SEQUIM — Despite all the success the Sequim Wolves have had this season, there was actually a chance that if they lost Friday night against Bremerton, they would miss the postseason.
A lot of things had to go wrong for Sequim to miss the playoffs, but the Wolves showed they were plenty motivated to put that unlikely possibility to bed, jumping all over the Knights after halftime and building up a 36-7 lead by the early fourth quarter en route to a 36-21 victory, locking up second place in the Olympic League 2A Division.
North Kitsap beat Olympic 28-14 to win the league championship Friday.
With the win, the 8-1 Wolves get a “home” game at Bremerton High School at 7 p.m. Friday in the West Central District III 2A playoffs against a 5-5 River Ridge team that finished third in the South Puget Sound League’s Mountain Division.
Taig Wiker had a huge game Friday for the Wolves. He ran for four touchdowns and rushed for 133 yards on 21 carries. He also threw for 174 yards on 6-for-12 passing, including a 42-yard touchdown to Garrett Hoesel.
Walker Ward ran 24 times for 122 yards and Hoesel finished with four catches for 149 yards. The Wolves had 241 total rushing yards and 415 yards on offense.
“The O-line, that’s where we improved. It showed in that rushing yardage,” said coach Erik Wiker.
Wiker said Bremerton is a good team with an explosive offense, but that Sequim’s starting defense did a great job containing them. The Knights got 14 of their points late in the fourth quarter when the Wolves were out of reach.
“They had a couple of big plays early. The coaching staff made adjustments on the fly and we shut down those big plays,” Wiker said.
Wiker said River Ridge “is scarier than their record shows” as the Hawks play in the same division as Steilacoom, one of the most dominant 2A teams in the state. Wiker said that looking at the tape doesn’t always give the coaches the best idea of how fast the SPSL teams are, especially if coaches are looking at tape from Steilacoom games.
If the Wolves win Friday, they qualify for the state 2A playoffs for the second straight season.
Sequim 36, Bremerton 21
Bremerton 7 0 0 14— 21
Sequim 6 6 16 8— 36
First Quarter
S—Wiker 19 run (pass failed)
B— Retome 43 run (Harvey kick)
Second Quarter
S—Wiker 4 run (pass failed)
Third Quarter
S—Wiker 3 run (Wiker run)
S—Hoesel 41 pass from Wiker (Wiker to Hoesel pass good)
Fourth Quarter
S—Wiker 8 run (Hoesel run)
B—K. Retome 12 run (Harvey kick)
B—Newman 32 pass from Logova (Harvey kick)
Individual Stats
Rushing—S: Wiker 21-133 Ward 24-122, B. Mote 1-8, Nestor 1-2, Hoesel 1-2, Team 1-(-26).
Passing—S: Wiker 6-12-174, TD, 2INT.
Receiving—S: Hoesel 4-149, Eaton 1-17, Moore 1-8.
Port Angeles 25, North Mason 20
BELFAIR — The Roughriders put a positive exclamation point on what had been a tough season, as their defense rose up to earn a road win over the Bulldogs in the final game of the season for Port Angeles.
The Riders, who came in to Friday’s game with an 0-8 record, scored three touchdowns on defense. Derek Bowechop at the linebacker position had a pair of pick-six interceptions, including a 75-yarder, while Nolan Hughes had a 35-yard fumble recovery for a touchdown.
Jacob Felton also kicked a 33-yard field goal for the Riders.
It had been a difficult year for the Riders, who got blown out in a few games, but lost by just one touchdown to Kingston while the defense kept the games close against Sequim, Bremerton and Forks.
“I think it means an enormous amount” to the kids to be able to finish the season with a win, said coach Troy Mann.
“They suffered so much adversity this year. Some of it was controllable, some of it was out of their control,” Mann said. “It’s so rewarding for the boys to come out with a win.”
Daniel Cable, usually a running back, filled in at quarterback to run the offense as part of the Riders’ adversity was losing starting QB Brady Nickerson to injury.
In addition to Bowechop’s two picks, Keizer Shamp also had an interception. Mann said Shamp’s interception was especially impressive.
“I didn’t even know he could move like that,” Mann said.
Bowechop had actually dropped a couple of likely touchdown passes on offense, Mann said.
“I told him ‘now you owe me one’,” Mann said. And Bowechop came through, intercepting a Bulldogs’ pass in the final seconds of the half as North Mason was driving deep in the Riders’ territory for a possible score. Instead of North Mason possibly having a big lead at the half, that gave Port Angeles a 17-14 lead at the break.
“I told him ‘you still owe me another one’ and [Bowechop] said ‘I’ll get it for you.’ And he did,” Mann said, as Bowechop had another pick-six in the second half.
Mann also said Jaziel Livingston deserves credit for the game he played at linebacker.
“He played lights out, he had an amazing game,” he said.
Hoquiam 48, Forks 13
HOQUIAM — The Spartans played tough with the Grizzlies for a half, but couldn’t keep pace with Hoquiam running back Malaki Eaton, who rushed for more than 300 yards and three scores.
Forks tied the game at 6-all on a 36-yard TD pass from Carter Windle to Hayden Baker with 8:11 in the second quarter.
“We had a drop that would have been a score and they went up two scores at halftime,” head coach Trevor Highfield said. “It was close in the beginning. We were playing them pretty tough.”
But Hoquiam took over after that and kept the Spartans out of the postseason for the second straight season.
Forks wrapped the first season under Highfield at 4-5. Nearly every player on the roster is expected back next season — the Spartans graduate just one senior in Seth Davis.
“Im proud of our kids, proud of how we finished the season and we know there’s a lot to build on for us,” Highfield said.
“Our guys were obviously hurt by the loss, but I know the parents and the kids themselves are excited about next year and were already starting to talk about what’s to come for us.”
And Highfield believes he accomplished his biggest goal — changing the team’s culture.
“I told our coaches this the biggest goal this year was to change culture. I think we’ve done that and we are building men of character and empathy who will go on to a make a great difference in the world.”
Neah Bay 54, Lummi 42
BELLINGHAM — The Red Devils stayed poised despite falling into an early deficit and having to face a creative and capable Blackhawks’ offense.
The win gives Neah Bay the Northwest Football League’s No. 2 seed to the Class 1B Quad-District Tournament and a first round bye.
“That’s always a long trip and it took us a while to get going,” Neah Bay head coach TJ Greene said. “We were down 16-0 pretty quickly.
“They were keying on Toby [Croy], trying to keep him bottled up and out of the open field.”
That forced a change in styles for the Red Devils
“On the offensive side we had to go to the air and use a little play action and go to a spread formation and get the ball to other people,” Greene said.
“Toby still had a long pass reception, a 50-plus pass play. He ran an up route and got it down to the 4-yard line and we punched it in from there.
“Defensively, we had to juggle guys around. Lummi was moving guys around all over the field.
“Toby did a great job defensively shutting down the [Jaie] Leighton kid,” Greene said.
Leighton, a wide receiver, is listed at 6-foot-2, while Croy is generously listed as 5-foot-8.
“Toby did a great job containing him. Keeping the ball in front and making the passes tough to get to him.
“We also brought in one of our faster corners Jaxson Halttunen to play out there as well when Caleb Revey was out wide.
“[Revey] is one we knew, especially in the second half, that they would go to him.
“We did a good job, but he did take one and ran it straight up the middle for a 55-yard TD. He’s a tough kid. I really like watching him play, just not against us.”
Halttunen also had a huge TD going into halftime to make it a two-possession game in Neah Bay’s favor.
“Six seconds on clock and Jaxson busted loose for a 65-yard TD run to end the half and to extend the momentum,” Greene said. “That makes you feel good on the road. You know Sandusky is going to make adjustments in the second half, so going up two scores was huge.”
Greene also praised quarterback Meric Soeneke for his leadership.
“The team showed great poise,” Greene said. “Especially the leadership shown by Meric Soeneke. We were down 16, he threw two interceptions, but he made plays down the stretch that made sure we came out of it with a win on the road. Our field general led us in a big way.”
Neah Bay (7-1) will serve as hosts for a Nov. 15/16 matchup with the winner of a first-round game between the District 2 No. 3 and Lummi, the District 1/3/4 No. 3.
“That was certainly the goal. We had talked about it as a staff on how to approach it with the kids and stress the importance of getting that [extra] week to prepare and to host a playoff game is always something you want to do.”
Greene expects that playoff game to be held on the turf at Forks’ Spartan Stadium. And he expects to face Lummi for the third time this season.
“They play the District 2 No. 3 and that’s a matchup we think they will handle,” Greene said. “We expect to see them one more time.”
