Peninsula Daily News
PORT TOWNSEND — The Redhawks spotted the Buccaneers a 24-point lead early in the first half before Port Townsend launched a comeback bid that fell just short.
“We made a lot of mistakes in the first quarter and it was 24-0 one play into the second quarter,” Port Townsend coach Patrick Gaffney said of Thursday’s game. “A lot of teams would fold at that point, but we outscored them 25-6 the rest of the way.”
The Redhawks cut the deficit in half by halftime courtesy of a 7-yard touchdown run by Dylan Tracer and an 8-yard TD run by Nico Winegar.
“We did what we were supposed to do,” Gaffney said. “We quit jumping offsides, ran the right plays and drove down the field on them behind all three of our backs — Nico, Dylan and Jerome [Reaux} all carried it and they contributed all game.”
Tracer added his second rushing touchdown of the game in the third quarter to pull Port Townsend within 24-18 entering the fourth quarter.
Kingston, which snapped a 16-game losing streak with the win, got the eventual game-winning TD on a 6-yard run by Kyler Coe-Yarr.
Redhawks freshman Tanner Woodley connected with Winegar on a 72-yard TD pass to bring the Redhawks back within one score and Port Townsend nearly pulled off the upset late.
“It was fourth and 2 for them with 15 seconds left and they fumbled it and Jerome had his hands on it but one guy tripped him up and saved the touchdown,” Gaffney said.
Gaffney had praise for defensive tackle Cody Markel.
“Once he got in rhythm he really did well for us. He forced a fumble, was taking on a lot of double teams, plugging his gap,” Gaffney said. “He keeps playing like that we can do some things defensively.”
Port Townsend (0-2) visits Forks on Friday.
Kingston 30, Port Townsend 25
KING 16 8 0 6 — 30
PT 0 12 6 7 — 25
First Quarter
K—SittingDog 10 run (2-pt good)
K—SittingDog 3 run (2-pt good)
Second Quarter
K—McGinty 2 pass from Whalen (2-pt failed)
PT— Tracer 7 run (kick failed)
PT — Winegar 8 run (2-pt failed)
Third Quarter
PT—Tracer 3 run (2-pt failed)
Fourth Quarter
K—Coe-Yarr 6 run (2-pt failed)
PT—Winegar 72 pass from Woodley (kick good)
Neah Bay 40, Taholah 20
TAHOLAH — Neah Bay bounced back from a season-opening loss, getting four touchdowns and 189 yards rushing from Toby Croy to overcome a sluggish start in beating Taholah 40-20 on the road.
Croy ran the ball 27 times and scored on runs of 15, 7, 4 and 44 yards. The Red Devils ended up with 285 net yards rushing.
The game was actually low-scoring in the first half. Taholah scored first to take a 6-0 lead after the first quarter. The Red Devils scored on a Croy 15-yard run in the second quarter to go into the half tied 6-6.
But, in the third quarter, it was all Neah Bay as the Red Devils scored outscored the Chitwins 20-0. After a Josey Tyree 3-yard run early in the fourth quarter, Neah Bay opened up a 32-6 lead.
Tyree also threw for a touchdown to Jay Brunk.
Neah Bay (1-1) next hosts Quilcene at 6 p.m. Friday.
Neah Bay 40, Taholah 20
NB 0 6 20 14 — 40
Taholah 6 0 0 14 — 20
First Quarter
T—Mowitch 48 run (PAT failed)
Second Quarter
NB—Brunk 18 pass from Tyree (PAT failed)
Third Quarter
NB—Croy 15 run (PAT failed)
NB—Croy 7 run (Johnson pass from Tyree)
NB—Croy 4 run (PAT failed)
Fourth Quarter
NB—Tyree 3 run (PAT failed)
T—Orosco 21 pass from Juneau-James (PAT failed)
NB—Croy 44 run (Parkin run)
T—Mowitch 7 run (Underwood pass from Juneau-James)
Individual Stats
Rushing—NB: Tyree 14-28; Croy 27-189; John son 2-6; Brunk 3-10; Halttunen 4-20; Tinoco 1-4; Parkin 6-28. T: Mowitch 11-123; Juneau-James 12-38.
Passing—NB: Tyree 4-10-68, TD. T: Juneau-James 3-11-36, TD, INT
Receiving—NB: Brunk 2-48; Johnson 2-20.
