THE 2012 CHIMACUM baseball team wasn’t built to lose.
Same for the Neah Bay football team later that year.
But both teams did lose.
The Cowboys were accustomed to reaching the final four of the Class 1A state baseball playoffs.
They had an experienced and deep senior class that did nothing but win. Included in that senior class was four-time All-Peninsula Baseball MVP Landon Cray, who would play two solid years at Seattle University and then be drafted in the 18th round of the MLB draft by the Tampa Bay Rays.
The Cowboys were 19-0 and going for their second consecutive state championship. But they were upset by Kalama 1-0 in the regional round, held to one hit by pitcher Lars Rider.
As former Chimacum baseball coach Jim Dunn told the Peninsula Daily News, “We happened to go against a Landon Cray on the other team.”
The Neah Bay football team also was chasing a repeat in 2012.
But in the 1B state championship, they lost to Liberty Christian 34-28 on a tie-breaking, last-second touchdown run.
The Red Devils dug themselves a hole with fumbles in the first half. They managed to claw their way back into the game by halftime.
Then in the second half, despite a questionable pass interference call that negated an interception by Joey Monje, Neah Bay tied the game on a 65-yard TD run by Josiah Greene with 2:49 remaining before Liberty Christian scored on the final play of regulation.
I arrived on the North Olympic Peninsula earlier that spring. Four years later, the results of those two teams are still unsettling.
It just seems like that isn’t how it was supposed to end for either team.
Of course, one the beauties of sports is their unexpected nature.
There also have been many bright moments from the Peninsula’s high school and college sports teams during the past four years.
Here are a few for each school:
Sequim
■ Boys: The 4×400-meter relay winning the state title in 2015.
It was totally unexpected, and even more so considering Alex Barry ran a leg of the relay despite injuring his leg the day before. It also was nice to see Miguel Moroles, an exciting athlete who only experienced two wins in two years as quarterback of the football team, have a moment of glory.
■ Girls: Jordan Miller draining a 3-pointer with 5 seconds remaining in Jan. 2015 to give the Wolves their first girls basketball win over Port Angeles since 2007.
Port Townsend
■ Boys: Ryan Clarke winning state titles in cross country and track and field in the 2014-15 season.
■ Girls: The girls basketball team’s exciting 52-49 win over Charles Wright in a 2013 postseason play-in game.
With Port Townsend trailing 49-48, Codi Hallinan was fouled as she threw up a shot. The crowd went completely silent as the ball stalled on the rim, and then erupted when it dropped through.
Port Angeles
■ Boys: Beating Sequim 20-14 with a 25-yard pass on the first play of overtime after settling for 2- and 3-yard gains for most of regulation in the 2014 football rivalry game.
■ Girls: The basketball team had many great moments, but the one that comes to mind is the hyped matchup between Olympic League-leading Port Angeles and second-place Bremerton in Jan. 2013. The Roughriders clobbered the Knights 61-41. But the game wasn’t that close, the Riders led 33-9 at halftime.
Quilcene
■ Boys: The football team’s exciting 46-44 win over Tulalip Heritage in the Quad-District playoffs last fall. The victory clinched the Rangers’ second consecutive state berth.
■ Girls: The past four years have been special for the Quilcene girls teams, with numerous state trophies in softball and volleyball.
Neah Bay
■ Boys: There were many moments, including the first basketball state title earlier this month, but the best of the best has to be when John Reamer stripped Liberty Christians’ John Lesser near the goal line and returned it 93 yard for a touchdown early in the second half of the 2014 state championship game.
It gave the Red Devils a two-score lead and was a bit of revenge since it was Lesser who scored that winning TD as a freshman in the 2012 title game.
■ Girls: Cierra Moss scoring 40 points in the 2014 state basketball tournament to beat Taholah.
Forks
■ Boys: The somewhat surprising runs to the state wrestling championship matches by Miguel Morales in 2013 and Joel Ward in 2014.
■ Girls: Brooke Peterson making it to the state wrestling tournament four times, the last being a second-place finish in 2015.
Crescent
■ Boys: Quenton Wolfer winning the 2014 state javelin championship. His throw of 170 feet, 6 inches beat his previous personal best by nearly 11 feet.
■ Girls: Teammates Devanie Christie and Ryan Lester placing fourth and fifth, respectively, in the 100-meter hurdles at the 2013 state track and field meet.
Clallam Bay
■ Boys: An easy one: the boys basketball team, with only five players, beating Quilcene in Jan. 2014.
It felt like “Hoosiers.” In fact, from one angle from where I was sitting behind the bench, I swear Bruins coach Kelly Gregory looked like Gene Hackman.
■ Girls: Members of the girls basketball team smiling throughout their postseason win over Northwest Yeshiva in February.
Go crashing into a wall? Smiling. Miss a layup? Still smiling. Get tangled up going for a loss ball? Still smiling.
Chimacum
■ Boys: Winning the 2012 football rivalry game against Port Townsend 27-25 in five overtimes.
Mel Thornton tied the score with a TD run on fourth-and-goal from the 10, and then Derek Ajax ran in the two-point conversion for the victory.
■ Girls: The softball team, after not having a team in 2014, making it to state in 2015, and then doing so again in 2016.
Peninsula College
■ Men: Ryley Callaghan’s buzzer-beating 3-pointer that gave the basketball team a 68-67 win over Skagit Valley in Feb. 2015.
■ Women: The entire 2014-15 season, which ended with the school’s first women’s basketball championship.
The Pirates continually improved throughout the year. By the end of the season, it was like clockwork: opponents would hang with Peninsula until five or 10 minutes into the second half, when they would get gassed and the Pirates could maintain their pace.
I get off here
Those are just a few of the great moments that I experienced or reported on since I’ve been on the Peninsula. Many more happened, and there will be many more to come.
But it won’t be for me to cover.
Wednesday was my final day at the PDN. I’m leaving to be the assistant sports editor at the Sun Journal in Lewiston, Maine.
I remember questioning the wits of my predecessor, Matt Schubert, for leaving a beautiful place like the Peninsula. And, I’ve done the same to myself the past few weeks.
This place has become home.
I’ll miss everything and everyone — all the teams, players and coaches, and all those who helped teach me about fishing on the Peninsula when I was the outdoors columnist.
It’s been a great ride.
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Lee Horton started at the PDN in April 2012 as the sports reporter and outdoors columnist. He became sports editor in Sept. 2013.
