PORT TOWNSEND — East Jefferson shut out Life Christian over the final three quarters in a 48-7 shellacking of the Cardinals on Friday night at Memorial Field to clinch at least a share of the Nisqually League football championship and the first playoff berth in the history of the year-old combine.
The Rivals (4-0, 5-2) can seal the deal and wrap up the Nisqually League title outright with a win Thursday at their biggest rivals, the Klahowya Eagles (2-1, 4-2).
Up 12-7 after one quarter thanks to a 60-yard rushing touchdown by Logan Massie and a 5-yard TD run by Anson Jones, East Jefferson senior Jerome Reaux Jr. picked off the Cardinals and returned the interception 45 yards to paydirt.
“Jerome did a great job of reading the route, reading the QB’s eyes, and the QB did check down and was focused on the left-hand side of the field and Jerome saw it, picked it and he was gone,” coach Tony Haddenham said.
“The sidelines went nuts. The fans went crazy and that really got us back on track.”
East Jefferson added another pick-6 in the second half when Austen Hammer returned another interception 25 yards for a score.
“He plays so fluidly, he’s one of those hybrid players that we have [players that can play a number of receiver/back positions on both sides of the ball],” Haddenham said.
Haddenham was pleased with his squad’s performance against a larger Life Christian squad.
“They were big across their lines, 250-pounds with one 300-plus pounder,” Haddenham said.
“They were physical, their No. 1 running back ran well despite the muddy conditions, but our guys flew to the ball and tackled him well.”
And there’s still room to improve before the playoffs begin.
“We are firing on all cylinders at times but there are still times when we have penalties hold us back,” Haddenham. “We have to do a better job of not engaging in extracurricular activities with the other team.”
Haddenham said the coaching staff and players are gelling well together.
“All season I’ve said we’ve just tried putting the kids in spots to be successful,” Haddenham said. “And the preparation we do, it’s not drilling them like crazy, but showing them what we are going to do on offense and defense and explaining things to them and they are picking things up really well.
“It was a big test last night to see how they would come together against this team.”
Sequim 33, Kingston 20
KINGSTON — The Wolves started out slowly but got cooking in the second quarter to beat the Buccaneers on the road.
“It started out with the ball not bouncing our way they recovered an onside kick and scored and we fumbled the next kickoff, so before our offense got out there we had been on defense twice,” Sequim coach Erik Wiker said. “They were playing tough football.”
Wolves running back Sam Fitzgerald broke free for a 55-yard TD run and the Wolves “settled in and started playing,” according to Wiker.
Sequim rewarded junior back Lucas Lawrence with a 2-yard rushing touchdown to take the lead.
After a Jay Maddox strip and fumble recovery for the Wolves, quarterback Lars Wiker connected with senior wideout Kobe Applegate on a 20-yard TD strike.
Two interceptions followed, Isaiah Moore’s 75-yard return to the Kingston 5-yard line which ended in a turnover on downs and a pick-6 by Aiden Gockerell.
Sequim’s final score came on a special play.
“We did a special play, a hitch-and-pitch to our right tackle Pryce Glasser for a 15-20 yard TD,” Wiker said.
“We passed a 5-yard hitch to Isaiah who pitched it back to Pryce Glasser and he went around the end for the score.”
Wiker said it was the team’s annual homecoming towel play, but a play the team wasn’t able to use during a comeback win over North Mason.
“I promised them we could it again,” Wiker said. “Pryce has been a really good teammate and I wanted to reward him with something and I saw this online a few years ago and thought it would be a perfect way to get him the ball.”
Sequim (3-4, 3-5) visits Olympic (5-1, 5-2) on Thursday to close out the regular season.
Neah Bay 48, Crescent 6
NEAH BAY — The Red Devils rolled to a 42-0 halftime lead against the Loggers, taking advantage of an early Crescent fumble and a couple of turnover on downs at midfield to build the big lead early.
“After getting our butts kicked against Quilcene last week the boys snapped back to play with great focus and energy,” Neah Bay coach Kane Bachelor said. “We had a great week of practice and our guys Neil Bowechop and Kaeden Butterfield really played well for us. It was our best hitting game, we were physical, and those two guys especially got our younger players fired up.”
Julian Carrick completed a 33-yard TD strike to Neil Bowechop to get things going for Neah Bay (3-0, 3-2) and freshman Jodell Wimberly added touchdown runs of nine and 50 yards for a 20-0 lead after one quarter.
“Jodell, a freshman, is just scratching the surface but I saw him take a step in the right direction,” Bachelor said.
Carrick showed off his wheels on an 81-yard TD run and Kaeden Butterfield ran in a score and returned an interception 25 yards for another TD for a 42-0 lead at the break.
“That big run was a broken play,” Bachelor said. “We fumbled the snap and Julian decided ‘I’m going left’ and broke loose for 70 or 80 yards.”
Carrick added another long rushing score, this time from 50 yards out, for a 48-0 lead.
“We were not doing anything correctly,” Loggers coach Brian Shimko said. “It was by far our worst game of the year. They’ve got a good defense that really flows to the football. And their offensive line was tough, too.
Playing under the Makah Tribe’s quarantine order, Crescent didn’t have fans supporting the team.
“It was just a weird feeling the whole game when you have one sideline empty and the other completely full,” Shimko said. “Football needs fans to feel right.”
Crescent avoided the shutout with a 45-yard connection between senior quarterback Brayden Emery and sophomore Connor Baners.
“He was open all night and we were trying to get it to him early but we didn’t have time [in the pocket] to throw it,” Shimko said.
Wimberley finished the game with 208 yards rushing. Carrick had 136 yards on the ground.
Neah Bay visits Lummi (3-0, 6-0) Friday in the de facto Northwest 1B League Championship, while the Loggers (1-2, 4-3) host Darrington at 2 p.m. Saturday.
“Everything is on the line,” Bachelor said of the Lummi game. “Its our league title game, whoever wins has the top seed for the play-in games and on top of that it’s a Lummi-Neah Bay game. It’s big.”
Napavine 60, Forks 0
NAPAVINE — The Spartans have seen about enough of Tigers quarterback Ashton Demorest.
Demorest threw for 249 yards, rushed for 100 and tallied five touchdowns in shutting out Forks for the Class 2B Central’s top playoff seed Friday.
He had 226 rushing yards along with three TDs in a 34-19 win over the Spartans in a game played last March.
Forks managed 155 yards of offense on the night, with Logan Olson rushing 12 times for 58 yards and Nate Dahlgren managing 49 yards on 11 carries.
The loss wrapped the regular season for the Spartans (6-1, 6-1), who will wait to see how the playoff matchups shake out during a bye week this week.
