PORT TOWNSEND — Despite the debut of Memorial Field’s updated stadium lights, Port Townsend’s state playoff hopes faded to black in a 27-6 loss to Klahowya on Friday.
The Redhawks hung with the Eagles all game long, but couldn’t convert offensively inside the 1-yard line on their first and final possessions and couldn’t corral Klahowya sophomore running back Hunter Wallis who ran for 243 yards and three touchdowns on 33 carries.
“It was a lot closer of a game than the final score showed,” Port Townsend coach Patrick Gaffney said. “I thought it was close the entire game.”
Trailing 20-6 midway through the fourth quarter, Redhawks junior Dylan Tracer returned a kickoff 93 yards to the Eagles 1-yard line. Port Townsend was flagged 5 yards for an illegal substitution penalty that drew protests from the Redhawks coaching staff and then fumbled the ball away two plays later near the goal line to effectively end any drama.
“I thought Tracer was in on that kickoff return,” Gaffney said.
“And on the substitution penalty, he never left from the huddle, he came out on the field then went back to the sideline. That’s a huge penalty at point, we are on the 1-yard line and we were going to walk in and make a game of it.”
The Redhawks looked like they were up for the challenge early on, opening the game by driving 59 yards in 15 plays, converting on three third downs, but couldn’t get the push needed on a quarterback sneak on 4th and 1 from the 1-yard line by Noa Montoya.
“One-yard line twice, that last [Klahowya] TD was against our JV kids, but we get to the 1-yard line twice in essentially a two-score game and can’t score,” Gaffney said.
Port Townsend took a 6-0 lead on a highlight-reel quality pass from Montoya to senior Nico Winegar. Winegar ran a vertical route up the right sideline, beating his man by a good 5 yards and Montoya dropped in a perfectly thrown spiral for a 45-yard TD on the opening play of the second quarter.
“That pass to Nico was lights out,” Gaffney said. “Getting Nico back is huge for us.”
Winegar finished with three catches for 78 yards and seven carries for 30 yards.
Klahowya answered, with help from some Port Townsend penalties, as Wallis scooted in off left tackle for a 24-yard TD run.
Tied 6-6 at halftime, the Eagles fed Wallis on seven straight running plays to open the second half, moving from their own 35 to the Port Townsend goal line. With the Redhawks geared to stuff the run, Klahowya quarterback John Hartford found Anthony Hernandez on a 3-yard TD pass to give the Eagles the lead.
“They made some good adjustments at halftime,” Gaffney said. “They adjusted to our defense and started running off the one edge because they had us outmanned there. They were running to the trips side and blocking down on everybody and handing the ball straight off that edge. When we see receivers blocking we need to have safeties come up and fill.”
Klahowya would never relinquish the advantage as Wallis rumbled for 181 of his yards after halftime and Port Townsend’s offense couldn’t get untracked against a stiff Eagles’ defensive line.
Montoya was 6 of 7 for 93 yards and a TD in the first half, but Klahowya’s pressure up front forced him into two second-half interceptions to keep the momentum on the Eagles’ side.
Port Townsend (2-2, 3-5) is not eliminated from the postseason, as yet. But the Redhawks would need to win out against rival Chimacum next week as visitors in the Quimper Quarrel at Memorial Field and upset No. 7 Cascade Christian on Nov. 3 — and get some help via Klahowya (4-0, 6-1) wins over Cascade Christian this Thursday and Bellevue Christian in week nine.
Oh, and Bellevue Christian also would have to lose against Charles Wright next week.
Port Townsend’s focus now turns to extending the win streak over rival Chimacum to seven games (the teams played twice in 2014 and 2015).
Klahowya 27, Port Townsend 6
Klahowya 0 6 7 14— 27
Port Townsend 0 6 0 0— 6
Second Quarter
PT— Winegar 45 pass from Montoya (kick blocked)
K—Wallis 24 run (kick blocked)
Third Quarter
K—Hernandez 3 pass from Hartford (kick good)
Fourth Quarter
K—Wallis 7 run (kick good)
K—Wallis 19 run (kick good)
Individual Stats
Rushing—K: Wallis 33-243, Hartford 10-56. PT: Tracer 17-56, Winegar 7-30, Reaux Jr. 4-18, Montoya 8-3.
Passing—K: Hartford 5-11-31, TD, INT. PT: Montoya 7-10-109, TD, 2 INT.
Receiving—K: Templeton 2-16, Hernandez 2-15. PT: Winegar 3-78, Koggins 1-13, Reaux 2-9, Yackulic 1-9.
