PREP FOOTBALL: Three things learned last week

EDITOR’S NOTE: Updated to correct the time of Crescent’s game at Darrington.

As Chimacum stumbled to a 0-6 start and extended its losing streak to 18 games, head coach Mike Dowling was convinced the team was improving and getting close to getting over the hump.

The Cowboys just needed to learn how to win.

It appears they have.

Chimacum (1-6, 2-7) finished the season by winning two of its final three games — and the one loss was to undefeated and eighth-ranked Port Townsend.

The Cowboys’ victories came against Coupeville and Vashon, which they beat 45-38 on Friday.

The win over Coupeville forced an Olympic League 1A tiebreaker game between the Cowboys and the Wolves (1-6, 1-8) today.

The tiebreaker will be a half-game at Sequim High School at 5 p.m. Entry to the game is free.

The winner moves on to the Class 1A West Central District playoffs, where it will face sixth-ranked Cascade Christian (7-1) later this week.

Tonight’s game kicks off the North Olympic Peninsula’s football postseason, which will feature five of the area’s nine teams.

Port Townsend (9-0) will host Bellevue Christian (4-5) on Friday night in West Central District playoffs.

The rest of the area’s postseason action will take place in the 8-man football Quad-District playoffs.

As the Northwest Football League champion, Neah Bay (8-0) earns a bye through Quad-Districts and an automatic Class 1B state berth.

The two-time defending champion Red Devils’ first opponent will be the winner of this weekend’s game between Clallam Bay (3-5) and Lyle-Wishram (6-3).

Meanwhile, Quilcene (6-2) travels to Marysville to play Tulalip Heritage (3-4) at Quil Ceda Stadium on Friday at 5 p.m.

The winner will meet Taholah (4-4), which earned District 4’s second seed and an automatic state berth, next week.

The Peninsula’s other four teams — Sequim, Port Angeles, Forks and Crescent — did not make the postseason.

The seasons of the Wolves, Roughriders and Spartans are over, but the Loggers will play a crossover game at Darrington on Friday at 5 p.m.

Darrington is typically a 11-man Class 2B team, but canceled its season before it began due to a low turnout and has instead played a few 8-man football games.

Here are two other things learned last week in North Olympic Peninsula high school football:

■   Khile a killer on D.

Port Townsend senior inside linebacker Keegan Khile is having a monster year for a defense that has recorded six shutouts and is allowing 2.67 points per game.

“Keegan understands our defense so well after playing in it for all four years,” Port Townsend head coach Nick Snyder said following last week’s 36-0 win over Charles Wright.

“Honestly, he’s one of the best linebackers I’ve coached in 24 years — the way he knows his gap responsibilities, the angle to take on his blitzes, his nose for the football.”

Khile leads the Redhawks in many defensive statistical categories this season.

He has been in on a team-high 112 tackles this season, ranking first in solo stops with 43 and in assisted tackles with 69.

Thirteen of those tackles have been for losses, including a three-play spree in the Redhawks’ first game against Chimacum in which he caused a fumble, tackled Cowboys running back Chris Bainbridge for a 5-yard loss and sacked James Porter.

A highlight reel of those plays begins at the 29-second mark of this video: www.tinyurl.com/PDN-Khile.

■   Putting an “O” in Port Angeles.

There’s no way around it: Port Angeles struggled on offense this season.

And though the Roughriders lose most of their top offensive threats to graduation, there is hope that the scoreboard will be put to more use in 2016 due to some of the returners who saw action this season, such as Tyrus Beckett, Rudy Valdez, Garrett Edwards, Jarrett Burns and Jace Lausche.

Especially Beckett, a junior who started Port Angeles’ last three games at quarterback.

“I got thrown into the ring of fire late in the season, but I learned a lot,” Beckett said after the Riders’ season-ending 45-21 loss to Kingston on Thursday.

“I learned a lot of skills at quarterback. I feel like I progressed over the three, four games I played in.

“But I’m going to come back next year. I’m going to work all summer. You know, I’m going to work my butt off until I get it down.”

The Roughriders (0-6, 1-8) scored 81 points this season, an average of only nine points per game. (Prior to their 21-point output last week, they were averaging 7.5 points per game).

They averaged only 174.7 total yards per game, and surpassed 200 yards four times and 300 yards only once.

That one 300-yard game was Thursday’s loss to Kingston in which they gained 345 yards.

Leading the offensive attack in that game was the player who led it all season, senior running back Kellen Landry, who finishes the season as Port Angeles’ leading rusher (129 carries for 513 yards) and receiver (22 catches for 204 yards).

Landry’s production had dropped off in the two games prior to the season finale: he was held to a combined 7 yards on 15 runs by Sequim and North Kitsap.

But against Kingston, he ran 17 times for 96 yards and two touchdowns, and caught four passes for 84 yards and another TD.

Kingston’s defense probably isn’t on the level of Sequim and North Kitsap, but it also helped that the Buccaneers’ spotlight wasn’t following Landry on every single play because Beckett required some attention.

He completed 6 of 13 yards for 110 yards, and even more importantly, he ran 16 times for 66 yards.

Once Beckett got going, it freed up Landry.

And with those racking up rushing yards, it opened up the rest of the offense for plays such as the 73-yard halfback pass from Ryan Rodocker to Joe Danz and the 50-yard touchdown pass from Beckett to Landry.

“We knew he was a real good athlete,” Port Angeles coach Bret Curtis said of Beckett. “He’s just learning the position now. He’s pretty raw.”

Once Beckett became eligible to play in the fourth week of the season, the Riders first used him as a defensive end and backup quarterback.

He became the starting quarterback against Sequim.

Beckett still has a lot of room for growth. He threw six interceptions to one touchdown this season, and against Kingston he was part of all five Port Angeles turnovers — two picks and three fumbles.

But his running alone gives the Riders something to build around, or at least something to count on, in 2016.

“He’s going to be really fun to watch next year, I’ll tell you that,” Rodocker, a senior who started the first six games at quarterback, said.

“I’m going to make sure that he goes to all the offseason stuff and works out and gets better than what he is now.

“He knows how to run the ball. He runs like an ostrich — I don’t think anybody can tackle an ostrich.”

________

“Three things learned in high school football” appears each week during the football season in the PDN.

Sports Editor Lee Horton can be reached at 360-417-3525 or at lhorton@peninsuladailynews.com.

Sports reporter Michael Carman can be contacted at 360-452-2345, ext. 5250, or at mcarman@peninsualdailynews.com.

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