FORKS — The Forks football team got off to a fast start, roaring out to a quick 21-0 lead and going on to beat Raymond-South Bend 35-8 in a Central 2B League West matchup.
The victory snapped a three-game losing streak and gets the Spartans to 2-2 in the Central 2B League West.
Coach Trevor Highfield said the defense played great all night with five stops on fourth down and a goal-line stand late in the game. The defense didn’t allow a score all game as Raymond-South Bend’s only touchdown came on a fumble in the end zone.
“We started out fast. We had a three-and-out on defense on Raymond’s first drive,” Highfield said. After a Ravens punt, Bubba Hernandez quickly scored on a 25-yard run.
After another Ravens punt, Hernandez hit Landen Olson with a 25-yard pass, then threw a 23-yard touchdown pass to DeAnthony Davila.
Raymond-South Bend fumbled deep in its territory on its next possession, giving the Spartans the ball at the 20. Olson scored on a two-yard run to extend the lead to 21-0.
In the second quarter, Noah Foster had a 17-yard run and Hernandez hit Gage Willenbrink with a 33-yard pass. He then found Foster for a 12-yard TD as the Spartans went up 28-0.
In the second half, Hernandez got the Spartans deep into the Ravens’ territory on a 45-yard run and Kingston Steffen capped off that drive with a 7-yard run for Forks’ final score.
Estevan Ramos and Sawyer Graham also made a tackle at the goal-line on a fourth-down play.
Forks (2-2, 3-5) has a tough final game, playing perennial powerhouse Napavine (4-0, 6-2) on the road Friday.
Bainbridge 48, Sequim 7
SEQUIM — The first-place Bainbridge football team got up 27-0 on Sequim in the first quarter and the Wolves were never able to recover in a 48-7 loss.
Sequim defenders gang tackle a Bainbridge runner Friday night in Sequim. Bainbridge won 48-7. (Michael Dashiell/Olympic Peninsula News Group)
The loss makes this week’s game against North Mason important for the Wolves. Win and they finished 3-3 in the Olympic League and likely qualify for postseason. Lose, and they could end up in a four-way tie for fourth and may have to depend on tiebreakers.
Bremerton and Sequim are both at 2-3 in league and the Wolves have an edge with a 7-6 win over the Knights earlier this year. Bremerton has a tough game this week against a strong North Kitsap team.
Zeke Schmadeke had the Wolves’ touchdown on a 5-yard run up the middle on a fake handoff. Other than that one play, Bainbridge’s defense kept Schmadeke under wraps as he tallied just six yards on 15 carries.
Schmadeke did pass 7-for-13 for 91 yards with two interceptions. He had a pair of 31-yard passes, one to Liam Wiker and the other to Solomon Sheppard. Sheppard and Wiker each finished with three catches, while Adrian Aragon had an eight-yard reception.
On the ground, Wiker ran 14 times for 70 yards. Josiah Tuller led the Wolves with 10 tackles, while Sheppard had an interception right at the goal-line to keep the Spartans out of the end zone on one of their drives.
Sequim (2-3, 4-4) plays at North Mason (1-4, 4-4) at 7 p.m. Thursday.
Bremerton 26, Port Angeles 6
BREMERTON — The Port Angeles football team’s defense played tough all night, but too many bad snaps and turnovers cost the Roughriders again in a 26-6 road loss Friday against Bremerton.
“We just hurt ourselves,” said coach Dustin Clark. “I thought we were the better team. Little mistakes cost us big.”
The Riders’ defense held Bremerton scoreless in the first and third quarters and most of the fourth quarter.
The Knights did score a late touchdown after a Roughriders’ bad snap on a fourth-and-10 gave Bremerton the ball in good field position.
“Our defense played unbelievable,” Clark said. “They were just on the field too long. Coach [Patrick] Nickerson put together a great game plan.”
What hurt the Riders was the second quarter. Bremerton got 19 points in the quarter, helped out by a Port Angeles turnover and another bad snap to give the Knights great field position.
The Riders got off to a great start, taking a 6-0 lead thanks to big plays from Hunter Flores and Kaiden Point.
Flores intercepted a Bremerton pass on the Knights’ opening drive, then moments later, Blake Sohlberg hit Point with a 60-yard catch and run to set up the Riders with a first-and-goal. Brayden Wopperer then punched it in from the 3-yard line.
The Riders then kicked a successful onside kick with Oliver Martinez grabbing the ball. But then the mistakes started piling up as Port Angeles went backward to set up a third-and-24. Bremerton recovered the ball on a bad snap and ended up with a first-and-goal, quickly punching the ball in for a 6-6 tie.
The Knights erupted for 13 more points in the second quarter thanks to a Port Angeles turnover and another costly bad snap.
Down 19-6 much of the second half, the Riders had one solid drive with Dylan Mann running three times for 24 yards to set up a first-and-10 at the 30-yard line. The drive stalled and Port Angeles was forced to turn it over on downs.
Bremerton scored a final touchdown in the last five minutes of the game.
Mann finished with 12 carries for 62 yards. Sohlberg passed 7-for-25 with two interceptions. He had to leave the game for a while for an injury and Easton Fisher played several snaps at quarterback.
Aiden Otis had a good game with two catches for 35 yards. Point also had an interception late in the game.
Port Angeles (0-5, 0-8) has a tough home finale Friday night against Olympic (4-1, 6-2), which is red-hot and gunning for an Olympic League championship.
Neah Bay 82, Tulalip Heritage 20
NEAH BAY — Neah Bay showed the upstart Tulalip Heritage football team that the Red Devils are still the big boys of the Northwest 1B League with an 82-20 rout.
Tulalip Heritage came in to Friday night’s game 7-0 and looking to knock off Neah Bay for the Northwest 1B championship. The Hawks actually managed to keep the game close through much of the first half as Neah Bay held just a 22-14 lead midway through the second quarter.
But the Red Devils scored the final 14 points of the half and then erupted for 30 points in the third quarter with Jodell Wimberly romping for three long touchdowns to take complete control of the game.
The game saw the return of Tyler Swan, who had been out with an injury. He scored three touchdowns and six two-point conversions.
Makyah Chambers also returned from injury and had a 20-yard touchdown run and a 11-yard touchdown pass to Adan Ellis.
Wimberly had four touchdowns total with three straight TDs on runs of 37, 32 and 30 yards all in the third quarter.
Caleb Cummins also contributed a 42-yard touchdown run and Carlos Carrick-Aguirre had a 52-yard kick return for a TD.
Neah Bay (8-1, No. 3 in Ratings Percentage Index) finishes the regular season by hosting Concrete (2-5, 3-5) at 5 p.m. Friday. After that game comes postseason.
Kingston 26, East Jefferson 14
PORT TOWNSEND — The East Jefferson football team keeps getting closer to a win and will have one more chance at home next against Vashon.
The Rivals played Kingston tough most of the night Friday, with some turnovers helping out the Bucs in the second quarter in a 26-14 Kingston victory.
“We had fumbles, an interception,” said coach Tony Haddenham. Other than those mistakes, the Rivals played Kingston tough.
“We knew we could play these guys. The boys played well. We matched up well with Kingston.”
Tyler Martin against had a big game on defense, leading the team with 10 tackles.
Silas Morford hit Jameson Henery with a 15-yard pass for one of the Rivals’ touchdowns. The other came on a 4-yard Morford quarterback sneak.
Morford finished 9-for-21 passing for 101 yards with a touchdown and an interception. Luke O’Hara had a good game rushing, carrying the ball 14 times for 75 yards. He also caught three passes for 37 yards. Morford ran eight times for 23 yards.
Henery caught four passes for 56 yards, while Morford had an interception on defense and Jackson Dupuy caused a fumble and recovered a fumble.
The Rivals (0-5, 0-8) wrap up their season with a home game Friday night at Port Townsend Memorial Field against Vashon (1-3). Haddenham likes the Rivals’ chances against the Pirates, who lost to Kingston 60-0.
“We still have to practice and play well, but we hope to end the season on a high note,” he said.
