PORT ANGELES — Covering an area rivalry is always a 50/50 proposition as one of the teams is guaranteed to leave disappointed.
And after last Friday’s Quimper Quarrel with Port Townsend slipped out of Chimacum’s grasp — when Redhawk senior running back Dylan Tracer was seemingly tackled for a loss before throwing a desperation touchdown pass to Josh Davis on the final play of the game for a 24-22 win — the Cowboys are still facing an eight-game losing streak against their rivals.
But there’s plenty to be excited about for Chimacum football going forward.
A sophomore-heavy team this season, the Cowboys will be led by hard-nosed runner Anson Jones as well as senior-to-be Kyle Caldwell next year.
Jones ran for 154 yards on 19 carries and Caldwell had 95 yards on 15 runs in Friday’s game.
Jones also had four catches for 54 yards as Chimacum utilized an effective middle screen for some big gains against Port Townsend.
“The kid is a handful,” Cowboys head coach Chris Storm said of Jones. “He’s elusive but he can run right over people. He’s a natural back even when the blocking isn’t there.
“Anson will get tackled by 10 kids and he’ll bounce right back up.”
Jones played on the Chimacum varsity as a freshman before suffering an injury that kept him off the field for an extended period of time in 2018.
“Everybody was worried that we lost [2018 leading runner] Logan [Storm to graduation],” Storm said. “Anson was hurt a chunk of last year and Logan has come back and worked with Anson at practice. It’s nice when you can pass the torch.
“I’m excited to see what he can do as a junior and senior. If Chimacum kept track of all-time records, I think he’d end up setting them.”
Storm also enjoys coaching Jones and Caldwell.
“Great personalities, great kids to coach,” Storm said. “They don’t shy away from the work [at practice]. Kyle is a workhorse. Kyle will do things like when we drag a weight sled, he’ll ask to drag it farther than the distance we’ve set. He has that wrestler mentality.”
Kickin’ it
Chimacum performs an onside kick each time they kick off.
It’s not always pretty and it’s not always effective, but if Chimacum can recover one per game it serves three purposes for the Cowboys.
“If you kick it deep you have to have great players on your return team,” Storm said. “Kids that don’t get a lot of playing time get a starting spot and if you kick it deep against teams you can get burned by players like the [Noa] Montoyas, the [Dylan] Tracers and [Klahowya’s Hunter] Wallis. We’ve recovered like eight of them this year and it frees up a lot of practice for us.”
Storm also said the onside kicks make sure more players see the playing field.
“When you have 21 kids, I don’t like looking after a game and seeing a player never touch the field. I want the kids to play whether it’s a little or a lot. We recover one a game at least and we want the ball.”
Chimacum recovered two in Friday’s loss to Port Townsend — the opening kick of the second half and another after taking a 22-18 lead in the fourth quarter. The second onside attempt however, was waived off after a Cowboys’ penalty and the Redhawks grabbed the re-kick.
That extra possession could have made the difference in a 2-point loss.
Hit ‘em up
Hunter Heim made quite the impact in his debut with the Redhawks varsity against Chimacum.
Generously listed at 5-foot-9, 150 pounds in the Port Townsend game program, Heim is more like 5-foot-6, 130 pounds. And he played defensive tackle, holding his own against a Chimacum line boasting three players above the 250-pound threshold.
“Hunter is a freshman, generously listed, yes,” Redhawks coach Patrick Gaffney agreed. “This is his first year of football and he started standing out at practice. He had some huge defensive plays. And he’s a freshman who has never played football in his life. We have bigger options but he listens to us and he does what we ask him to do.”
Heim came off the edge unblocked for a sack that pushed Chimacum eight-yards back in the first half and picked up another tackle for loss in the fourth quarter, with the Cowboys driving deep in Redhawks’ territory each time.
“Feels great, especially since this is the first varsity game I have been put in,” Heim said. “I understood what was going on [when I was on the field] but honestly, I barely understand the rules of football. This is the first year I’ve ever really touched a football.”
Off to a good start, Hunter.
Riders played good defense
Despite having a difficult 1-8 season, don’t blame the Port Angeles Roughriders defense. The defense actually played pretty well most games, giving up 23 points to Forks, 24 against Bremerton and 26 for Sequim.
Finally, all that good work on the defensive side of the ball as the defense dominated against North Mason in a 25-20 season-ending win. It put a nice spin on the Riders’ season.
The defense was led by Derek Bowechop, who had two spectacular pick-six touchdowns against the Bulldogs. Nolan Hughes also had a fumble recovery and a touchdown runback as the Riders scored all of their touchdowns on defense.
The real struggles for Port Angeles this year were on offense, as the Riders had seven games this year in which they scored 14 points or fewer.
Unfortunately, the Riders will have to rebuild that promising defense as Bowechop, Hughes and defensive backfield standout Tyler Bowen are all graduating.
