By Pierre LaBossiere
Peninsula Daily News
This is when the games get really tense. And really fun.
Playoff season has arrived for fall sports with a number of area teams taking the gridiron, pitch and volleyball courts all weekend.
Football postseason begins Friday with crucial games for 1B, 1A and 2A squads.
No. 4-ranked Neah Bay has the honor of playing the first playoff game on the new FieldTurf at Spartans Stadium in Forks.
The Red Devils (6-1) will host an 8-man 1B Quad-District playoff game against Evergreen Lutheran (1-7) in Forks at 7 p.m. Friday.
Meanwhile, Forks (4-4, third in the Evergreen 1A League) will go on the road to play a Southwest District 1A playoff game at Trico League champion No. 6 La Center (8-1) at 7 p.m. Friday.
It isn’t officially a playoff game, but for all intents and purposes, it’s a playoff for Port Townsend, which hosts Charles Wright at Memorial Field at 7 p.m. Friday. The Redhawks are 5-1 (6-3 overall) in the Nisqually-Olympic 1A League, while Charles Wright is 4-2. Whoever wins goes to the state playoffs as the No. 2 seed out of District 3, while the loser is done for the year.
On Saturday, Sequim will travel to Silverdale Stadium to play Eatonville at 7 p.m. in a West Central District 2A playoff game. Sequim (7-2) is the No. 2 seed out of the Olympic League 2A Division. Eatonville (7-2) is the South Puget Sound 2A League’s fifth seed.
The Wolves enter the game red-hot, having won four straight and scoring an average of 45 points a game over that span.
The winner of the Sequim-Eatonville game goes on to the State 2A playoffs.
In 8-man football, Crescent (4-4) will travel to Oakville to play at 1 p.m., while Quilcene (6-2) hosts Mary M. Knight at 1 p.m. Saturday.
Here’s a rundown of other playoff games this week:
Girls’ Soccer
Both Sequim and Port Angeles will play a West Central District playoff match Thursday night. However, both teams played late Tuesday and who they play Thursday depends on those results. There is a possibility that the Wolves and Roughriders could play each other for a third time for the right to go to the State 2A tournament.
Sequim and Port Angeles have both already won a playoff match, both by penalty kicks. Sequim (7-5, 11-6) finished third in the Olympic League while Port Angeles (6-6, 9-7) finished fourth.
The Port Angeles girls played Fife (12-2, 14-4-1) Tuesday night, while Sequim played White River (14-0, 16-2). If the Riders win that match, they would next play Saturday at 4 p.m. at Franklin Pierce Stadium in Tacoma. If Sequim wins their match, they play at 2 p.m. Saturday at Franklin Pierce.
However, if both teams lose Tuesday, they still have a chance to go the state tournament. They would play a loser-out match — against each other — at Franklin Pierce at 7 p.m. Thursday. The winner would go to state while the loser is done for the year.
Sequim and Port Angeles split two matches this year, with one match ending in a 0-0 tie that was won by Sequim in penalty kicks. An added bit of intrigue — Sequim has never made the state tournament in girls’ soccer, while the Port Angeles girls have not made state since 1987.
Volleyball
A whole bunch of local teams are in the volleyball playoffs.
Forks (4-4, 10-5), the second-place team out of the Evergreen 1A League, will play today in the District 4 1A Tournament at 5:30 at Montesano Junior High School versus Castle Rock. Forks will then play a 7 p.m. match against either White River or Evergreen 1A champion Montesano.
In the Tri-District 1B Tournament at Crescent High School, Neah Bay will play Shoreline Christian at Crescent High School on Thursday in a loser-out match. If Neah Bay wins, the Red Devils would next play a very good Quilcene squad at 10 a.m. Saturday. Quilcene (11-0, 17-0 overall) won the SeaTac 1B League and the SeaTac 1B Tournament.
Clallam Bay also plays at 11:30 a.m. Saturday at the Tri-District 1B Tournament.
At the 2A level, Sequim (10-2, 12-2), the second-place team from the Olympic League, 2A Division and No. 2 seed out of the league tournament, will play at the West Central 2A Tournament at 3:30 p.m. Friday at Franklin Pierce High School in Tacoma. They will play Clover Park (10-4, 11-4), the the No. 8 seed out of the South Puget Sound League. If they win that match, they will play Fife (12-2 SPSL, 14-2) at 7 p.m. Friday. If the Wolves beat Fife, they qualify for state and will continue to play for seeding position.
If Sequim loses that Clover Park match, the Wolves would play at noon Saturday in the losers’ bracket. If they lose their Fife match, they would play at 1:45 p.m. Saturday in the losers’ bracket. In either case, they would have to win two matches at that point to make it to state.
Cross country
The Port Angeles and Sequim boys’ and girls’ teams will compete at the State 2A Cross Country championships at Sun Willows Golf Course in Pasco. The girls will run at 11 a.m. and the boys will run at 1:30 p.m.
Also competing at the State 1A Cross Country meet at the same venue will be the Port Townsend boys and Forks girls. A pair of Forks boys and Port Townsend girls also qualified for state. The girls’ 1A race will take place at 10:30 a.m., while the boys’ 1A race will be held at noon.
Swimming
The Port Angeles and Sequim girls will compete in the Port Angeles at Class 2A West Central District Championships at Hazen High School at 4 p.m. Friday. The Roughriders won the Olympic League 2A title. Port Townsend will compete in the 1A West Central District Championships at the same venue.
