BREMERTON — A simple question from Sequim assistant coach Dave Ditlefsen last spring has been answered in detail this fall for the Wolves football team.
Olympic League 2A Division-champion Sequim (8-1) hosts Orting/Franklin Pierce (record) tonight at 7 p.m. at Silverdale Stadium in a winner-to-state/loser-out West Central District playoff game.
“It was one of those things, Coach D asked me this spring, how about we try him at running back?,” Sequim head coach Erik Wiker said.
Him refers to Wiker’s sophomore son, Taig, a running back and safety for the Wolves, who switched to those positions this season after playing wide receiver and earning second-team All-Olympic League honors as a linebacker as a freshman.
“I have had a picture of him on my computer for like 10 years from back when I coached Taig in little league football. And [in the picture] he’s stiff-arming a guy and running over another couple of kids and in that picture he’s about this big of a kid,” Wiker said while squeezing his thumb and forefinger together.
“When Coach D sent that [text message] to me, that’s what he pictured, him running over other kids.”
The logic was simple to Ditlefensen.
“I figured it would be better to get him 20 touches in a game as a running back rather than two to four touches as a receiver,” he said.
And that’s what fans have seen if they’ve watched the Wolves this fall. Wiker has piled up a team-leading total of 993 rushing yards and 10 touchdowns on 168 carries (5.9 yards/per carry) and contributed with 26 catches for 335 yards and 5 TDs out of the backfield in the passing game for a balanced and potent Sequim offense.
“Freshman year I think they kind of wanted to put me there [at running back], but we all realized I was an underclassmen and not quite ready for that. But this year I prepared for it this offseason, I think I knew it was coming, but knowing for sure that first practice that I was getting running back reps and starting that first game knowing I was going to play running back was really exciting for me. Especially because my older brother [Jack] was a running back too and I’ve always wanted to do what he does.”
Coach Wiker credits his son’s mindset for the rise in in-game production from the running back spot.
“He just runs hard and it’s more mentality than anything,” Erik Wiker said of his son.
Taig Wiker explained how he approaches carrying the ball.
“I like to run people over more than I like making moves,” he said. “When I need to I can [make a move], but I like running people over and getting the hard yards.”
And coach Wiker said the team added a little more depth in the playbook to take advantage of Taig’s skill set.
“We added more plays for the running backs to catch the ball,” Erik Wiker said. “He’s got a few receptions a game, he takes those screen [passes] on vital plays. Those are things we have incorporated. We’ve made our passing game a little bit more dynamic by throwing to the backs a little bit more. And it works when you have a running back who can catch the ball. His receptions out of the backfield have been huge.”
Wiker’s emergence offensively has helped to take the pressure off senior quarterback Riley Cowan — the team’s four-year starter and school record-holder in passing yardage and touchdown passes.
“He’s done great knowing when to stay in block and when to go out for a pass,” Cowan said. “Him being involved in the passing game is great, he has really good hands and runs great routes. Having one extra guy out there, it opens up the other guys more, all the chess pieces.”
Sequim is averaging 370 yards of offense per game, evenly split at 198.6 yards passing and 171.3 rushing per game.
“Adding more to our running game has really solidified our balanced approach,” Cowan said. “Teams can’t tell if we are running or passing. The linemen have really stepped up. I don’t know how many bad runs we’ve had this year, it seems like they’ve all been for positive yardage. It seems like we can get those two or three yards whenever we need to and definitely possibly more.”
And in his role as dad, coach Wiker is just as pleased with the efforts he sees from Taig in the classroom.
“He’s got all A’s, two B’s and he listens to me,” coach Wiker said. “Like an elephant, right? Train them young.”
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Sports reporter Michael Carman can be contacted at 360-417-3525 or mcarman@peninsuladailynews.com.
