CHIMACUM — Port Townsend played the role of ungrateful visitors to the hilt in a thorough 56-0 dismantling of Chimacum at Chimacum High School.
Friday afternoon’s rivalry game was reportedly the first varsity football contest held on Chimacum’s campus since World War II.
It also was the first game between the two teams since Chimacum outlasted Port Townsend 27-25 in five overtimes in 2012 for its third straight win in the series.
The drama was drained from this one much quicker.
Running back Wesley Wheeler rumbled through the Chimacum defense 61 yards for a Redhawks score on the game’s second play from scrimmage.
It was the first carry of the season for Wheeler, who was ineligible to play until this week.
“That was a power play that, with me coming back this week, coach installed just for me,” Wheeler said.
“When that hole went open, my eyes lit up and the next thing I knew I saw their safety dropped in on me and I thought, ‘I’m not going to let this kid take it [the touchdown] from me.’
“So I just buried him, and it was just slo-mo all the way to the house.”
The touchdown was cathartic for Wheeler, who felt he had let the team down to an extent, in his absence.
“After that, it was just such a huge weight off my chest, knowing that I’m eligible and ready to help the team out and contribute like that,” Wheeler said.
Chimacum (0-3, 0-5) failed to pick up a yard on its possession and a short punt gave Port Townsend (2-1, 3-2) the ball at the Cowboys’ 30-yard line.
Three plays later, David Sua pushed the ball over the goal line for a 14-0 Port Townsend lead just 3:20 into the game.
“A couple of minutes in, and we are down two touchdowns,” Chimacum coach Mike Dowling said.
“With a couple of these guys, you can see them get in the ‘here we go again’ scenario.”
Another three-and-out followed for the Chimacum offense after Redhawks middle linebacker Keegan Khile dropped Chimacum’s Drew Yackulic for a 7-yard loss on third-and-15.
And Port Townsend came through with another two-play scoring drive.
Sua rushed for 44 yards down to the Cowboys 1-yard line. On the next play, Sua found contact up the middle, before spinning right for another 1-yard TD and a 21-0 lead with 5:35 left in the first quarter.
Sua finished with six carries for 61 yards and two scores.
Chimacum picked up its first first down of the game on its next drive on a 10-yard pass from James Porter to Brendan Naylor.
A Porter-to-Shaw pass pushed the Cowboys across midfield to the Redhawks’ 46-yard line before Wheeler pushed through the Chimacum line to sack Porter for a 10-yard loss.
A play later, Porter felt pressure in the pocket and threw a ball up for grabs downfield that was intercepted by Ezra Easley and returned 30 yards to the Chimacum 41-yard line.
Port Townsend quarterback Jeff Seton then rolled left on a bootleg and found Isaiah Mason with a pass on the left flat.
Mason turned upfield and zoomed down the sideline for a 41-yard score and a 28-0 lead with 1:08 to go in the first quarter.
“We did just about everything you can do wrong, but it wasn’t us beating ourselves, they beat us. They beat us up physically, they beat us with speed. It just wasn’t competitive,” Dowling said.
Seton tossed another TD pass, this time a nifty 17-yard corner route thrown perfectly to the outside shoulder and caught at the goal-line pylon by Chris Adkins.
Wheeler wrapped the first-half scoring, putting Port Townsend ahead 42-0 with an 11-yard rush with 2:53 before half.
Porter was sacked three times in the first half, two coming from sophomore Jonathan Smith, and the Cowboys picked up just two first downs in the half.
“We watched film all week, and every time we saw their offensive linemen’s feet, we could tell where they were going with the play, so we had that advantage all game,” Wheeler said.
“You have to live in the film room to know what you are doing out on the field, and I think the time we spent this week really helped lead to this result.”
Port Townsend’s Roberto Gomez scored on a 12-yard rush after the Redhawks blocked a Chimacum punt early in the third quarter.
Gomez finished with four carries for 55 yards, 43 of them in the first half.
“He’s such a punishing rusher, his pad level is so low, he’s just trucking people,” Port Townsend coach Nick Snyder said.
The last Redhawks score came on a 15-yard rush by Mason on the first play of the fourth quarter.
“We are a lot better football team now with all these guys back,” Snyder said.
“We’ve got something to prove this week [against Coupeville].”
Dowling was left to contemplate the progress his team must make to be competitive against teams like Port Townsend.
“We have to get better; we have to get bigger, stronger and faster,” Dowling said.
“They are what we would like to become. They were down and out before Nick took it over and they’ve bought in. They lift weights, they run, they worked for this.
“Does that give you hope? Absolutely, but we’re going to have to change if Chimacum wants to compete. We have to have the buy-in from everyone.
“And if we don’t get that, it’s on me.”
Port Townsend 56,
Chimacum 0
Port Townsend 28 14 7 7— 56
Chimacum 0 0 0 0— 0
First Quarter
PT—Wheeler 61 run (Khile kick), 11:14.
PT—Sua 1 run (Khile kick), 8:40.
PT—Sua 1 run (Khile kick), 5:35.
PT—Mason 41 pass from Seton (Khile kick), 1:08.
Second Quarter
PT—Adkins 17 pass from Seton (Khile kick)
PT— PT—Wheeler 11 run (Khile kick), 2:53.
Third Quarter
PT—Gomez 12 run (Khile kick), 7:51.
Fourth Quarter
PT— Mason 15 run (Khile kick), 11:52.
Individual Stats
Rushing— PT: Wheeler 4-95, Mason 5-75, Sua 6-61, Gomez 4-55, Blankenship 2-16, Hill 3-(-6). C: Bainbridge 1-10, Yackulic 10-2, Hitt 3-0, Porter 4-(-37).
Passing—PT: Seton 3-6, 82; Hill 1-2, 6. C: Porter 16-28-2, 98; Yackulic 0-1, 0.
Receiving—PT: Mason 1-41, Wheeler 1-24, Adkins 1-17. C: Naylor 2-40, C. Shaw 4-35, L. Shaw 5-10, Yackulic 3-7, Pennington 2-5.
