JOYCE — Jacob Pleines accounted for six touchdowns to lead Quilcene to a season-opening rout of Crescent.
The Rangers took advantage of the Loggers’ youthful miscues to build a 40-0 lead midway through the second quarter, and coasted from there to a 46-16 win.
Pleines threw four touchdown passes and ran for a pair of touchdowns.
“He had a great game in the first game of his senior year,” Quilcene coach Nic Dahl said after Saturday’s game.
Pleines opened the scoring with a 26-yard run, followed by a 42-yard scoring pass to Tristan Williams.
J.J. Smith returned a fumble 56 yards to the end zone to give the Rangers a commanding 20-0 lead after one quarter.
Pleines kept going in the second quarter, with a 16-yard touchdown run, a 21-yard touchdown pass to Dillon Bettinger and another to Josh King that went for 60 yards.
“Just too many young mistakes to hang with a powerful team like Quilcene, who feature a junior/senior dominated lineup,” Crescent coach Darrell Yount said.
“So the miscues really hurt us early on, which really got to us on both sides of the ball. The unforced fumbles and the breakdowns in our defensive secondary really kind of made for a big uphill struggle for the entire first half.”
Despite trailing 40-0, the Loggers continued to battle, and outscored Quilcene 16-8 for the remainder of the game.
Crescent got on the board with a scoring strike from quarterback Quenton Wolfer to Zach Fletcher on a 64-yard catch-and-run hookup.
The Rangers’ final score came on a 31-yard pass from Pleines to Tristan Williams in the third quarter.
Crescent’s Travis Walker closed out the scoring with a 22-yard scamper to pay dirt.
“Travis Walker was outstanding with 345 yards of total offense in his first ever shot at playing tailback,” Yount said.
Pleines was 6 for 12 passing with 202 yards, and had 59 yards rushing. He also intercepted a pass on defense.
King had 54 yards rushing and caught two passes for 113 yards.
He led the Rangers’ defense with 19 tackles, while Smith recorded 14, and James Hanson had two sacks.
As at team, Quilcene had 13 tackles for loss.
“We did really great,” Dahl said. “Our first team came out on fire.
“[I liked] the whole team atmosphere — playing together, picking people up when they made a mistake.”
For Crescent, Fletcher caught four passes for 117 yards and Wolfer had 135 yards passing.
Cody Wolfer led the Loggers with 10 tackles, and Collin west had five.
Yount liked the way his team responded to the early adversity it faced.
“We righted the ship in the second half and I thought played some pretty solid football, really from the mid-second quarter on,” Yount said.
“We’ll get better. This game gave us an indication of perhaps where we can go to find some success.
“And I really like the way our kids fought. Never gave up. Tried to build upon successes and corrected early errors. You’ve got to like that as a coach.”
Both teams play on the road on Saturday.
Quilcene will face Mary M. Knight, and Crescent will be at Lake Quinault.
Quilcene 46, Crescent 16
Quilcene 20 20 6 0— 46
Crescent 0 8 0 8— 16
First Quarter
Q—Pleines 26 run (kick failed)
Q—Williams 42 pass from Pleines (Smith run)
Q—Smith 56 fumble return (run failed)
Second Quarter
Q—Pleines 16 run (run failed)
Q—Bettinger 21 pass from Pleines (Smith run)
Q—King 78 pass from Pleines (kick failed)
C—Fletcher 64 pass from Quenton Wolfer (Walker run)
Third Quarter
Q—Williams 31 pass from Pleines (pass fail)
Fourth Quarter
C—Walker 22 run (Wolfer run)
Individual Stats
Rushing— Q: Pleines 7-59, King 5-57, Smith 5-54. C: Walker 24-160, Wolfer 4-10.
Passing—Q: Pleines 6-12, 202. C: Wolfer 6-12, 135.
Receiving—Q: Williams 2-73; King 2-113, Bettinger 1-21. C: Fletcher 4-117, March 2-18.
Port Townsend 28, Granite Falls 13
GRANITE FALLS — The Redskins went up a classification and on the road to open their season with an impressive win over the 2A Tigers.
Senior quarterback Jacob King ran for scores of 15, 13 and 3 yards, and Matt Cain ran for 129 yards and a touchdown.
The game was tied 7-7 at halftime before Port Townsend put the game away with three second-half touchdowns.
“It was hot, and they were dragging, but I was proud of them for sucking it up in the second half,” Port Townsend coach Nick Snyder said.
As a team, the Redskins ran for 375 yards.
Tim Russell had 80 yards — he also had a pair of long runs negated because of penalties — and fullback Liam Anderson ran for 65.
“The offensive line blocked really well,” Snyder said.
“There were some excellent holes.”
On defense, Skyler Coppenrath had a pair of sacks, and Snyder praised the work of Anderson, King and Keegan Khile.
Port Townsend will play its hope opener Friday night against Coupeville.
Port Townsend 28, Granite Falls 13
Port Townsend 0 7 14 7— 28
Granite Falls 0 7 0 6— 13
Second Quarter
PT—King 15 run (Khile kick)
GF—Hamilton 54 run (Poplin kick)
Third Quarter
PT—King 13 run (kick failed)
PT—Cain 13 run (Cain run)
Fourth Quarter
GF—O’Neill 15 pass from Nelson (kick failed)
PT—King 3 run (Khile kick)
Individual Stats
Rushing— PT: Cain 129 yards, King 110, Russell 80, Anderson 56.
Charles Wright 28, Forks 17
ABERDEEN — The Spartans gave one of the Nisqually League’s top teams a battle at Stewart Field on Saturday night.
Forks’ Brett Pederson ended a scoreless tie with an 80-yard interception return in the second quarter.
Andrew Armas made it 10-0 with an 18-yard field goal.
Charles Wright’s Henry Cheney hooked up with Andrew Williams and John Stoszek for a couple a touchdowns to give the Tarriers a 14-10 lead.
Miguel Morales put the Spartans ahead 17-14 with a 1-yard run in the third quarter.
Charles Wright added a pair of touchdown runs to pull away.
Forks will host Nooksack Valley for a nonleague game Saturday afternoon.
Charles Wright 28, Forks 17
Forks 0 10 7 0— 17
Charles Wright 0 7 14 7— 28
Second Quarter
F—Pederson 80 interception return (Armas kick)
F—Armas 18 FG
CW—Williams 27 pass from Cheney (Sowell kick)
Third Quarter
CW—Stoszek 17 pass from Cheney (Sowell kick)
F—Morales 1 run (Armas kick)
Fourth Quarter
CW—Cheney 25 run (Sowell kick)
CW—Jones 10 run (Sowell kick)
Wishkah Valley 52,
Clallam Bay 0
ABERDEEN — The Bruins’ season got off to a rough start.
“Everything that could go wrong, did,” Clallam Bay coach Cal Ritter said.
“We’d take three steps forward, and then fall back.
“About the only good thing is we didn’t have any injuries.
“I guess if you’re going to have a bad day, it’s good to get it out of the way [early in the season].”
Matt Mohr and Calvin Ritter gained 61 and 54 yards, respectively, on the ground.
Sam Signor and Calvin Ritter each had two sacks for the Bruins’ defense.
“I know we’re a heck of a lot better team than that,” Cal Ritter said.
“I’m confident we can play much better at home [this] week.”
Clallam Bay hosts Muckleshoot on Friday night.
Individual Stats
Rushing— CB: Mohr 17-61, Ritter 15-54, Gregory 8-14.