NEAH BAY — All year, there’s been talk of the Neah Bay football team’s potential.
With a team full of eighth- and ninth-graders, the Red Devils last year managed to make the state 1B playoffs.
This year, a year older and more experience, talk of “potential” might be quieted.
This team appears to have arrived. Big time.
The Red Devils crushed Naselle, a perennial 1B powerhouse, 58-20 on Saturday night. Naselle was a state 1B semifinalist last season.
And the game wasn’t even that close. Neah Bay got up 44-0 before the Comets scored late in the second quarter.
“We got our butts kicked by Naselle for five years. The kids showed up ready to go,” said coach Kane Bachelor.
“We’ve been young for a while, now we want to be good,” Bachelor said. “It was a fun night.”
Bachelor said Naselle has always been a physical team. The Comets were physical in this game, but the Red Devils were able to match their physicality, Bachelor said.
Jodell Wimberly had four touchdown runs of 45, 45, 47 and 75 yards. He rushed for 296 yards total and only touched the ball 11 times.
Julian Carrick had rushing touchdowns of 44 and 18 yards, and threw a 33-yard touchdown pass to Aiden Ellis.
Charles Halttunen ran for an 8-yard touchdown. Neil Bowechop had an interception and Makyah Chambers and Tyler Swan each recovered fumbles for the Red Devils.
Andre Greene and Kaeden Butterfield each had four tackles for losses and played huge on the inside line.
The game was played at a neutral site at Forks High School. It was hot and smoky. Bachelor said the smoke wasn’t bad enough to be a problem. He thought the 80-degree heat was a bigger factor.
It doesn’t get any easier for the Red Devils next week. Neah Bay (2-0) takes on longtime rival Lummi (1-1) at 6 p.m. Friday at Lummi.
“We have to go back to class Monday and forget about Naselle. Lummi will give us their best,” Bachelor said.
Neah Bay 58, Naselle 20
Neah Bay 38 14 6 0 — 58
Naselle 0 6 8 0 — 20
First Quarter
NB — Wimberly 45 run (Carrick run)
NB — Wimberly 75 run (PAT good)
NB — Carrick 44 run (PAT failed)
NB — Ellis 33 pass from Carrick (Wimberly run)
NB — Carrick 18 run (PAT failed)
Second Quarter
NB — C. Halttunen 8 run (PAT failed)
N — Kolten Lindstrom 64 pass from Jacob Lindstrom (PAT failed)
Third Quarter
NB — Wimberly 45 run (C. Halttunen run)
NB — Wimberly 47 run (PAT failed)
Fourth Quarter
N — K. Lindstrom 55 run (K. Lindstrom pass from J. Lindstrom).
N — Chadwick 62 pass from J. Lindstrom (PAT failed)
Crescent 46, Taholah 8
JOYCE — Crescent got off to a 22-0 start in the first quarter and had two long kickoff returns for touchdowns in a 46-8 win over Taholah on Saturday.
Conner Ferro-May had a pair of touchdowns, on runs of 3 and 40 yards. Kaiden Charles had a 13-yard touchdown and a 63-yard kickoff return while Tommy Leonard had a 62-yard kickoff return. Quarterback Henry Bourm had a 4-yard touchdown run.
Ferro-May had 104 yards rushing on seven carries while Charles had 78 yards rushing. Bourm ran for 25 yards and passed for 49. Lukas Love had a 38-yard catch and three more catches for two-point conversions.
Coach Brian Shimko said the Loggers were missing a few players last week but got some of their leaders back against the Chetwins. He said some of the Loggers’ younger players were able to get in the game late.
“That experience for our younger kids will pay off down the line,” he said.
Shimko said Ferro-May, Josh Berson and Conner Bauers were the leaders on defense with 10 to 12 tackles each. Berson had a pair of sacks and pressured the quarterback all game. Bauers had three pass deflections.
The Loggers (1-1) play next week in a Northwest 1B League game at Quilcene (0-2) at 1 p.m. Saturday.
Crescent 46, Taholah 8
Taholah 0 0 0 8 — 8
Crescent 22 8 8 8 — 46
First Quarter
Cres. — Charles 13 run (PAT failed)
Cres. — Ferro-May 3 run (Love pass from Bourm)
Cres. — Terro-May 40 run (Love pass from Bourm)
Second Quarter
Cres. — Bourm 4 run (Charles run)
Third Quarter
Cres. — Charles 63 kick return (Love pass from Bourm)
Fourth Quarter
Cres. — Leonard 62 kick return (Owens run)
Clallam Bay 70, Mary M. Knight 7
MATLOCK — Clallam Bay played its first 6-man game since 2020, romping over Mary M. Knight 70-7 on Saturday.
New coach George Patecek said “kids on both sides played great. We had a good time.
“The kids have been working so hard. We never were able to have a game last year. It was heart-wrenching,” he said.
This year, the Bruins have a full slate of 6-man games. In addition to last year’s lost season, the Bruins were only able to schedule three games in COVID-plagued 2020 and struggled to schedule games in 2019 and 2018.
However, this year, the Bruins have scheduled eight 6-man games so far against Mary M. Knight, Wishkah Valley, Lake Quinault, Northwest Christian and Washington School for the Deaf. Patecek said three more games will be added to these.
Patecek said the Bruins didn’t intend to run up a big score but kept scoring late in the game on defensive plays. He said Parker Prater played a great game at the slot back and linebacker positions and scored at least 40 points. “He’s a very versatile player,” he said.
Clallam Bay (1-0) hosts NW Christian out of Lacey at 7 p.m. Friday.
Mossyrock 54, Quilcene 16
QUILCENE — Quilcene head coach Trey Beathard thought Mossyrock was going to be good this year and his words were borne out as the Vikings got off to a 30-0 first-quarter start against the Rangers en route to a 54-16 win.
“They are good. They were the best team we saw at [summer football] camp,” Beathard said.
Beathard said because of injuries and COVID, the Rangers only had one senior available for the game, James Miller.
“We had a lot of ninth- and 10th-grade kids and they were just not ready for [Mossyrock],” Beathard said. “And that’s on the coaches.
“I saw some improvement from last week, just not as much as I wanted,” Beathard said.
The Rangers did get some offense in the second half. Jayden Love had an 80-yard touchdown run while Mason Iverson had a 90-yard touchdown run. Love also ran for a PAT and threw a pass for a PAT to Miller.
Iverson finished with 104 yards rushing on seven carries, while Love had 131 yards rushing on 10 carries. Love also threw for 111 yards on 6-for-13 passing, but threw two interceptions. Oliver Hopkins had a 20-yard completion at quarterback and also caught a pass for 15 yards. Miller had 50 yards receiving, while Andrew Perez-Lopez had two catches for 35 yards. Love had five kickoff returns for 53 yards.
Maxx Budnek had 11 tackles and a fumble recovery while Taylor Boling had seven tackles, including two for a loss. Perez-Lopez had six tackles.
Beathard thought his young team might struggle early in the season, but improve. “I still think we can have a pretty good team by the end of the season,” he said.
Quilcene hosts Crescent at 1 p.m. Saturday.
Forks vs. La Conner, canceled
FORKS — Forks’ game at La Conner on Saturday was canceled due to an unhealthy level of smoke in the Skagit County area from the Bolt Creek fire near Stevens Pass.
Since it was a nonleague game, it will not be made up.
