PORT TOWNSEND — Limited mainly to blocking back duty offensively for the first two Forks football contests this season, Spartans running back Hayden Baker went off in an enormous way Friday night against Port Townsend.
Baker piled up 344 rushing yards and three touchdowns on 40 carries and picked off a Noa Apker-Montoya pass defensively as Forks pulled away with 20 straight points in the fourth quarter for a 46-20 nonleague victory at Memorial Field.
“He had an injury at the beginning of training camp that really limited his ability to drive off that foot,” Spartans head coach Trevor Highfield said. “We were able to use him as a blocker but not in the run game in the first couple of weeks. He did a good job of holding things down at the H-back position. He’s our smartest, highest IQ probably football player on the team. He can play a lot of different positions but he’s the bruiser, he’s the guy we want to have carrying the ball.”
Baker handled the heavy lifting, but Forks wasn’t limited offensively, piling up 637 offensive yards — 431 on the ground, including a 13-carry, 83-yard one touchdown night from Ricardo Barragan and 206 through the air.
Hayden Queen caught nine passes for 120 yards for the Spartans.
“I’ll say this — our offensive line played our best game,” Highfield said. “We were staying on blocks. We made a point of emphasis on pad level and running our feet and hands inside and our guys did those things. I’m proud of them for able to create a new line of scrimmage. I think our offensive line — we have a lot of sophomores, a junior and a senior, so it’s impressive to see those guys moving the ball.”
It was a close contest for three quarters as Port Townsend forced four turnovers to keep the game competitive.
Port Townsend struck first as Noa Apker-Montoya stepped in front of a Carter Windle pass and slalomed through a series of Spartans on his way to an 80-yard interception return.
The Redhawks led 14-7 for much of the second quarter after Dylan Tracer broke free for 14-yard touchdown run, his longest rushing play of the night.
Tracer made a play certain to show up in the Port Townsend end of season highlight film to pull Port Townsend back in it after Forks went up 26-14 on two Baker touchdown runs and field goals of 29 and 34 yards by Ethan Bello.
Tracer took a short pass to the left flat from Apker-Montoya 84 yards to the house, juking, trucking and finally speeding all the way to pull within 26-20.
Forks was able to limit Tracer, Port Townsend’s most valuable player, to those two big plays — bottling him up for 32 rushing yards on 12 carries and two catches for 86 yards.
“Watching their film we could see their fullback or b back is their best player and we wanted to take that away and I think our scheme did that,” Highfield said of the Redhawks top option in the backfield.
Baker was virtually unstoppable for the Spartans all night and Forks quickly answered back after the second Tracer TD with another scoring drive capped by a Baker TD from 4 yards out.
A Ricardo Barragan TD run was sandwiched between two more Bello field goals in the fourth quarter as the Spartans cruised late.
Bello went 4 for 4 on field goals in the game and was 4 of 5 on PATs.
“Ethan Bello has just done an amazing job for us,” Highfield said.
Highfield left enthused by his team’s play and continued growth.
“We played hard, we played well — we are still tackling too high, but we are a young team and that’s something we will continue to work on.”
Forks (2-1) hosts Granite Falls on Saturday at 2 p.m.
Port Townsend coach Patrick Gaffney thought his team hung in there for three quarters against a well-coached Spartans’ squad.
“They just outlasted us for sure,” Gaffney said. “I felt like Forks really took it to us, especially in that fourth quarter.
“We have to get our kids more ready for tough teams like Forks.”
Port Townsend (1-1) opens Nisqually/Olympic League play with a contest at Charles Wright Academy (2-0) in University Place on Saturday night.
Forks (2-1) hosts Granite Falls (0-2) at 2 p.m. Saturday.
Forks 46, Port Townsend 20
Forks 7 9 10 20 — 46
PT 8 6 6 0 — 20
First Quarter
PT — Montoya 80 interception return
F — Windle 3 run (Bello kick good)
Second Quarter
PT — Tracer 14 run
F — Bello 29 field goal
F — Baker 2 run (kick blocked)
Third Quarter
F — Baker 7 run (kick good)
F — Bello 34 field goal
PT — Tracer 84 pass from Apker-Montoya (run failed)
Fourth Quarter
F — Baker 4 run (kick good)
F — Barragan 7 run (kick good)
F — Bello 34 field goal
Individual Statistics
Rushing: Forks—Baker 40-344, Barragan 13-83, Kilmer 2-11, Windle 3-(-7). PT—Reaux Jr. 10-46, Tracer 12-32, Coggins 3-5, Massie 6-3, Woodley 1-(-3), Apker-Montoya 3-(-10).
Passing: Forks—Windle 14-29-206, 2 INT. PT—Apker-Montoya 3-11-91, 2 INT, TD.
Receiving: Forks—Queen 9-120, Farias 2-44, Olson 3-42. PT— Tracer 2-86, Hammer 1-5.
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Sports reporter/columnist Michael Carman can be contacted at 360-417-3525 or at mcarman@peninsuladailynews.com.
Redhawk Logan Massie jumps over fallen Spartan Hayden Queen while being pursued by Forks defense during a game on Friday in Port Townsend. (Steve Mullensky/for Peninsula Daily News)
