensive stop on a fourth-and-goal play for Port Townsend and Gaffney said senior defensive end Wes Blue played great on defense again for the Redhawks.
Neah Bay 52, Taholah 6
NEAH BAY — The Red Devils scored 46 points in the first half to cruise to a 52-6 win over Taholah.
Toby Croy ran for 135 yards and three touchdowns, while Meric Soeneke and Tyrone Chambers each ran for touchdowns. Darrin Horejsi also caught a TD pass from Soeneke. Jaxson Halttunen added an 85-yard kick return to open the game for a touchdown.
Soeneke also had an interception, while Logan Halttunen and Chambers had fumble recoveries. Desmond Vitalis led the Red Devils defense with four tackles and five assists.
The win pushes Neah Bay’s record to 2-1 (5-1 overall). They next play Crescent (1-1, 3-3) at home at 7 p.m. Friday.
Neah Bay 52, Taholah 6
Taholah 0 0 6 0 — 6
Neah Bay 22 24 0 6 — 52
First Quarter
NB—J. Halttunun 85 kick return (Croy run)
NB—Soeneke 1 run (PAT failed)
NB—Horejesi 11 run (Soeneke run)
Second Quarter
NB—Croy 34 (Steeves run)
NB—Croy 16 run (Soeneke run)
Third Quarter
T—Ortivez-Hicks 20 run (PAT failed)
Fourth Quarter
NB—Chambers 17 run (PAT failed)
Individual Stats
Rushing—NB: Soeneke 5-22, Croy 9-135, Richardson 5-27, Smith 1-30, Chambers 2-21, Gomez 1-5. T; Ortivez-Hicks 5-0, Orozco 3-0, Mowitch 17-57.
Passing—NB: Soeneke 2-2-0 15, TD; Chambers 0-1. T: Orozco 5-7-85, INT; Mowitch 4-7-44.
Receiving—NB: Horejsi 1-11. T: Ortivez-Hicks 2-11, Orozco 2-33, Mowitch 4-83.
Olympic 41, Forks 6
BREMERTON — The Spartans were hard pressed to keep up with the Trojans’ athletes in a nonleague loss at Silverdale Stadium.
A thin Spartans squad suffered an injury setback when running back/linebacker Hayden Baker went down with a leg injury on the third play of Friday’s 41-6 nonleague loss to Olympic at Silverdale Stadium.
“In essence we were down six starters,” Forks coach Trevor Highfield said. “We had three key guys that didn’t play for us in that game — Logan Olson, Hayden Baker and Tyler Ellis on the line.
“Going into it was a tough deal in that sense.
“[Olympic] has some great athletes, they are well-coached and they were able to overpower us. They played good clean football.”
The Baker injury — what Highfield described as a high ankle sprain — is a critical loss for a Forks team scrapping for an Evergreen League playoff berth.
“He’s the heart and soul of our team, no question,” Highfield said.
The Spartans broke through for a score in the fourth quarter when Carter Windle found Ryan Rancourt for a touchdown pass from about 17 yards out.
“Our guys played hard and scored in the fourth,” Highfield said. “I’m proud of such a young team to keep its character and proud of our consistency and growth in terms of being able to finish game no matter the score. Hayden Queen in particular did a great job of leading us.”
Forks (1-1, 4-3) will have to overcome its injury woes when it returns to Evergreen League play at home against Elma (1-0, 4-2) in what is likely a must-win Evergreen League game on Friday.
The Eagles beat Tenino 54-7 Friday.
“It’s a tough deal playing a big team in Olympic right before these last two key league games,” Highfield said. “It’s a shame to have such a key injury but we are looking forward to a good week of practice and putting it together for next week.”
Clallam Bay 56, Lake Quinault 44
CLALLAM BAY — The Bruins extended their undefeated season in 6-man football by beating Lake Quinault for the second time this season.
Clallam Bay beat Lake Quinault by the same margin in both games — 12 points. Earlier this year, the Bruins won 45-33.
Coach Aaron Burdette said Ryan Strid, who already had more than 1,000 yards rushing, had another big game. He said Anthony McGraw, Ryan Bykerk and Levi Duncan all had good games.
“That’s a good team, they tackle really, really well,” said coach Aaron Burdette. He said Lake Quinault swarmed Strid at times and didn’t give him much room to run.
“They did a good job of corralling him. When you tackle Ryan Strid, you’re doing something,” he said.
Clallam Bay (4-0) is scheduled to play at Wishkah Valley on Saturday.
