POULSBO — The North Kitsap Vikings have become giant killers.
One week after dropping unbeaten and state-ranked Port Angeles, the Vikings did the same thing to the No. 4 Sequim Wolves on a damp Friday night inside Vikings Stadium.
North Kitsap ripped off 479 yards of offense and forced three turnovers to claim a 33-13 victory while also handing Sequim head coach Erik Wiker his first October loss.
“It was bound to happen,” said Wiker, now 34-1 in October games in eight seasons at Sequim. “I was just hoping it wasn’t going to happen this year.”
Added Wiker, “It’s hard to stay on top all of the time and tell [the players], ‘These guys really want you.’”
The loss not only ended the Wolves’ late fall dominance, it also put North Kitsap (5-1 in league, 5-3 overall) in the driver’s seat for the Olympic League title with one week to go.
Sequim (5-1, 7-1) now must hope for a Kingston upset of North Kitsap next Thursday in order to have a shot at its third straight league title.
Otherwise, the Wolves will be playing for the league’s second seed into the Class 2A state preliminary playoffs when they host Port Angeles on Friday.
Given the way North Kitsap has played since its overtime loss to Olympic on Oct. 7 — beating Port Angeles and Sequim by a combined 41 points in successive weeks — the latter scenario seems more likely.
“It’s the kids just having so much belief in their ability,” North Kitsap coach Jeff Weible said. “Each week they just believe more and more in themselves.”
Much like their game against Port Angeles, the Vikings took advantage of an undermanned Sequim team that got one half from two-way star Frank Catelli.
The senior quarterback/linebacker had to watch from the sideline in the final two quarters after tweaking a groin injury that hobbled him last week.
He also sat out a majority of the plays on defense in the first half as North Kitsap built a 30-7 lead.
“[North Kitsap] played great,” Wiker said.
“I don’t want to take anything away from them, but, yes, it does hurt losing a great player [like Catelli], because he’s special.”
The Vikings got a couple of big plays from speedy Connor McCorkle, who finished with 233 yards of offense, to surge ahead 17-7 early in the second quarter.
The senior wingback ran 73 yards for a touchdown on the Vikings’ second possession for a 10-0 lead.
Catelli then took Sequim 80 yards on eight plays, completing 5 of 6 passes for 72 yards during the drive, and eventually muscled his way across the goal line for a 2-yard touchdown run.
The Wolves’ momentum was short-lived, however, as North Kitsap quarterback A.J. Milyard hit McCorkle on a crossing route on the Vikings’ next offensive play.
Freed by a block from J.T. Nettleton, McCorkle then took off down the field and sprinted into the end zone for a 74-yard touchdown reception.
“It’s rare that it strings together like that, but it happened tonight,” McCorkle said.
Sequim relied almost exclusively on Catelli’s arm to get back in the game, attempting 31 passes to just seven runs in the first half.
But each time the Wolves made a move into North Kitsap territory, the Viking defense stiffened.
That included an interception of Catelli on third-and-long and a turnover on downs near midfield that preceded North Kitsap’s fourth scoring drive of the game, capped by a 14-yard pass from Milyard to Dan Mitchell.
“They were definitely filling and taking some stuff away,” Wiker said.
“Them going up probably took a little bit of the run game. We probably went away from it too soon.”
Clearly not 100 percent, Catelli ran just four times for 8 yards while throwing for 170 yards on 16-of-31 passing with two interceptions.
The last pick, coming on third-and-long on Sequim’s side of the field, was snatched by North Kitsap linebacker Jordan Hadden and returned 34 yards for a touchdown and 30-7 edge.
“[Losing Catelli] didn’t affect us that bad, just in the beginning when we couldn’t run,” said Jack Wiker, who started at running back before going to QB in the second half. “We could have won without him.”
The loss spoiled a big game from Sequim wide receiver Nick Ramirez, who finished with nine receptions for 130 yards.
Backup quarterbacks Jack Wiker and Cody Field (3-of-6 passing, 48 yards) also performed admirably in relief of Catelli.
Jack Wiker finished with 67 yards and a touchdown on 12 carries, but also had a long scoring run brought back on a holding call on the opening possession of the second half.
Instead of drawing within 17 points with a TD, the Wolves got the ball outside the North Kitsap 20 because of the penalty.
Running back Lopaka Yasumura fumbled three plays later.
Even after Jack Wiker and Field were able to take the Wolves to an 67-yard touchdown drive on their next possession, North Kitsap came back with a 14-play march that lasted nearly seven minutes.
It resulted in Kyler Gracey’s second field goal of the game and essentially put things away at 33-13.
“We made a couple of mistakes on defense that killed us,” Jack Wiker said.
“They were getting past our corners and we weren’t stopping their run like we should have been. It was just a tough game.”
Milyard finished with 205 yards through the air with no interceptions.
Relying almost exclusively on play-action bootleg plays out of the Vikings’ wing-T formation, he completed 12 of 16 passes to five different receivers.
The Vikings also ran for 274 yards on 37 carries, led by McCorkle’s 144-yard output on eight totes.
Sequim managed to force one turnover when Victor Gonzalez recovered a fumbled option pitch from Milyard near its own goal line in the first half.
Yet that was one of the few defensive highlights for a Sequim team that had 324 yards of offense itself.
“I [thought] that it was going to be like that it was, but hopefully we could stop the big play, which we did not,” Erik Wiker said.
North Kitsap 33, Sequim 13
Sequim 0 7 6 0— 13
Home 10 20 0 3— 33
First Quarter
NK—Gracey 37 field goal
NK—McCorkle 73 run (Gracey kick)
Second Quarter
S—Catelli 2 run (Koonz kick)
NK—McCorkle 74 pass from Milyard (Gracey kick)
NK—Mitchell 14 pass from Milyard (Gracey kick)
NK—Hadden 34 interception return (kick failed)
Third Quarter
S—Wiker 2 run (kick blocked)
Fourth Quarter
NK—Gracey 22 field goal
Individual Stats
Rushing— S: Wiker 12-67, Yasumura 2-27, Catelli 4-1, Field 5-1. NK: McCorkle 8-144, Golden 12-76, Mitchell 10-53, Bogard 1-11, Hadden 1-2, Fisher 1-0, Milyard 4-(minus 12).
Passing—S: Catelli 16-31-2, 170; Field 3-6-0, 48; Wiker 1-2-0, 12. NK: Milyard 12-16-0, 205.
Receiving—S: Ramirez 9-130, Forshaw 5-59, Miles 3-14, Ballard 2-21, Wiker 1-6. NK: McCorkle 2-89, Urquhart 4-59, Nettleton 3-43, Mitchell 1-14, Golden 2-0.