PREP FOOTBALL: (Updated) Sequim rallies, wins a wild Rainshadow Rumble

PORT ANGELES — This one was truly a Rumble in the Rainshadow.

In one of the most exciting games in recent years in the long rivalry between the Sequim and Port Angeles football teams, Sequim quarterback Lars Wiker hit Toppy Robideau with a 15-yard touchdown pass with 20 seconds left in the game to beat the Roughriders 36-32.

Sequim roared back from a 20-0 first-half deficit. Port Angeles mounted its own comeback in the fourth quarter with starting quarterback Parker Nickerson out of the game with a leg injury. The two teams combined for four touchdowns in the fourth quarter.

And ultimately, the game came down to whoever had the ball last.

It was the seventh straight win for Wolves over their Olympic Peninsula rivals.

“We’re 0-3, down 20 in the first quarter. To come back from that. That’s crazy,” Wiker said.

“We kept our heads in the game. We knew we could stick with these guys,” said Isaiah Moore, who contributed a spectacular touchdown catch. “That was one hell of a game.”

Wiker said he was part of a huge comeback last year that entailed a 93-yard winning drive. “I’ve been there before. That game had a little bit of everything. In the second half, we started dominating them a little bit.”

“It was a great game to be a part of,” Sequim coach Erik Wiker said. “I would have been proud of my kids even if they hadn’t scored at the end.”

“The play was supposed to go to the right side, QB and coach Wiker told me to run a skinny post [route] if there was no free safety and when I saw there wasn’t I ran it and caught it,” Robideau said of the game-winning TD.

“They are our biggest rival, so it’s a big win, besides it being our first win. We didn’t have a good start to practice this week, but we got going.”

Coach Wiker said he told his players they could compete with the Riders even after Port Angeles got up big because the Riders scored all of their points on three big plays, not sustained drives. “We had the more potent offense,” coach Wiker said.

Port Angeles coach Dustin Clark said it was a lot of little things that hurt the Riders. One of those little things — six offsides penalties.

“It was that and guys not quite doing what they were supposed to be doing,” Clark said. “We couldn’t get stops when we needed them.”

“No one on our team gave up when we were down 20-0. That’s what impressed me the most,” running back Aiden Gockerell said. “Our line stepped up their blocking, Lars [Wiker] threw some dimes and Toppy [Robideau Jr.] made a play.” Gockerell was a workhorse in this game, running the ball 32 times for 204 yards.

First half

The Riders’ first big play was a 51-yard strike from quarterback Parker Nickerson to Blake Sohlberg. Moore nearly picked the ball off, but it somehow got through his hands and went right to Sohlberg, who ran untouched the rest of the way to make it 7-0 two minutes into the game.

Five minutes later, Nickerson picked off a Wiker pass at the 25 and weaved his way through the entire Sequim team for a 75-yard touchdown return.

Early in the second quarter, Nickerson rolled out to his left and heaved a beautiful long ball to Jason Hawes, who was one-on-one deep and had beaten his defender by a step. He didn’t have to break stride in the least as he hauled in Nickerson’s perfectly thrown pass for an 80-yard touchdown.

It appeared a rout was underway, but the entire tenor of the game quickly changed. Thirteen minutes into the game, Sequim had actually dominated the time of possession. The Riders had only had the ball for a couple of minutes. That became the theme of the game as the Wolves did start to wear down the Riders on offense.

The Wolves were able to march the ball down to the 9-yard line, but Hawes got a big sack on Wiker to make it fourth-and-goal from the 19. Wiker threw the ball up to Moore, who tipped the ball not once, but twice to himself, finally coming down with it for an amazing TD to go into the half down 20-7.

Second half

The Riders sacked Wiker four times in the first half. In the second half, the line protected him better and then Gockerell started racking up a ton of yardage as the second half saw some titanic shifts in momentum.

The Wolves began the second half with a four-minute drive that was almost all Gockerell, who capped it off with a 6-yard run to make it 20-14.

After a Port Angeles turnover on downs, the Wolves got a big break on a late his out of bounds by the Riders on what would have been a fourth-and-eight. On a play-action fake handoff to Gockerell, Wiker hit Moore with a 16-yard pass. The drive finished with a 14-yard run by Gockerell as Sequim took a 21-20 lead.

On that touchdown, Nickerson got hurt while playing defense and wasn’t able to return. He was on crutches after the game.

With their quarterback out and Sequim having all the momentum, the Riders rallied behind sophomore backup Brandt Perry. Riders running back Kason Albaugh carried the load as the game in the second half at times felt like a duel between Albaugh and Gockerell.

Port Angeles got a big break when Sequim touched the ball after a punt and the Roughriders recovered the ball. Albaugh carried the ball seven straight times for 34 yards, capping the drive with a 2-yard touchdown as Port Angeles regained the lead at 26-21.

Gockerell had a 33-yard run on the next drive, Wiker hit Moore on a 10-yard pass on another play-action pass, and Wiker finished the drive with a quarterback sneak from three yards out. Sequim went for two and took a 29-26 lead with 5:56 left.

The Riders didn’t back down. Again, Albaugh got a heavy workload, but the Sequim defense held and forced Port Angeles into a fourth-and-four on the 26. Perry faked a handoff to Albaugh and completed a quick strike to Sohlberg to convert the fourth down. On a third-and-7 from the 8-yard line, Perry again threw a perfect strike to Sohlberg on a slant for a touchdown to make it 32-29 with 1:29 left in the game.

Clark thought Perry was clutch on those two plays.

“I didn’t want to throw the ball, but Brandt was great,” Clark said.

The Wolves had no time outs for their final drive that began on their own 34. Instead of relying on Gockerell, the Wolves went to the air with a 27-yard Wiker pass to Sam Fitzgerald, then an 18-yard pass to Robideau 21. An offsides and a face mask penalty helped the Wolves get down to the 9-yard line for the game’s final play from scrimmage.

Albaugh ended up running the ball 23 times for 109 yards. Wiker had 176 yards passing while Nickerson had 154 yards passing on only four completions.

Robideau and Port Angeles’ Tanner Jacobsen each had interceptions. Hawes had a tipped pass that led to an interception and two quarterback sacks, while Port Angeles’ Thomas Arand had two sacks.

Sequim (1-1, 1-3) next hosts Kingston at 7 p.m. Friday, while Port Angeles (0-2, 1-3) is at Olympic at 6 p.m. Thursday.

Sequim 36, Port Angeles 32

SEQ 0 7 14 15 — 36

PA 14 6 0 12 — 32

Scoring

First Quarter

PA — Sohlberg 51 pass from Nickerson (Long kick good), 10:07

PA — Nickerson 75 interception return (Long kick), 5:37

Second Quarter

PA — Hawes 80 pass from Nickerson (kick missed), 11:13

SEQ — Moore 19 pass from Wiker (Henninger kick good), 5:21

Third Quarter

SEQ — Gockerell 5 run (kick good), 7:50

SEQ — Gockerell 14 run (kick good), 1:28

Fourth Quarter

PA — Albaugh 2 run (run failed), 9:25

SEQ — Wiker 4 run (Moore pass from Wiker), 5:56

PA — Sohlberg 8 pass from Perry (kick failed), 1:29

SEQ — Robideau 15 pass from Wiker (kick good), 0:20

Individual Stats

Passing

Sequim — Wiker 12-22-176, 2 TD, 2 INT

Port Angeles — Nickerson 4-6-154-2 TD, INT; Perry 2-4-17, TD.

Receiving

Sequim — Moore 6-89; Fitzgerald 2-39; Robideau 2-33; Jennings 2-15.

Port Angeles — Sohlberg 4-82; Hawes 1-80 Townsend 1-9

Rushing

Sequim — Gockerell 32-204; Wiker 10-(-26).

Port Angeles — Albaugh 23-109; Hawes 6-18; Nickerson 1-5; Jones 1-0;

.