THE CLOCK OPERATOR had it right.
After the Sequim Wolves kicked off with a commanding 45-0 lead over the Forks Spartans in the third quarter, the clocking kept ticking, and ticking, and ticking . . . even after the play was whistled dead.
As well it should.
The WIAA Representative Assembly extended the 45-point mercy rule — which goes into effect once a teams takes a lead of 45 points or more in the second half — last spring to include all schools outside of eight man football.
There’s just one difference.
Rather than ending things right then and there as the eight-man games do, 11-man football contests move to a running clock. The only time it stops is for an official’s timeout, a charged team timeout, a quarter change or a score.
“I think it’s good,” said Forks coach Ron Hurn, whose team had the most to lose from a running clock on Friday. “I don’t have a problem with that.
“I could be on one end of it or the other end of it, and it doesn’t bother me. Our kids didn’t even know it was running. We’re just out there to play football and get better. And if we were ahead, same thing.”
Sequim head coach Erik Wiker’s team was ahead.
Yet he didn’t notice the clock running as he scrambled to get substitutes into the end of the 51-0 victory.
“I did wonder ‘Where in the heck did the time go?'” he said. “But I didn’t even realize that because I was turned around trying to makes sure everybody came in.”
“I think that’s great. We want to execute our stuff, but I’m not a big [fan of], ‘Hey let’s score 70-0 and rub it in anybody’s face.’
“If there’s a 45-point differential it should get over pretty quick.”
As a sportswriter who values his Friday nights, I couldn’t agree more.
Gallagher ranked high
Sequim’s Thomas Gallagher is easily the best, if not the only, major college football prospect on the North Olympic Peninsula.
According to washingtonpreps.com, he’s also one of the best in the state.
Gallagher was ranked 17th among senior prospects in the state by the high school recruiting Web site. That puts the 6-foot-5, 310-pound left tackle only three spots behind North Mason’s John Fullington, who has committed to Washington State.
Gallagher has an offer on the table from Princeton, which gives one an idea of his academic chops. Idaho and Oregon have also expressed interest.
Volleyball
Football always kicks off the fall sports season.
Readers can expect coverage of other fall sports — volleyball, girls soccer and cross country — in the coming weeks inside the PDN sports section.
A volleyball preview will be on the way next week. Girls soccer is on tap after that. We’ll probably wait until the prestigious Salt Creek Invitational to dig into cross country.
It’s Colby, not Chase
A few folks may been a tad bit confused as to who the Port Angeles quarterback actually is this season.
The projected starting lineup and accompanying story named two separate members of the Adamich family as the Roughriders’ signal caller.
No, Chase Adamich did not receive an extra year of high school eligibility.
It’s actually his younger brother, junior Colby Adamich, who’s handling the duties under center for the Riders this season.
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Matt Schubert is the outdoors and sports columnist for the Peninsula Daily News. His column appears on Thursdays and Fridays. He can be reached at matt.schubert@peninsuladailynews.com.
