PORT TOWNSEND — The Northern Peninsula Football Club played its first-ever game in the Western Washington Premier League 2 not knowing what to expect.
And they came away with a 4-2 win at Port Townsend’s Memorial Stadium on Saturday against the ISC Gunners based in Issaquah.
The NPFC was set to be formed last year, but those plans had to be put on hold due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
From the league’s website, the Western Washington Premier League is an “Elite amateur men’s soccer competition in Western Washington. Founded in 2018, the league gives a competitive home for numerous clubs and players still developing their skills and with a desire to continue playing after youth, high school, college or professional soccer.
The second division of the league was formed this year and features the Port Townsend club, plus teams from Federal Way, Gig Harbor, Arlington and Seattle. If teams do well enough in the second division, they may be able to move up to the Western Washington Premier League’s first division.
NPFC is made up of players from Port Townsend, Sequim, Port Angeles and Forks, said club manager Joost Besjin of Port Townsend. Many of these are former Storm King and area high school players. In fact, the NPFC partners with Storm King.
“We put a lot of work in the whole club. Really the win was just a cherry on top,” Besjin said.
Scoring goals for NPFC were Silas Dewyce of Port Townsend, Ryan Tolbert of Sequim, Roland Donenberg-Platt of Port Townsend and Pablo Salazar of Sequim.
Besjin said that goalkeeper Hayden Price of Port Townsend gets credit for the victory.
Besjin said coach Juan Carlos and assistant coach Robert Cantley deserve much of the credit for the win for changing tactics at halftime.
“We had to change formation to deal with their long balls,” Besjin said.
The next NPFC game will be held at 2 p.m. Sunday against Gala FC, a club from Snohomish County. If people want to buy tickets ($5) to the game, they can go online at www.northernpeninsulafc.com.
