THE NORTH OLYMPIC Peninsula high school football season was tough from the start, so it’s only fitting that it came to an unexpected and screeching stop with Neah Bay being upset by Lummi 26-20 in the 1B state semifinals last week.
There was a lot of good, such as state playoff appearances by Port Townsend, Quilcene, Neah Bay and Clallam Bay, the first time since 1996 that the Peninsula had four teams make state.
There also was the halting of an 18-game losing streak and a postseason berth by Chimacum.
But each team had bad hurdles to overcome in 2015. For some teams, it was one thing after another. For others, all it took was one thing to derail the season, even if it was only temporarily.
The doomed season all began with Port Angeles losing 49-0 to Port Townsend on the season’s first day in September.
Clearly, the Redhawks were the better team this season, and probably the best team on the entire Peninsula, but the Roughriders couldn’t have had a worse start to the season. They only managed one first down and 39 yards total (73 yards passing — 55 of those coming on one play — and minue-34 yards rushing).
Port Angeles rebounded to defeat Vashon the following week, but injuries continued to mount and inexperience continued to be exploited, and the Riders finished with a 1-8 record and placed last in Olympic League 2A.
Port Townsend tore through its schedule, winning its first 10 games by outscoring its opponents 491-32 and racking up six shutouts to make the state playoffs for the first time since 2004.
The Redhawks lost to King’s 24-7 in the first round of state. The Knights have gone on to advance to this weekend’s 1A state championship game, so no shame losing to them.
Port Townsend had its best season in years, if not decades, but even it was bit by bad luck. The Redhawks, who entered the season without much depth, lost leading rusher Wesley Wheeler in the seventh week, and then All-State defensive back Jacob Ralls suffered an injury the week that slowed him in the loss to King’s.
Actually, bad things started happening in the offseason to Port Townsend, when it lost several contributors to injuries.
Obviously, the Redhawks (10-1) won’t complain about 2015. In fact, it will be celebrated as one of the best seasons in school history, but even for them things weren’t perfect.
Neah Bay never really had it rough. And that was rough on the Red Devils.
Other than the season-opening 44-36 win over Northwest Christian of Colbert in an 11-man game, Neah Bay was hardly tested this season.
The Red Devils (10-1) can usually rely on a few showdowns with Lummi each season, but Lummi forfeited the first scheduled game between the two 8-man powerhouses and then played without its best player, Hank Hoskins, in Neah Bay’s 62-12 win in October.
With Hoskins back in the lineup for the state semifinals last week, the Red Devils were facing a completely different and much better version of the Blackhawks.
Neah Bay was still more than good enough to beat Lummi, but the level of competition it faced in the semifinals was unprecedented this season.
A team can learn a lot about itself from struggling a bit, and the Red Devils didn’t have that learning opportunity until it was too late.
Like Port Townsend, Quilcene had one of its best seasons ever. In fact, for the Rangers (8-3), there’s a lot of evidence that 2015 was the best season in school history.
They won the first state playoff game in school history and made it to the state quarterfinals, where they lost to eventual state finalist Lummi.
But Quilcene had some back luck, too. Starting quarterback and All-State defensive back Eli Harrison missed a few games with injury, which was made even worse by a previous injury to backup quarterback Juan Rogers.
By the way, Harrison set a new state record for career interceptions with 22 in only two seasons, passing up late Neah Bay great Drexler Doherty, who had 20 from 2007-10.
Sequim was rolling toward a postseason berth. All the Wolves (5-3) had to do was beat Bremerton, whose only victories game against Olympic League 2A’s cellar dwellers Port Angeles and North Mason.
Sequim lost the game in the final minute.
The Wolves, though, were without safety Kane Stoddard, who head coach Erik Wiker said was Sequim’s best defensive player this season, and linebacker Chris Whitaker. Both players were voted Olympic League 2A first team defense by the league’s coaches.
Clallam Bay had no players to lose, but still lost a few at different times throughout the season.
The Bruins (4-6) still made the state playoffs and even won their Quad-District game at Lyle with only nine players.
Forks (1-8) had some glimmers of hope, but its new pass-heavy offense was difficult to grow into, and the one-year tenure of its coach, Craig Shetterly, was mired in controversy from the start.
Chimacum and Crescent entered 2015 cursed by loss-filled 2013 and 2014 seasons.
It took the Cowboys (2-8) some time to figure out how to win. But they finally did and ended up making the postseason.
The Loggers (3-7) finished with only one more win than last year, but decreased the margin of its losses while playing essentially the same schedule as 2014.
I guess injuries and bad luck are part of football, but still I say to the 2015 high school football season: good riddance.
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Sports Editor Lee Horton can be reached at 360-417-3525 or at lhorton@peninsuladailynews.com.
