SEQUIM — On a wet, sloppy night in Dungeness Valley, Sequim turned to its grinder.
Nick Camporini muscled his way to a pair of second-half goals to break a 1-1 halftime tie and send the Wolves to a convincing 4-1 Olympic League boys soccer victory over Port Townsend on Tuesday night.
“We call him ‘The Grinder’ for a reason,” Sequim coach Dave Brasher said of Camporini.
“He’ll go after every ball, and sometimes a ball you think he’s never going to get to, he’ll stick his foot in there, grind it out, get the ball and good things happen.”
Mitch McHugh added three assists and Omar Flores a goal and an assist for the Wolves (3-2-0 in league, 7-5-0 overall), who have won three straight since falling to Port Angeles 3-1 last week.
Camporini has scored five goals during that time, putting him at eight for the season.
“He’s a big, strong kid and he has a nose for the goal,” Brasher said.
Both of his goals Tuesday night certainly came with a lunch-pail persona.
The first came in the 46th minute of the second half, when McHugh’s centering pass bounced off a Redskin defender and onto the feet of Camporini.
Using his wide, 6-foot-1 frame, Camporini boxed out the defender on his hip, turned and smashed the ball past Port Townsend goalkeeper Brian LeMaster for a 2-1 lead.
Nine minutes later, McHugh again pushed the ball ahead to Camporini as he made a run down the right side of the field.
Camporini then slid to the ground, tapped it past a charging LeMaster, sprung to his feet and fired the ball into an open net for a decisive 3-1 edge.
“I thought the keeper was out farther than he was, so I just slid,” Camporini said.
“What I was really looking for was to send it across, but it came so close to me that I just got up and put it in.”
That score broke open what had been a tense game for much of the first 55 minutes.
Port Townsend (2-4-0, 4-8-1), fighting for playoff position, gave up just one first-half goal to forward Omar Flores despite several Sequim pushes into Redskin territory.
The Redskins then caught the break they needed in the 38th minute.
That’s when Sequim defender Lijah Sanford slipped on the wet turf while receiving a pass and Nick Silberman collected the loose ball and blasted it past Wolves keeper Byron Boots for a 1-1 tie.
It was one of the few chances the Redskins would get all night, however.
The Sequim midfield, led by big Jerry Azanza in the middle, dominated the ball the rest of the game, and the Redskins got only one more shot on frame.
“They were dictating the game,” Port Townsend coach Patrick Kane said.
“Their midfield was playing better than our midfield.
“Our defenders, collectively, that’s probably the worst game of the year for us.
“We were making mistakes and that just hurt us.”
Part of that, of course, was because of the poor footing that plagued both teams in Tuesday night’s damp conditions.
Players and even the official slipped on the field throughout the game, and the turf played a role in at least two goals (one for each team).
Still, Kane wasn’t about to make excuses.
“It would have been nice if it was cut a little bit more, but [Sequim] handled it,” Kane said. “Their kids were slipping, but they handled it better than we did.
“They just took advantage of the opportunities when the ball got away from us. They capitalized on mistakes. You can’t do that with these guys, they will bury you.”
Once Camporini put in his second goal on McHugh’s third assist of the night in the 55th minute, the Wolves were well on their way to a win.
Keane Poeschl added another score in the 68th minute, and the Wolves came close to adding a few more in the closing moments as Brasher emptied his bench.
“We started off a little slow, but we really ramped it up the second half,” Camporini said. “We really put it into a second or third gear.”
The Wolves now find themselves in a much more enviable playoff position than a week ago, when they were 0-2-0 in league following the loss to Port Angeles.
With nine points in the standings, all coming during the current win streak that has seen them out-score opponents 9-2, they are now in fourth place.
“Those were three games we should have won, and the kids stepped up and did,” said Brasher, whose team faces North Kitsap on Thursday.
“Our defense, we’ve solidified it a little more [since the loss to PA]. In the PA game we kind of gave them three goals with . . . poor communication.
“I think it was a turning point for us.
“Our defense was great tonight except for that one [mistake].”
Sequim 4, Port Townsend 1
Port Townsend 1 0 — 1
Sequim 1 3 — 4
Scoring Summary
First half: 1, Sequim, O. Flores (McHugh), 20th minute; 1, Port Townsend, Silberman, 38th minute.
Second Half: 2, Sequim, Camporini (McHugh), 46th minute; 3, Sequim, Camporini (McHugh), 55th minute; 4, Sequim, Poeschl (O. Flores), 68th minute.