Port Townsend, Sequim, Neah Bay and Crescent are all still alive in the state football picture with the Redskins in a loser-out preliminary game tonight against Meridian at Bainbridge High School.
The Wolves already have a state berth and will play in the first round Saturday while the Redskins, Red Devils and Loggers all must win preliminary games to secure state berths.
The time for tonight’s game between Port Townsend and Meridian was still up in the air Monday night.
The scheduled start is 7 p.m. but Meridian school officials are pushing for a 6 p.m. start time because of ferry schedules.
Port Townsend already won a three-way playoff last Saturday just for the right to play Meridian tonight.
The Redskins beat Orting 20-15 and Vashon Island 29-28 to earn the state preliminary playoff game.
The winner of tonight’s game must turn right around and play in the state Class 1A first round Saturday.
Sequim, meanwhile, is a top seed in the 2A first round. The Wolves (9-1) will play Burlington-Edison (8-2) at 6 p.m. Saturday at North Kitsap High School in Poulsbo.
Crescent and Neah Bay both play Friday night.
The Loggers play Lake Quinault at Tumwater High School at 7 p.m. and the Red Devils play King’s Way Christian at Silverdale Stadium at 7:30 p.m.
Volleyball Sequim just misses state
TACOMA — The Wolves captured third place in the Class 2A West Central District tournament for the second year in a row, but unlike last season, they won’t be playing at state this weekend.
Only the top two district seeds earned state berths in 2009 while three seeds went to state in 2008.
Ironically, Washington — the team Sequim bumped from state last year — knocked the Wolves out of state this year.
The Patriots beat the Wolves twice in the district tournament as Sequim (1-2 at district) was just one victory away from state.
Fife won the district title while Washington was runner-up.
Just getting to Franklin Pierce High School in Tacoma became a hardship for the Wolves on Friday because the Hood Canal Bridge was closed for 40 minutes to let a submarine through.
“And then the traffic was heavy all the way to the tournament,” Sequim coach Jennie Webber-Heilman said.
Both North Mason and Sequim arrived late for the tourney.
And then the Wolves were up against powerhouse Washington right off the bat.
“They were a pretty good team,” Webber-Heilman said. “They could hit hard from the back, they kept everything on the court and they were an excellent serve-receive team.”
The Patriots won the first match 25-22, 25-19, 25-17.
Kyla Martin had 12 assists in the match for the Wolves while Maddy Zbaraschuk had seven kills, five digs and a stuffed block and Caitlin Pallai earned seven kills and two stuffed blocks.
Keli Haffner wasn’t far behind with five kills and six digs.
Sequim next eliminated North Mason from the tourney by the scores of 25-15, 25-19, 25-15.
“We got everybody in the match,” Webber-Heilman said.
Taylor Balkan went 16-for-17 in serves with three aces and 10 assists while Sara Hankins went 14-for-16 with two aces and nine assists.
Sierra Clark was 12-of-13 in serves with an ace and an amazing 18 digs.
“Sierra was our defensive player,” Webber-Heilman said. “That was pretty good to get 18 digs in such a low-scoring match.”
Pallai had seven kills while Sarah Donahue earned 10 digs.
In the final match of the tourney, Washington beat Sequim 25-16, 22-25, 25-18, 25-22.
“We played much better the second time was played them,” Webber-Heilman said.
Balkan had 17 assists while Rylleigh Zbaraschuk had 24 digs and six perfect passes.
Rylleigh was a digging machine in that match,” Webber-Heilman said.
Clark had another standout match by going 16-for-16 in serves with two aces, 11 digs and five perfect passes while Donahue ended up with 21 digs.
Maddy Zbaraschuk earned 11 kills, 18 digs and 18 perfect passes while Martin went 17-for-17 with an ace.
The Wolves, second in league with an 11-3 record, 12-5 overall, will lost just five seniors to graduation, three of them regular starters.
“A lot of kids are coming back,” Webber-Heilman said. “We will be ready to go next year.”