SILVERDALE — East Jefferson rolled up its nearest league rival Klahowya 43-6 in a downpour Thursday night to finish out a perfect run through Nisqually League play and claim the Chimacum-Port Townsend cooperative’s first football league championship.
The Rivals (5-0, 6-2) will wrap the regular season with a nonconference game at Sultan on Tuesday and will await their seeding and opponent in the WIAA Class 1A State Football Tournament’s first round on Nov. 12-13.
“They were totally stoked to win and enjoy the league championship,” coach Tony Haddenham said.
“And for us who live in Chimacum and this is my year 21 at the school and we’ve never been undefeated in league and won a league title. It means a lot to us.
East Jefferson forced nine Eagles turnovers in the wet and sloppy conditions on the Klahowya turf.
“The ball was slicker than a greased pig at the fair,” Haddenham said.
The Rivals wasted no time getting on the scoreboard as Anson Jones returned the opening kick to midfield and the Rivals converted twice on third down, including a tough 21-yard gain by senior running back Logan Massie.
Trevor Wilson ran in from 7-yards out for the first East Jefferson score, followed by a short rushing TD by Jerome Reaux Jr. for a 16-0 lead after one quarter.
An Aaron Glanz touchdown run put the Rivals up 29-0 entering the final frame.
East Jefferson’s defense and special teams also provided offense in the second half with the Rivals scoring a safety and then returning the ensuing kickoff 60 yards for a score.
Lonnie Kenney snagged two interceptions, returning the last one 105 yards for a TD with just more than a minute to play in the contest.
“We really put it together and I’m excited to find out our seed and who we play [at state],” Haddenham said.
Bremerton 19, Port Angeles 13
BREMERTON — The Roughriders had their chances offensively against the Knights but couldn’t put it together in the red zone and fell despite pitching a second-half shutout.
“We played really well,” coach Dustin Clark said. “Bremerton has a really strong running game and we had trouble stopping it early. Our problem was we just didn’t take advantage of our opportunities. We had five chances in the red zone and couldn’t score. That’s where we are, we made some mistakes down by the end zone and couldn’t come back from that.”
Penalties also nullified two big plays by the Riders.
“[Daniel] Cable had a long touchdown run called back and another 50- to 60-yard play called back,” Clark said.
“But it was definitely our most complete game from start to finish, we played all four quarters.”
Cable scored a first-half touchdown on a fumble recovery and added a 45-yard TD reception from Parker Nickerson late in the game.
As of midday Saturday, Port Angeles was still in the mix for one of two at-large Bi-District playoff spots.
Four South Puget Sound League teams, three KingCo 2A teams, three Olympic League teams (North Kitsap, Olympic and Bremerton) and two at-large squads will make the 12-team field.
Clark wasn’t sure of the methods used in determining the at-large teams, but the tournament itself will be seeded based on WIAA RPI.
Neah Bay 40, Lummi 30
BELLINGHAM — Three consecutive rushing touchdowns by Julian Carrick in the third and early fourth quarter lifted the Red Devils into the lead and a late touchdown run, also by Carrick, provided the insurance needed late in a huge 40-30 win over Lummi.
“He’s a bad man, he wanted to win that game,” coach Kane Bachelor said. Lummi came in to that game ranked No. 2 in the state.
Neah Bay (3-0, 4-2) earned the Class 1B Northwest League championship with the win and are set to host Mossyrock in the Class 1B Quad District Tournament this weekend with location and date yet to be determined.
“Lummi scored on the first play but our kids didn’t blink,” Bachelor said. “We talked to the kids this week at practice about being able to bounce back and we did a great job of it.”
Carrick racked up 271 rushing yards on 32 carries, threw 4 of 7 for 49 yards, an interception and a PAT and totaled 101 return yards on seven kickoffs.
“We controlled the time of possession, shortened the game up and went turnover free,” Bachelor said.
The Red Devils trailed 22-14 at halftime, scoring on two Kaeden Butterfield TD runs.
“He was our heart and soul on the field last night,” Bachelor said. “He’s a very physical player and watching him lead block gets everybody going.”
Carrick scored on runs of 1, 66 and 5o yards to put Neah Bay up 32-22.
Lummi added a 1-yard TD run with 8:33 remaining to pull within 32-30, but the Red Devils answered late, with Carrick scoring on a 4th and goal play from the 1-yard line with 1:12 left.
“We had a seven-minute drive to close it out and scored on a QB sneak,” Bachelor said.
Olympic 56, Sequim 0
BREMERTON — The Wolves wrapped their season with a shutout loss to the Trojans in a downpour Thursday.
Sequim finished the season with a record of 3-5 in Olympic League play and 3-6 overall.
“More than anything our passing game was what kept us in games and with the weather it really impacted us there,” coach Erik Wiker said.
“Their strength is their line and our youth and inexperience across our line is a trouble spot for us.”
Wiker said he was proud of what his squad accomplished.
“I told them it was hard after losing the last game like we did to have perspective, but if we zoom out and look at the whole year I really think we overachieved with what we had and that will help us going forward
“We had injuries at key positions and youth having to step in. To start the year with 20 kids and end with 30 and three wins and be able to compete with a good team like Bremerton? And win the Rainshadow [Rivalry game against Port Angeles], that shows some of what they overcame.”
