PREP FOOTBALL ROUNDUP: Riders hang tough in loss, Redhawks fall to Bellevue Chr., Red Devils crushes Darrington

PORT ANGELES — The Port Angeles Roughriders rose up to play a red-hot Bremerton team tough into the third quarter, but a safety and quick touchdown turned the tide for the Knights in a 24-6 win.

Port Angeles was down just 8-6 midway into the third quarter. The Riders had scored a touchdown in the first half on an 80-yard Daniel Cable run (Cable finished with more than 120 yards rushing), and had kept the Knights’ offense under wraps.

But with quarterback Brady Nickerson limited by an ankle injury, a bad snap led to a safety, making it 10-6. After Port Angeles kicked the ball away, Bremerton scored seconds later on a touchdown run by Jayden Quenga to make it 16-6.

Suddenly, Bremerton had breathing room after a tight game for much of the night.

“When we lost our quarterback, we just couldn’t muster up any offense,” said coach Troy Mann.

Even before Nickerson went out, his injury was an issue.

“We were pretty successful with the option. With [Nickerson] limited, we became one-dimensional,” Mann said.

Keith Thorpe/Peninsula Daily News Port Angeles wide receiver Nolan Hughes brings down a pass and is immediately pursued by Bremerton’s Kaipo Retome on Friday night at Port Angeles Civic Field.

Mann said backup Nolan Hughes did an admirable job filling in at the QB position.

“He did as well as he could for not playing quarterback before,” he said.

Eventually in the second half, the Knights were finally able to wear down the Riders’ defense for another touchdown early in the fourth quarter to make it 24-6. That was also due to the offense’s issues because the defense was just on the field for too long, Mann said.

“A lot of the defensive struggle is an offensive struggle,” Mann said.

Still, the Knights came in to the game hot, having scored 52 against North Mason last week (and 49 points in a game earlier this season), so Mann said the Riders did a good job keeping them to 24 points.

“The boys played extremely hard. They represented the community and program very well,” he said.

In addition to Cable’s good game, Tyler Bowen had two interceptions on defense.

Port Angeles (0-3, 0-6) next hosts Sequim (3-1, 5-1) for a Rainshadow Rivalry game at Civic Field at 6:30 p.m. Friday.

Bellevue Christian 41, Port Townsend 14

PORT TOWNSEND — The Redhawks (1-2, 2-3) trailed the Vikings 14-8 at halftime of their homecoming game Friday night at Memorial Field but couldn’t keep up in the second half in an Olympic/Nisqually League defeat.

Steve Mullensky/for Peninsula Daily News Redhawk Dylan Tracer finds a hole in the Bellevue Christian defense and runs for a first down during a game on Friday at Memorial Field.

“They made better adjustments at halftime than I did,” Port Townsend head coach Patrick Gaffney said. “We fumbled the ball a lot and every time we got something going we would fumble or drop some passes that would have put us in pretty good position.

“We will drill ball security and catching the ball a little more at practice next week.

“As far as being mentally ready, I think it was the best game we played even though it’s not indicative in the final score.”

Dylan Tracer returned a first-half kickoff for a score and ran in the two-point conversion to put the Redhawks up 8-7 in the first quarter.

“It was right about 80 yards,” Gaffney said. “Dylan took it up the middle, got through traffic and bounced it outside and then ran in the 2-point conversion to put us up.”

Port Townsend ‘s other score came on a 50-yard run by Kesem Coggins late in the contest.

“That was a nice piece of running by Kesem,” Gaffney said.

Gaffney mentioned some other bright spots in the game.

Freshman Siaumau Auseuga had “his best game of the year at guard and linebacker,” according to Gaffney. And senior Wes Blue was a standout on the offensive line and at defensive end.

Neah Bay 70, Darrington 22

DARRINGTON — After losing their first game of the year last week, the Neah Bay Red Devils took out their frustrations on Darrington, crushing the Loggers 70-22.

Neah Bay had 46 points by halftime, then let off the gas pedal in the fourth quarter up 62-16.

“We certainly executed a lot better. We made a few changes,” said coach TJ Greene.

Those changes made after a 50-14 loss to Naselle include putting in Nicholas Steeves at the fullback position, and splitting more carries between Toby Croy and Robert Richardson.

“It’s nice to get them both in the open and see who’s running better,” Greene said. “The holes were there. The blocking was good.”

They both ran well Friday against Darrington. Croy had five touchdown runs of 58, 2, 80, 22 and 50 yards, while Richardson had a 62-yard kick return and a 67-yard TD run. Croy ended up with 327 yards on 17 carries as the Red Devils tallied 421 yards on the ground.

Greene said Croy also played full-time as a defensive back and had a good all-around game.

Quarterback Meric Soeneke threw two touchdown passes to Logan Halttunen of 13 and 42 yards.

Halttunen is having a good senior year after missing much of his sophomore and junior seasons due to knee surgeries, Greene said.

Soeneke also ran for four point-after-touchdowns and threw for another. He was a perfect 3 for 3 passing for 55 yards.

Jaxson Halttunen and Julian Carrick each had interceptions. Carrick is just a freshman and the Darrington offense tried to take advantage of Carrick, but wasn’t able to.

“He made a lot of key tackles. They tried to isolate him because he’s a freshman. He’s a tough kid,” Greene said.

Neah Bay (4-1) is next scheduled to host Taholah (1-4) at 6 p.m. Friday. However, Greene said there is a possibility that game could be moved to Saturday.

Neah Bay 70, Darrington 22

NB 16 30 16 8 — 70

D’ton 0 16 0 6 — 22

First Quarter

NB—Croy 58 run (Steeves run)

NB—Croy 2 run (Soeneke run)

Second Quarter

NB— Halttunen 13 pass from Soeneke (PAT failed)

D—Reuwsaat 3 run (Reuwsaat run)

NB—Richardson 62 kick return (Croy run)

NB—Croy 80 run (Soeneke run)

D—Foster 6 pass from Zinnato (Zinnato run)