FORKS — Forks dug deep after spotting Sequim a 14-0 halftime lead, rallying behind a stingy defense which intercepted Wolves quarterback Lars Wiker three times in the second half, including in the final minutes of a 21-14 Spartans win Friday night.
Freshman Bubba Hernandez’s 78-yard option keeper touchdown run midway through the fourth quarter stood up as the Spartans inaugurated their renovated Spartan Stadium with a victory.
“He made guys miss all over the field and he hasn’t walked into the high school yet for class,” Forks head coach Trevor Highfield said.
The Spartans’ rally started along its defensive line with Sloan Tuamua and Walker Wheeler getting after Wiker.
“We started getting better pressure on the QB by getting some younger guys in the rotation,” Highfield said. “Our guys were coachable in terms of talking about what Sequim was doing and how we can stop it. I’m most proud of our team’s tenacity, to be down 14-0, but our locker room was up at halftime, they knew we had an opportunity. A very workman-like attitude from this group.”
Sequim scored twice through the air in the first half.
“Their quarterback is pretty good, he’s an athletic kid who slings it pretty well and makes good decisions,” Highfield said. “They were really hurting us in the screen game, tunnel screens, tailback screens. Those are plays that are tough to review and go over live for our defense in a first-game situation.”
Forks also was limited offensively with primary running back Nate Dahlgren not playing early on.
The Spartans made a switch to freshman Bubba Hernandez at quarterback and he produced on Forks’ second drive.
“Landon Olson caught a 12-yard TD pass and Bubba made some key plays in the passing game, a 25-yarder to Gunner Rogers, to set us up,” Highfield said.
Landin Davis intercepted a Sequim pass and capped off the third quarter with a 5-yard rushing TD to tie the game at 14-all.
“He did a tremendous job of running hard and playing physically for us, and he made keys plays on both sides of the ball,” Highfield said.
Dahlgren also got some carries in the second half to keep Sequim honest.
“He made some significant gains for us,” Highfield said.
A Noah Foster interception set up Hernandez’s go-ahead run to paydirt.
“The team saw the skill set [Hernandez] has at that position, but it was a definite team win. “We’ve been able to showcase Nate’s talents, but we were without him for much of the game and we found a way to get the win.”
Sequim drove deep into Forks territory with less than a minute to go but the Spartans’ defense, helped by a Wolves’ holding penalty, stiffened in the red zone and Olson picked off Wiker to ice the game late.
Forks (1-0) hosts Neah Bay at 7 p.m. Friday.
Sequim (0-1) visits Bainbridge (1-0) on Sept. 14
Nicholas Zeller-Singh/Kitsap News Group East Jefferson’s Cash Holmes made a hard tackle against Kingston in Kingston on Friday night.
Kingston 28, East Jefferson 8
Kingston — Aaron Glanz returned the second-half opening kickoff 70 yards for a touchdown to pull the Rivals within 14-8, but East Jefferson couldn’t overcome the Buccaneers’ running game and turnovers in a road loss Friday.
The Rivals allowed a 44-yard TD pass on the first play of the fourth quarter to put Kingston up 21-8 and a Cash Holmes pass was intercepted in the end zone by Kingston to effectively put the game away.
Kingston added a rushing TD with less than two minutes to play to account for the final score.
East Jefferson (0-1) hosts state power King’s on Friday at 7 p.m. at Memorial Field.
Crescent 22, Oakville 0
OAKVILLE — Crescent overcame a lot of penalties and played a spectacular game on defense, shutting out Oakville 22-0 on a hot day in southern Washington.
The game was locked in a 0-0 tie at halftime.
“It was a grind. It was really hot. Both teams were out of shape. We just grinded it out,” said Crescent coach Brian Shimko. He told his team whoever scored in the second half was going to win.
Shimko said the player of the day was a newcomer, sophomore Loki Ellis, playing his first game for the Loggers. He had four quarterback sacks and three fumble recoveries.
“He stepped up on defense. They had no answer for him,” he said. Shimko said Oakville had the ball on the 3-yard line and that he had Ellis blitz up the middle. He literally stole the ball from Oakville’s quarterback during the handoff.
On offense, the Loggers finally went to a Wildcat offense and started scoring. Henry Bourm ran for two touchdowns, one for 11 yards and another for 52 and scored two 2-point conversions to give the Loggers a 16-0 lead. Bourm then threw a 36-yard touchdown pass to Lukas Love.
Shimko said one thing he wasn’t happy with was penalties. He estimated that Crescent had 15 to 18 penalties, some of which negated big runs with holds and blocks in the back 15 yards behind the play.
Bourm also had a 63-yard run and led the Loggers with 193 yards rushing on 13 carries as Crescent finished with more than 300 yards rushing.
Conner Bauers ran eight times for 45 yards, while Dominiq Sprague ran eight times for 41 yards. Tommy Leonard had 10 rushes for 31 yards, but lost some big runs on penalties.
Through the air, Bourm was 5-for-15 for 113 yards and one interception. Bauers had a completion for 7 yards.
Love had two receptions for 63 yards, while Sprague had two catches for 16, Bauers one for 27 and Josh Berson one for 14.
Crescent (1-0) will host a 1A team, Charles Wright, at 1 p.m. Saturday in Joyce.
Sequim’s Alexander Kessler (11) fights for yardage against Forks’ Gunner Rogers (16) on Friday night in Forks. (Michael Dashiell/Olympic Peninsula News Group)
Area Scores
Port Angeles 44, Blaine 21
Statewide Scores
Almira/Coulee-Hartline 50, Oroville 18
Anacortes 21, Oak Harbor 7
Archbishop Murphy 17, Lake Washington 14
Arlington 46, Kamiak 8
Auburn 14, Prairie 12
Bainbridge 47, Hazen 20
Battle Ground 43, Mark Morris 0
Bethel 32, South Kitsap 27
Blanchet 42, Redmond 20
Bothell 34, Curtis, N.Y. 0
Bremerton 27, Mount Douglas, British Columbia 12
Capital 21, Thomas Jefferson 18
Cashmere 56, Newport 13
Central Kitsap 35, Mariner 13
Chelan 56, Brewster 27
Chief Leschi 68, Tulalip Heritage 38
Clarkston 30, Moscow, Idaho 29
Colville 34, Tenino 14
Concrete 68, Muckleshoot Tribal School 14
Darrington 56, Winlock 14
DeSales 32, Tekoa/Rosalia 0
Deer Park 35, East Valley (Spokane) 7
East Valley (Yakima) 42, Quincy 14
Eastlake 40, Federal Way 6
Eastmont 28, Mead 19
Elma 21, Centralia 14
Emerald Ridge 36, Puyallup 23
Ephrata 58, Moses Lake 3
Evergreen (Vancouver) 14, Eisenhower 12
Ferndale 17, Lynden 14
Freeman 27, West Valley (Spokane) 20
Friday Harbor 35, South Whidbey 20
Garfield-Palouse 36, St. John-Endicott/Lacrosse 32
Glacier Peak 20, Snohomish 13
Gonzaga Prep 34, Cheney 6
Grandview 20, Wahluke 9
Highline 42, Rainier Beach 0
Hudson’s Bay 31, Heritage 7
Ilwaco 47, North Beach 0
Interlake 41, Todd Beamer 26
Issaquah 21, Everett 0
Kamiakin 20, Chiawana 13
Klahowya 28, Coupeville 25
La Center 43, Hockinson 7
La Salle 25, Granger 8
Lake City, Idaho 34, North Central 0
Lake Stevens 48, Garfield 21
Lakeland, Idaho 42, Pullman 21
Lakes 37, Kentwood 24
Lakeside (Nine Mile Falls) 14, Lynden Christian 8
Lewis and Clark 40, Ferris 6
Liberty Christian 38, Pomeroy 26
Lincoln 17, Auburn Riverside 0
Lind-Ritzville/Sprague 49, Colfax 14
Marysville-Getchell 25, Cascade (Everett) 14
Marysville-Pilchuck 40, Edmonds-Woodway 14
Meadowdale 44, Shorecrest 6
Meridian 22, Granite Falls 13
Monroe 34, Roosevelt 25
Montesano 44, Black Hills 7
Mountlake Terrace 34, Jackson 6
Mt. Spokane 47, University 20
Napavine 59, Adna 6
Newport-Bellevue 51, Nathan Hale 7
Nooksack Valley 35, Mountain View 21
North Creek 28, East Anchorage, Alaska 7
North Kitsap 24, Mount Tahoma 21
O’Dea 40, Union 0
Okanogan 47, Columbia (Burbank) 7
Olympic 49, Eatonville 16
Omak 56, Tonasket 26
Orange Lutheran, Calif. 20, Eastside Catholic 0
Othello 27, Connell 20
Pe Ell/Willapa Valley 26, Mossyrock 8
Prosser 29, Sunnyside 23, OT
R.A. Long 19, Castle Rock 14
Rainier 34, Wahkiakum 29
Reardan 14, Lake Roosevelt 12
Renton 20, Kent Meridian 12
Ridgefield 27, W. F. West 21
Ridgeline 21, Central Valley 14
River View 48, Kiona-Benton 6
Riverside 35, St. Maries, Idaho 8
Royal 35, Toppenish 7
Seattle Prep 52, Mercer Island 32
Sedro-Woolley 34, Mount Vernon 7
Sehome 35, Mount Baker 12
Selkirk 36, Northport 32
Seton Catholic 32, Rochester 30
Shadle Park 38, Timberlake, Idaho 32
Shelton 35, North Mason 19
Shorewood 35, Lakeside (Seattle) 15
Skyline 42, Wenatchee 7
Skyview 28, Jesuit, Ore. 0
Squalicum 41, New Westminster, British Columbia 12
Stadium 26, Cedarcrest 21
Stanwood 37, Lakewood 16
Steilacoom 35, Washington 20
Stevenson 20, King’s Way Christian School 14
Sultan 48, Evergreen (Seattle) 3
Sumner 40, Bellarmine Prep 0
Timberline 31, Kelso 3
Tri-Cities Prep 42, Umatilla, Ore. 0
Tumwater 49, Burlington-Edison 8
Warden 39, White Swan 8
West Seattle 24, Columbia River 19
West Valley (Yakima) 30, Walla Walla 0
Woodland 44, Kalama 30
Yelm 8, Camas 7
Zillah 14, Ellensburg 13
POSTPONEMENTS AND CANCELLATIONS=
Almira/Coulee-Hartline vs. Columbia (Hunters), ccd.
Foster vs. Chief Sealth, ccd.
Lake Roosevelt vs. Kittitas, ccd.
Mount Si vs. Lynnwood, ccd.
Wapato vs. Highland, ccd.
Sports Editor Pierre LaBossiere contributed to this article.
