BAINBRIDGE ISLAND — The little team that could finally ran out of gas.
The Port Townsend football team’s bid to reach the Class 1A state tournament fell one game short Tuesday night as the Redskins fell 25-0 to Northwest Conference power Meridian.
The loss ended a grueling stretch run for the Redskins (7-4 overall) which saw them play what amounted to three full games in less than a week’s time.
That included a pair of dramatic mini-playoff victories over Vashon Island and Orting on Saturday to put them in Tuesday’s preliminary playoff game.
Going against the Trojans, perennial state powers who will go to state for the eighth time this decade, they simply ran out of magic.
“We just didn’t quite have the bounce that we normally had,” Port Townsend coach Brian O’Hara said of his 33-man team. “They are a pretty physical team, and playing the number of games that we did in such a short period of time kind of had an impact on us.”
Port Townsend certainly had a hard time holding onto the ball in the rain-soaked affair.
Senior quarterback Eric Thomas completed his first four passes of the game, driving the Redskins down to the Trojan 6-yard line before a botched snap gave the ball to Meridian.
It was the first of four lost fumbles for the Redskins and six turnovers total, two of which came deep inside Meridian territory.
Meridian had its own turnover troubles, with three lost fumbles to its name, but still managed to amass 417 yards of offense to the Redskins’ 143.
Trojan quarterback Tait Slesk completed 13-of-28 passes for 214 yards and one touchdown. That included an 86-yard strike to Mitchell Tripp that gave Meridian a 12-0 lead it would take into halftime.
The Trojans then came out of the break with an 11-play, 58-yard drive, capped by Bodean Norris’ 6-yard touchdown run to go ahead 18-0.
It looked as if the Redskins were primed to answer on their next drive, with Thomas hitting wide receiver Cameron Robinson for a 40-yard bomb. Yet Meridian’s defensive back popped the ball loose from Robinson’s hands as he fell to the turf, and the Trojans recovered the ball.
Port Townsend — which had six three-and-outs to go long with the turnovers — didn’t threaten to score the rest of the game, and Meridian tacked on another score late in the third quarter to put the game away at 25-0.
“They came out and played a better game than us,” said Robinson. “We just couldn’t adjust to the weather, they could. We didn’t bring our ‘A’ game.
“It’s tough knowing that we gave them the game instead of them taking it from us. We made a lot of mental and physical mistakes that we should have cleaned up.”
Thomas ended up completing 15-of-31 passes for 119 yards and two interceptions in the loss.
Brett Johnson added 22 yards rushing on eight carries as well as five receptions for 22 yards. Robinson had five receptions for 85 yards. The trio was part of a group of 13 seniors who closed out their Redskin careers in the loss.
“This is a great team, we all played together all year,” Robinson said. “I loved playing with them.”
Port Townsend finished tied for second in the 1A Nisqually League, winning seven games for the first time in five years and reaching the postseason for the first time since 2005.
“We had a great season,” O’Hara said. “We had some ups and downs. We started slow offensively, but we sure got it in gear and were clicking towards the end [of the season]. We set some goals for ourselves and went beyond a lot of our own expectations.
“With the small number of kids that we were playing with, we just kept battling and didn’t give up.”
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Matt Schubert is the Sports Reporter/Outdoors Columnist for the Peninsula Daily News. Contact him at matt.schubert@peninsuladailynews.com or at 360-417-3526.
Meridian 25, Port Townsend 0
Meridian 6 6 13 0– 25
Port Townsend 0 0 0 0– 0
First Quarter
M–John Murphy 1 run (kick failed)
Second Quarter
M–Mitchel Tripp 86 pass from Tait Slesk (pass failed)
Third Quarter
M–Bodean Norris 6 run (run failed)
M–Bodean Norris 3 run (Alvarez kick)
Individual Stats
Rushing– Meridian: John Murphy 17-97, Bodean Norris 11-43, Jackson Phillips 5-45. Port Townsend: Ryan Unbedacht 1-(-1), Brett Johnson 8-22, Eric Thomas 9-(-2), Ryan Plouse 3-5.
Passing–Meridian: Tait Slesk 13-28-0, 214 yards. Port Townsend: Eric Thomas 15-31-2, 119 yards, Cameron Robinson 0-1, 0 yards.
Receiving–Meridian: Ryan Clark 2-18, Mitchel Tripp 3-100, Zack Slesk 2-42, Bodean Norris 3-25, Jackson Phillips 2-25, Kody Carlson 1-4. Port Townsend: Camerson Robinson 5-85, Brett Johnson 5-22, Ryan Unbedacht 3-11, Adrian Mallory 2-1.