STATE FOOTBALL: Loaded Steilacoom too much for Sequim to handle

By Michael Carman

Peninsula Daily News

BREMERTON — Sequim’s heart was no match for Steilacoom’s multi-faceted athletic ability as the Sentinels ousted Sequim from the Class 2A state football tournament in a 49-12 loss Friday at Silverdale Stadium.

“To put it bluntly, they have [NCAA] D1 offers for their quarterback, their receiver and their running back and you could totally tell that,” Wolves coach Erik Wiker said.

“Some teams look good in pads [warming up], they played even better.”

Steilacoom (10-1) stymied Sequim’s offense, holding the Wolves to less than 200 yards, and ran and threw behind those big three college prospects all night long offensively.

Quarterback JJ Lemming found highly recruited sophomore wideout Emeka Egbuka for 226 yards and five receptions in the first half alone, including touchdowns of 40, 44 and 80 yards, as the Sentinels went up 28-12 at halftime.

He ended with eight grabs for a school-record 256 yards.

Egbuka has scholarship offers from most Pac-12 teams, including Washington, Washington State and Oregon, plus national programs such as Florida State, Florida and Nebraska.

“So that’s that player difference,” Wiker said. “[Egbuka] is a heck of a player. Jarrett [Allen] covered him and after the one pass he caught on him, [Jarrett] did really well against him, [Egbuka] just caught everything. He’s a different kind of player, that’s why he’s a sophomore getting looked at by a lot of people. A difference maker for sure.”

Sentinels running back Jaymason Willingham, who is committed to play for Utah State, totaled 22 runs for 145 yards and two TDs.

And Lemming, a 6-foot-5, 215-pounder with a strong and accurate arm, completed 19 of 25 passes for 346 yards, four TDs and an interception.

Lemming said he talks on a consistent basis with Mountain West schools San Diego State and Wyoming in a Tacoma News Tribune article earlier this season.

Sequim (9-2) started well defensively as Taig Wiker picked off Lemming on Steilacoom’s first play. But the Wolves’ drive sputtered and a mishandled snap prevented Sequim from kicking a short field goal.

Steilacoom got going by exploiting Egbuka’s athletic advantages on the outside and handing off to Willingham for consistent gains on the ground.

“They were super well-balanced,” Sequim senior lineman/linebacker Johnnie Young said. “That was the biggest thing that challenged us the most. They were the first team we played that had just as strong of a running game as a passing game. They had great athletes running the ball, great athletes making plays in the air and a quarterback who could put it anywhere on a dime.”

The Wolves scored on two 1-yard touchdown runs by Taig Wiker in the first half.

The first TD was set up by an 80-yard catch-and-run from senior quarterback Riley Cowan to sophomore Hayden Eaton.

Beyond that play and a pair of nice passing connections from Cowan to senior Kyler Rollness and sophomore Michael Young, Sequim was hard-pressed to find the time for Cowan to throw or to find open receivers against the Sentinels’ tight coverage.

“The big thing with that I was hoping our line would be able to match up with their line better,” Erik Wiker said. “That was the only spot where I thought we’d have hopefully an advantage. And since we didn’t have an advantage there [it impacted the offense.]

“Across the board every one of their skill guys is more athletic than every one of ours. They could go lockdown man [defensively], they could go zone, they could do this and then send everybody and clog up the run. When you have athletes like that you can do that. So taking stuff away, it’s because their line played better than our line.”

Despite the defeat, Wiker was thrilled with the team’s season.

“We did a lot of stuff with team and culture,” Wiker said.

“One of the proudest I’ve ever been out of any team. We were much more talented the last time we made state [in 2011]. These guys did it with teamwork and heart. And scrap, yeah, I always hear that from Olympic. They have those track guys, and their coaches are always telling me ‘Your guys are scrappy and just keep playing’ and that’s a culture thing more than anything.

“Look at our defense, we start seven sophomores. On offense we have a lot of first-year players, a lot of sophomores. You take that and say do we do what we did this year? Nobody said we would do that [go undefeated to win the Olympic League and qualify for the state tournament].”

Young said he felt like he had completed what he and Cowan had set out to do in their final season in purple and gold.

“A big goal for Riley and I this year was trying to change the culture back to what it used to be,” Young said. “I think we accomplished that, but bigger than just doing it this year I think we passed the torch. Being so many of them [sophomores], they all took it in. Every single one of them. I thought maybe some of the younger guys might bail, but they bought in to everything we told them and always had our backs because they knew we had ours.”

Young said he would treasure the friendships he built with his teammates.

“I’ll remember how much I loved it each and every day,” he said. “It was the first time I was part of a sports team that it never felt like a job once. I know I’ve said that to you once before. Being with 35 friends makes a big difference than just being with 35 teammates. And I think I can say that for every guy on the team. We all hang out, do stuff together and built a bond outside of football, so I think that’s what I’ll remember the most.

“It was 11 guys, 11 friends.”

Steilacoom 49, Sequim 12

Steilacoom 14 14 7 14— 49

Sequim 6 6 0 0— 12

First Quarter

Steil—Egbuka 40 pass from Lemming (Padgett kick)

Seq—Wiker 1 run (kick failed)

Steil—Willingham 8 run (Padgett kick)

Second Quarter

Steil—Egbuka 44 pass from Lemming (Padgett kick)

Steil—Egbuka 80 pass from Lemming (Padgett kick)

Seq—Wiker 1 run (pass failed)

Third Quarter

Steil—Willingham 6 run (Padgett kick)

Fourth Quarter

Steil—Shird 7 pass from Lemming (Padgett kick)

Steil—Hoch 25 interception return (Padgett kick)

Individual Stats

Rushing—Steil: Willingham 22-145; Hoch 7-27; Dixon 4-15; Lemming 1-5. Seq: Wiker 11-33; Tanche 2-1; Whitney 2-(-1); Cowan 9-(-2).

Passing—Steil: Lemming 19-25-346, 4 TDs, INT; Seq: Cowan 9-29-170.

Receiving—Steil: Egbuka 8-256; Shird 5-58, Brady 2-16, Coalsen 3-13, Padgett 1-3. Seq: Eaton 1-80; Rollness 2-38, Young 2-24, Wiker 3-23, Oliver 1-5.