NEAH BAY COACH Tony McCaulley said before the football season started that he expected the 2014 Red Devils to compete for their third state championship in four years.
There were many starters to replace, so he expected it would have to be like the program’s first title in 2011, when the Red Devils lost a few games during the regular season before going on a tear in the postseason.
McCaulley was right, the Red Devils were contenders. They won their second straight state championship with a 56-38 win over Liberty Christian on Dec. 6.
With that, Neah Bay football is the North Olympic Peninsula’s top sports story of 2014.
But McCaulley also was wrong. Neah Bay’s state title run mirrored 2013, not 2011.
As McCaulley expected, the Red Devils improved week by week, and were at their best at the end of the season.
But they did so without losing a single game, finishing 13-0 to extend the winning streak started by that 2013 team to 25 games. (Since winning the championship in 2011, Neah Bay has won an astounding 37 of 38 games.)
As senior John Reamer said after the state championship game: “We weren’t to be denied.”
Here are the rest of the top 12 Peninsula sports stories of 2013:
2. Forks wrestling finishes second: The Spartans’ bid for the school’s first team state championship in any sport went down to the last match of February’s Mat Classic.
Leading the charge was senior Joel Ward, who placed second in the 220-pound weight class.
Forks also had third-place finishes by Sebastian Morales and Miguel Morales.
3. Clarke’s championship run: Port Townsend senior Ryan Clarke went into the cross country championships having won a district cross country championship, but he did so running his second-slowest 5K time of the season.
But at the state meet in Pasco a week later, Clarke broke his personal record by over 23 seconds with a time of 15:37.4 to win the Class 1A state championship.
Clarke also placed fourth in the 3,200-meter run at the track and field state championships in May.
4. Wolfer wins state: Taholah’s Jon Jackson was an overwhelming favorite to win his second straight Class 1B state javelin championship.
In the days leading up to the state meet, though, Crescent track coach Darrell Yount said, “I’ll be surprised if the winner doesn’t come from Crescent.”
Sure enough, Quenton Wolfer beat Jackson by more than 5 feet with a throw of 170 feet, 6 inches to win the state javelin title.
5. Port Angeles 12U goes to World Series: The Port Angeles 12U baseball team’s summer included trips to Kalispell, Mont., and Alachua, Fla.
Port Angeles had a dominating regional tournament in Kalispell, going 6-0 to earn a trip to the Cal Ripken World Series in Alachua, where the team went 3-4.
6. Chapman leaves Peninsula College: Less than two months before the college soccer season, longtime men’s head coach Andrew Chapman resigned to become Director of Soccer at Custom College Recruiting in Elizabethtown, Ky.
Women’s coach Kanyon Anderson also took over the reigns of the men’s team for the season.
The Peninsula men fell in the Northwest Athletic Conference quarterfinals, while the women lost in the championship game.
The Pirates are currently searching for a men’s coach; Anderson will resume coaching only the women’s team.
7. Port Angeles hires another boys basketball coach: Brent Stephens resigned as head coach of the Port Angeles boys basketball team in April after two season.
Following an outpouring of community support at school board meetings — from Port Angeles players and parents as well as those of a girls team Stephens helped coach — Stephens withdrew his resignation in May.
But at the end of July, Stephens left Port Angeles for good to become an assistant coach at Feather River College in Quincy, Calif.
For the second time in three years, the Port Angeles High School administration waited until right before the season to hire a new boys basketball coach.
The coach who was finally hired was former Forks High School standout Kasey Ulin, who had recently retired from playing professional basketball overseas and moved with his family to Port Angeles.
8. Quilcene girls’ run of success continues: For the second year in a row, Quilcene’s softball team placed fourth at state.
The volleyball team followed up its eighth-place finish in 2013 with a six-place showing in 2014.
9. Revival of Port Angeles and Sequim football: After two dismal seasons in which they combined to win four games, the Roughriders and Wolves were factors in the Olympic League again in 2014.
The teams advanced to a three-team tiebreaker in November, the first whiff of postseason football for either school since 2011.
Oh, and their regular-season meeting in October was a classic, with Port Angeles winning 20-14 in overtime on a 25-yard touchdown pass from Ryan Rodocker to Kellen Landry.
10. Phenomenal freshmen: Alex McMenamin and Gracie Long stormed onto the Peninsula sports scene in their first year of high school.
McMenamin placed third at the Class 2A state golf tournament in her first season at Sequim High School.
Long won league and district cross country championships and placed 13th at the Class 2A state meet as a freshman at Port Angeles this fall.
11. Neah Bay’s basketball trophies: Neah Bay isn’t just a football school.
The Red Devils’ boys basketball team finished third at the state tournament in Spokane, while the girls team took sixth.
12. The Seattle Seahawks: The Peninsula really got into the Seahawks run to the Super Bowl last season.
There were banners everywhere. Signs in front of businesses changed. Seahawks jerseys were everywhere.
Christmas lights became Seahawks lights. 49ers and Broncos fans were ostracized.
It was feverish.
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Sports Editor Lee Horton can be reached at 360-417-3525 or at lhorton@peninsuladailynews.com.
