BREMERTON — It’s a North Olympic Peninsula takeover tonight at Silverdale Stadium when Quilcene and Sequim co-host a doubleheader of playoff football.
The Class 1B Rangers (9-0) will host the Darrington Loggers (3-6) in a winner-to-state Quad-District playoff game at 5 p.m.
No. 8 Sequim (9-1) will take on the No. 9 Steilacoom Sentinels (9-1) in the first round of the 16-team Class 2A State Tournament following the Quilcene game at 7:30 p.m.
Two more area teams will be in action this weekend when Neah Bay (4-5) hosts Tacoma Baptist (6-4) in another Quad-District tilt tonight at 7 p.m. at Forks High School’s Spartan Stadium and Crescent travels to Lummi to face the Blackhawks in a Quad-District game at 1 p.m. Saturday.
No. 8 Sequim vs. No. 9 Steilacoom
Footballs will be flying at a prolific pace in this contest that features a consensus four-star (out of five) wide receiver with multiple NCAA Division I offers and two senior quarterbacks who have combined to throw for just under 14,000 yards in their careers.
Sophomore wide receiver/defensive back Emeka Egbuka is listed as the No. 38 ranked recruit nationally in the Class of 2021 by recruiting site 24/7 Sports. He’s also listed as the second-ranked athlete, a catch-all term for a player who boasts tremendous gifts but colleges aren’t sure exactly what position they will play at the next level.
This season Egbuka has hauled in 52 passes for 1,051 yards and 18 touchdowns.
It seems like nearly every Pac-12 school has offered the 6-foot-1, 185-pound Egbuka a scholarship, including Washington, Washington State, Oregon and Oregon State, and he also has offers from Florida State, Florida and Nebraska.
Egbuka catches passes from Steilacoom’s JJ Lemming, a 6-foot-5, 215-pounder, who has totaled 7,286 career passing yards and 86 career TDs.
The Sentinels pass on 58 percent of their offensive plays, so the Wolves’ secondary will be tested repeatedly.
Sequim must have a better night at limiting long gains in the pass game than the Wolves managed in a 22-20 comeback win over Franklin Pierce in the district playoffs last week.
The Wolves allowed 282 passing yards against Franklin Pierce, including touchdowns of 90 and 61 yards, and another 50-yard pass connection and survived.
Sequim will counter with senior QB Riley Cowan, who holds school passing records in yardage (6,674) and touchdowns (64).
Cowan is more mobile with 386 rushing yards this season, while Lemming is a pocket passer with 14 attempts for -33 yards. Cowan getting free on scrambles and designed runs is a bonus for the Wolves and he was able to rack up good yardage on the ground in the second half last week.
Sequim sophomore running back Taig Wiker also hit the 100-yard mark and pushed past 1,000 rushing yards on the season in the win last week.
Steilacoom allowed 275 rushing yards in its lone loss, a 28-16 defeat in the South Puget Sound League title game, so the Wolves may ride the rushing attack tonight to chew clock and keep the ball out of the hands of the Sentinels’ offensive stars.
Darrington vs. Quilcene
The Rangers will look to shake off the rust and roll against the Loggers’ team.
The SeaTac League champs earned a bye last week and haven’t played since dismantling Evergreen Lutheran 74-6 on Oct. 27. Because of an Oct. 18 forfeit win over Muckleshoot, Quilcene has played just two games since Oct. 13.
And the way the Rangers ran roughshod over opponents this season, Quilcene hasn’t had to keep their starters in and the foot on the gas since September wins over Tacoma Baptist and Neah Bay. Expect the Rangers to play deep into this game even if the score gets out of hand early to prepare for a state opponent.
Tacoma Baptist vs. Neah Bay
The Red Devils face the Crusaders under the lights and on the turf at Spartan Stadium tonight.
Tacoma Baptist has virtually every player back from a team that advanced to state last season before losing to Lummi.
The Crusaders are tested, having faced 1B No. 2 Almira/Coulee-Hartline, Naselle, Quilcene and Lummi this season.
If Neah Bay is healthy for this game they should be able to stick with Tacoma Baptist.
Crescent at Lummi
Crescent running back Noah Leonard was honored with a WIAA Athlete of the Week award for his 10-touchdown game against Mary M.Knight on Oct. 27.
Leonard scored 10 touchdowns, tying a state and Crescent single-game record set by Dylen Heaward in 2008, scored 62 total points and had a staggering 529 yards from scrimmage in the 86-28 win over the Owls.
