PARKLAND — The Port Angeles Roughriders are off to the state football playoff for the first time in a decade, overcoming a rugged, physical Franklin Pierce team 28-18 on the road Friday night.
The Roughriders were forced to blitz time and again during the entire second half, absolutely daring the 7-2 Cardinals to throw the ball as Franklin Pierce utilized a grinding running game that did give the Riders problems early. The Riders forced three turnovers in the pouring rain and smacked the Cardinals in the mouth with their own medicine, going to their power running game in the second half with Jason Hawes, Landyn Jones and Kason Albaugh gashing Franklin Pierce with huge plays all half.
“Our defensive coordinate Pat [Nickerson] did an amazing job,” said head coach Dustin Clark. “We had been holding onto that defense and thought it could work. It was incredible.”
As part of the defensive adjustments, the Riders brought in a couple of extra linebackers. “We had extra backers out there every play and they had their assignments,” Clark said. He said Dylan Mann particularly had a great game at linebacker.
Port Angeles finished with 223 yards rushing. Jones ran nine times for 97 yards and Hawes 10 times for 92 yards. Parker Nickerson had a rushing TD. Clark said he challenged his players to outmuscle Franklin Pierce.
“We’re going to see who’s tougher, stronger and who wants it more,” he said.
It’s Port Angeles’ first trip to the state playoffs in more than a decade.
“This is big for the community. This is what we want to become the norm,” Clark said.
Port Angeles, 7-3 overall, was seeded No. 16 at state and will play at No. 1 seed Tumwater (10-0).
Game play
The Riders got on the board first in the first quarter as Nickerson completed passes of 8 yards to Blake Sohlberg and 14 to Albaugh and ran for another 12 yards. Hawes completed the drive with a 31-yard touchdown run.
Franklin Pierce, which virtually never throws the ball, quickly scored on the Cardinals’ opening drive with big runs of their own, including a 34-yard touchdown scamper by Christian Goode.
The Riders responded when Nickerson hit Sohlberg with a 33-yard pass, followed by a 22-yard pass, also to Sohlberg, for a touchdown to give Port Angeles a 14-8 lead still in the first quarter.
Port Angeles recovered a fumble to end the Cardinals’ next drive, but wasn’t able to make anything happen on that possession. After that, Franklin Pierce dominated the rest of the first half as the Riders had trouble containing the Cardinals’ power running game. The Cardinals had a long drive which culminated in a 5-yard touchdown run by Tony Silva to take a 16-14 lead.
On their next possession, the Cardinals were able to drive to the 11-yard line. On a fourth-and-10, Franklin Pierce finally threw its first pass into the end zone. A flag was thrown for an apparent pass interference in the end zone, but after a conference, the referees picked up the flag and the Riders held. Unfortunately, a couple of plays later, Nickerson was sacked in the end zone for a safety to give Franklin Pierce an 18-14 lead at the half.
The second half was all Riders as they made adjustments on defense, blitzing on virtually every play. Franklin Pierce stubbornly refused to throw the ball even though Port Angeles was throwing eight or nine players into the line on every play. The adjustment worked as all of a sudden, the Cardinals were unable to sustain long drives.
On offense, the Roughriders also adjusted, running on nearly every down. The Riders’ power running game was much more effective than the Cardinals’ in the second half, with Hawes and Jones doing most of the damage. On Port Angeles’ first possession of the second half, Hawes and Jones gashed the Cardinals’ defense for a number of 10- to 12-yard runs. The drive finished with a Nickerson 6-yard run for a touchdown, giving the Riders a 21-18 lead.
Another long Port Angeles fourth-quarter drive ended with a 3-yard touchdown run by Jones to give the Riders a 28-18 lead.
Tanner Flores recovered a fumble late in the fourth quarter for Port Angeles and all the Riders had to do was run out the clock, but disaster struck when the Roughriders had a fumble of their own with 1:50 left in the game, giving the Cardinals one last shot with the ball in Port Angeles territory.
Franklin Pierce struggled with clock management, however, and let precious time run off the clock, neglecting to use its time outs and never seriously threatening to score. The Cardinals’ final drive ended with a fumble with 8.7 seconds left.
Nickerson went 5-for-12 passing for 95 yards. Sohlberg had three catches for 68 yards and a touchdown while Albaugh had two catches for 27 yards.
