By Michael Carman
Peninsula Daily News
PORT TOWNSEND — Port Townsend sunk Vashon 41-6 in the Redhawks’ homecoming and senior night recognition game.
With Friday’s win, Port Townsend (5-0, 6-2) will next visit Cascade Christian (4-0, 7-0) for what amounts to the Nisqually-Olympic League championship game at Sunset Chev Stadium in Sumner on Saturday.
“That’s what we’ve asked for all year,” Redhawks coach Alex Heilig said.
“Give us a shot at the league title. That’s what we’ve been working toward all year.”
Port Townsend shut down last year’s state leading rusher, the Pirates’ Bryce Hoisington, and picked off five Vashon passes to stay unbeaten in league play.
“I think we contained him pretty well,” Heilig said.
“He was the focus of their offense. He had a big reception on us that scored their touchdown. But I think we kept him under wraps for the most part, nothing back-breaking.”
Seniors Berkley Hill and Gerry Coker had two interceptions apiece, and freshman Noa Apker-Montoya nabbed the other takeaway.
“Overall as a unit defensively we stepped up, plugged our gaps and stayed low,” Heilig said. “Our pass rush caused a lot of those interceptions.”
Heilig said running backs Detrius Kelsall and Kyle Blankenship had good nights offensively.
“Detrius had some really nice big runs for us,” Heilig said.
“Kyle Blankenship stepped up for us and ran a kickoff back, and also had a rushing and receiving touchdown.
“It was really nice to see us showcase the power of our running backs. Our offensive line did a really excellent job.
“And Gerry Coker had some really nice downfield blocks for us that sprung some big plays.”
Forks 46, Elma 38, 3 OT
ELMA — The Spartans snapped an eight-year postseason drought with the victory, outlasting the Eagles 46-38 in triple overtime to earn the school’s first playoff berth since 2008.
“Knowing that we are going to the playoffs after a 1-9 season [in 2015], after all the stuff the senior class has gone through, having to have three coaches in three seasons and the rest of it … I don’t know if I’ve ever had a greater moment in football at any level. I’ve never had a win better than this. A triple-overtime, come-from-behind win that clinches a playoff berth? I don’t know if it can get any better.”
Forks (2-1, 4-3) will find out soon when it hosts Hoquiam (2-1, 5-3) on Friday in a senior night face-off for the Evergreen League’s second seed to the district playoffs.
The Spartans trailed 22-8 at halftime of Friday’s game before Forks’ churning rushing attack built up momentum for a second-half rally.
“I told them [at halftime] we were going to win,” West said.
“There was no doubt in my mind that we were going to come back. Whatever it was, the long bus ride, bad food, we started slow. But I knew we had them right where we wanted them offensively.”
The comeback begins
Forks rallied behind a rushing attack led by senior Jack Dahlgren. Dahlgren totaled 141 yards on 29 carries, including three touchdowns, as the Spartans racked up nearly 400 yards on the ground.
“We knew we could take advantage of their defense and we knew with our conditioning we were built for this type of game,” West said.
“Our running backs — “Our running backs — Jack Dahlgren, Tristan Pisani and both the Schumack brothers [Garrison and Jeffrey] it was something to see. we outhit them from then on.
“[Elma] made some good stops and fought til the end, but they were getting tired. It’s tough for teams to hang with us with the style we play and our conditioning.”
Rushing touchdowns by Dahlgren and Pisani tied the game at 30-all.
Forks also forced two huge turnovers in the final four minutes of regulation — a fumble in the end zone and an interception — to send the game to overtime.
Dahlgren scored in the first overtime before the Spartans gave up a tying TD pass and two-point conversion.
Both teams forced 4-and-out possessions in the second OT.
Garrison Schumack scored a 6-yard touchdown and Dahlgren converted the 2-point conversion in the third OT period for a 46-38 Forks lead. Teams begin with the ball on the opposition’s 10-yard line starting with the third overtime period.
“Moving it up to the 10-yard line for the third OT really worked to our advantage,” West said.
“Elma was throwing it well and you just have less space the closer you get to the end zone.
“And with our running game, putting it at the 10 is easy money for us.”
Spartans’ defensive end Brett Moody came up with a tackle for a loss on Elma’s second play. A poor snap on third down gave the Eagles one last shot, a 4th-and-goal from the 29-yard line.
“Brett Moody came up with a huge sack,” West said.
“He was getting mugged all game long. And I was on the refs the entire game trying to get a holding call. And the first play they don’t hold him he comes up with a huge sack.”
West said the Spartans secondary came up big with a deflection in the end zone on fourth down to preserve the victory.
“We’ve had that tough game against Neah Bay, a tough game against Kingsway and we’ve learned from those close losses,” West said.
Neah Bay 64, Tulalip Heritage 0
NEAH BAY — The Red Devils celebrated homecoming and senior night by shutting out the Hawks.
Senior Cole Svec scored rushing touchdowns of 40 and 50-yards in the first half, and classmate Cameron Buzzell caught a 47-yard TD pass from junior Rwehabura Munyagi Jr. as Neah Bay (2-0, 6-1) rolled to a 32-0 halftime lead.
Reserve RB scores
Freshman Logan Haltunnen scored three second-half rushing TDs from 47, 15 and 59-yards, respectively, as the Red Devils added to their lead.
No. 3 Neah Bay visits No. 1 Lummi (2-0, 8-0) for the Northwest Football League title on Friday. The Blackhawks beat Neah Bay 36-30 in a nonleague game earlier this season.
Charles Wright 40, Chimacum 16
UNIVERSITY PLACE — The Tarriers toppled the Cowboys in a Nisqually-Olympic League contest.
No details were reported.
Chimacum (0-5, 1-7) hosts Coupeville (1-4, 2-6) at 5:30 p.m. Friday.
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Compiled from team reports and Sound Publishing sources.
