PORT ANGELES — Fall prep playoff season has arrived with Sequim and Port Angeles hosting games early this week.
First, the Sequim girls soccer team will host Clover Park at 7 p.m. today in a first-round District 2/3 2A tournament match. That game will be played at Wally Sigmar Field at Peninsula College in Port Angeles.
Sequim finished 8-6 in the Olympic 2A League in fourth place. The Wolves are a No. 9 seed. Clover Park is a No. 16 seed with a record of 5-10-1. This is a loser-out game, with the winner moving on to the second round.
The Port Angeles girls also play at 7 p.m. today. The Roughriders at 10-4 finished third in the Olympic League. Port Angeles is a No. 5 seed in the district tournament and will go on the road to play No. 4 seed White River (12-2-2).
It might seem odd that the Roughriders being a higher seed are having to go on the road, but Port Angeles is not in a loser-out situation like Sequim. Win or lose, the Riders move on to the district’s second round.
If the Riders lose, they would next host the winner of Franklin Pierce or Bremerton — and both of these teams are relatively low seeds — on Wednesday. If Port Angeles wins, the girls would play the winner of Clover Park and Sequim on Thursday. Whether the Riders play Wednesday or Thursday, either game would be played at Wally Sigmar Field.
Volleyball
The Olympic 2A League tournament is a little tougher this year. In past years, the tournament was strictly for district seeding position. Now, two out of the six teams in the tournament will be eliminated.
Port Angeles (9-4) wrapped up its regular season Monday night in a makeup game with North Mason. If the Riders win that match — it was played after press deadline — they will finish all alone in third place in the Olympic 2A League. If they lose, they will end up in a tie for third with Kingston and would fall to the No. 4 seed for the league tournament.
That affects the Riders tonight. Port Angeles will host an Olympic League tournament match at 6 p.m. tonight, against either North Mason or Olympic, depending on the result of Monday’s match.
Sequim, meanwhile is locked in as the No. 2 seed with an 11-3 record and will host a playoff match at 6 p.m. Thursday. There’s a good chance that match could end up being against Port Angeles.
Football
The Port Angeles football team (2-5, 3-6) was hoping that it could qualify as an at-large team for the district playoffs after winning its final two league games against Kingston and North Mason, but the Roughriders barely missed out on a postseason berth.
Orting, with an identical 3-6 overall record, got in as the at-large pick ahead of the Riders. Orting’s Rating Percentage Index is .452, 40th among 2A schools, while Port Angeles’ is .436, which was 42nd. The Riders came within .016 in RPI of making the postseason.
However, the Riders did schedule a 10th game. Port Angeles will travel to Seattle on Friday to play an extra game against 3A Chief Sealth, which also came up short for district playoffs. That game will be played at 7:30 p.m. and may be available on NFHS. It is not on the Port Angeles or Chief Sealth NFHS schedule yet.
Chief Sealth is 4-5 on the season out of the Metro League.
Sequim with a record of 2-7 did not have a shot at postseason.
The three Olympic 2A League teams in the district playoffs are North Kitsap, Olympic and Bremerton.
