RENTON — Keenen Walker’s right arm carried the Port Angeles football team through the first six weeks of the season.
Now, with it wrapped in a hard cast, head coach Tom Wahl has asked him to use his legs.
The senior quarterback-turned-tailback delivered Tuesday night.
Walker ripped off 218 yards on 19 carries, including touchdown runs of 80 and 64 yards, to help keep the Roughriders’ season alive with a 23-6 win over Seamount League No. 3 Renton at Renton Memorial Stadium.
The Class 2A pigtail playoff victory puts the Riders (7-3 overall) one win away from their second straight trip to the state playoffs and also snaps a three-game losing streak.
They will take on 2A SPSL champion Franklin Pierce (7-2) on its own field Saturday night in the preliminary state playoffs.
“How does it feel? Well, happy, frustrating, but ultimately happy,” Wahl said.
“It’s just so frustrating to watch all the guys limping around out there and hurt. It feels like we’re just trying to throw together what we can.”
Added Wahl, “I just challenged them at halftime. I said, ‘Guys, you just got to play with pain and go out there. These guys want to give you the game, if you just go out and put it away.’
“I really believe they did that, so I’m really proud of them.”
The Riders were missing several key players in Tuesday night’s game due to injury, among them wide receivers Eli Fiscalini and Cameron Braithwaite.
And Walker, the quarterback of a wide-open shotgun spread attack just three weeks ago, was forced to play in the backfield once again with a bulky cast on his throwing hand.
As was the case in Friday night’s 27-14 loss at Sequim, however, the reinvented Riders were able to move the ball with a power I-formation offense that relied solely on Walker and running backs Dylan Brewer and Brian Cristion.
Brewer racked up 41 yards on 13 carries before sitting out the second half due to injury, while Cristion had eight carries for 24 yards and one touchdown.
Freshman Matt Robbins added 11 yards on four carries, while fellow freshman Micki Andrus intercepted a ball near the Rider goal line in the fourth quarter to help secure the win.
All told, Port Angeles piled up 288 yards on the ground without attempting a single pass with inexperienced sophomore Larsson Chapman at quarterback.
“We have a great offensive line,” said Walker, who threw for 1,025 yards before breaking his arm in a loss to Klahowya.
“They do a great job with blocking no matter what offense it is, whether it’s pass or run, and we have good fullbacks.”
The biggest runs of the game both came from Walker in a crazy third quarter that saw the Riders run just three plays and score touchdowns on two of them.
Following a missed field goal attempt from Renton (4-6) on the opening drive of the first half, Walker took his first carry of the second half 80 yards for a touchdown.
The 5-foot-11, 205-pound runner busted through the left side of the line, then outran the Indians’ secondary down the sideline and into the end zone to give Port Angeles a 16-0 lead.
The Riders called on Walker again on their very next offensive play, and he responded with another bruising 64-yard run that all but put the game away at 23-0 with six minutes left in the third quarter.
“At halftime the coaches told me just to hit the hole hard at full speed and trust my instincts,” Walker said.
“The line did a great job of blocking, I just hit it hard and it was off to the races.”
Port Angeles benefitted from a Renton team that couldn’t get out of its own way without its star runner Anthony Gold in uniform.
Quarterback DaSsaun Sauls (24 carries, 108 yards) purposefully stepped out of bounds one yard short of a first down on fourth-and-long to end the Indians’ first drive of the game.
Three different botched snaps ended up in losses of 56 yards combined, two killing drives in Port Angeles territory. The other resulted in a safety after Corey Roblan fell on Sauls in the end zone to put the Riders up 2-0 early on.
The Indians also turned the ball over two different times on special teams — once on a muffed punt and another on a Tamrat Haskins squib kick that ricocheted off Renton’s lead blocker.
Following the safety, Skyler Gray returned the subsequent kick off 40 yards to put the Riders at the Indian 30-yard line.
Walker took a reverse run 25 yards three plays later, and Cristion eventually punched it in from one yard out to put the Riders on top 9-0 going into the half.
“I knew coming into this that if we played our game we would win,” Walker said. “I’m just really happy that we get to continue. This is my senior season, and I don’t want it to end.”
Port Angeles out-gained Renton 117 yards to 18 in the first half, controlling the ball for 17 minutes and 30 seconds.
While the Indians were able to move the ball in the second half, they weren’t able to score a touchdown until there was less than a minute left in the third quarter.
They would get the ball three more times the rest of the game, with two ending in turnovers and the other a turnover on downs.
“For the last few weeks I felt like the 76ers; the guys with the flute and the hobbling during the Revolutionary War,” Wahl said. “That’s just the way we look.
“We’re still alive, and it’s good to break that slide and come in here and at least feel like we can still win a game.”
Port Angeles 23, Renton 6
Port Angeles 0 9 14 0— 23
Renton 0 0 6 0— 0
Second Quarter
PA—Roblan safety
PA—Brian Cristion 1 run (Tamrat Haskins kick)
Third Quarter
PA—Keenen Walker 80 run (Haskins kick)
PA—Walker 64 run (Haskins kick)
R—DaSaun Sauls 5 run (pass failed)
Individual Stats
Rushing— PA: Dylan Brewer 13-41, Keenen Walker 19-218, Larsson Chapman 2-(minus 6), Matt Robbins 4-11, Cristion 8-24. R: Sauls 24-108, Brian Barron 11-74, Immanual Carter 1-18, Patrick Sanders 4-10, Savion Phillips 3-5.
Passing—PA: No pass attempts. R: Sauls 7-18-1, 64.
Receiving—PA: No receptions. R: Snders 3-38, Ray Castro 2-21, Byron Blanford 2-5.