PORT ANGELES — The Olympic Peninsula Eagles secondary made sure its first home game in Port Angeles was a good one Saturday afternoon.
The semipro football team beat the Snohomish County Thunder for the second time this season, as defensive backs Eric Johnson Jr. and Troy Jones each returned interceptions for touchdowns in a 21-6 victory at Roosevelt Elementary School.
It was the Eagles’ final home game of the season and their first in Port Angeles in their five seasons on the North Olympic Peninsula. Each of the team’s other home games was played in either Sequim or Port Townsend since 2006.
“It meant a lot to the guys and to me [to win in Port Angeles],” Eagles coach Mike McMahan said. “Coaching the high school here and coaching the little league here, it was a big deal. It meant a lot to me winning a game here in PA.
“Next year I hope to have three or four games here next year, because Port Angeles is a football town, and the community will follow a winning team.”
McMahan received an impromptu Gatorade shower after the win, which put the Eagles at 3-6 on the year and positioned them for a run at the playoffs.
The team’s next two games will be on the road, beginning with a July 10 contest at Curtis High School in Tacoma against the Tacoma Invaders.
“That was great and the field was great,” McMahan said. “I love that field, and we had a really good crowd. It was a really good game, and it was kind of fun.”
Things were particularly fun for the Eagles in the first quarter.
That’s when Johnson and Jones picked off the Snohomish quarterback on back-to-back possessions.
Johnson got the first one, taking it 55 yards into the end zone to boost the Eagles to an early 7-0 lead.
Jones followed that up with a 30-yard interception return for a score a few minutes later for a 14-0 lead.
Ron Wright Jr. added two sacks for an Eagles defense that stifled the Thunder much of the game.
“They just don’t have anything that’s consistent [on offense],” McMahan said of the Thunder.
The Thunder made things interesting with a touchdown in the third quarter that put the score at 14-6.
Yet Olympic answered in the fourth with a scoring drive highlighted by B.J. Johnson’s 15-yard run to the one-yard line. That set up quarterback Kenny Hall’s one-yard sneak for a touchdown.
“In the fourth quarter we came out and just controlled the game,” McMahan said. “We just pounded them and pounded them and pounded them,
“We went with running back by committee with Ryan Swindler, Luke Dixon, Brandon Wixon and B.J. Johnson. All four of those guys carried he ball a lot. I think all those guys probably had a good 50 or 60 yards a piece.
“The best thing is we’re learning to overcome the adversity we’ve had this year with players leaving. The team I have left now is a solid group of players that we can build a team around.”