SEQUIM — Miguel Moroles ran and passed Sequim to its first football win since 2012.
But for Moroles, the wait for victory has been even longer.
The senior quarterback ran for two long touchdowns and passed for another as the Wolves beat Chimacum 47-21 in the season opener Friday night.
“The last time I won as a starting quarterback was freshman year,” Moroles said.
“It’s definitely nice to see the work you put in in the offseason pay off.”
Moroles ran for 172 yards and passed for 131, completing 7 of 10 passes, in just over one half of play.
His touchdown runs were for 61 and 38 yards and his scoring strike to Gavin Velarde went for 60 yards.
And those were just a sampling of Sequim’s big-play offense.
Ty Jones ran for a touchdown from 37 yards out, Moroles had another run go for 25 yards and four completions of 15 yards or more and backup quarterback Dylan Lott, who took over early in the third quarter, had a 21-yard run up the middle.
“We just went out there and took what the defense gave us,” Moroles said.
Those big plays are how the Wolves answered the question that has nagged them for the past two seasons in which they won a combined two games.
“There’s a lot of monkeys on your back when you’re two and [17 over the past two seasons],” Sequim coach Erik Wiker said.
“Lots of everybody going, ‘Are you going to win one this year?’ Stuff like that that you hear. And I hate to hear it and I stick up for the kids, but it’s just, you know, they’re out there and they hear it all the time.
“And there’s a big monkey on your back, and playing, you know, not to lose and nervous.”
It was the Wolves’ first win since defeating Port Angeles ion Oct. 19, 2012, ending an 11-game losing streak.
“Last year we didn’t really have a successful season, as everyone knows, so I think it’s good to get our confidence up before going into the [Olympic League] season, just to know that we can win and we should win,” Moroles said of opening the season with a win.
The first few minutes of the season looked a little bit too familiar for the Wolves.
They fumbled the opening kickoff and Chimacum’s Elijah Avery recovered it at the Sequim 35.
The Cowboys then marched mostly unhindered to the end zone for a 6-0 lead.
The seven-play scoring drive was highlighted by a 24-yard pass from Quinn Dowling to Travis Pennington and capped off by a 3-yard run by Drew Yackulic out of the wildcat formation.
Chimacum’s lead was gone less than a minute later when Moroles scrambled 61 yards for a touchdown that put Sequim ahead 7-6.
“We played a little bit different than we have in the past,” Wiker said, pointing out that Sequim used formations that included tight ends and wings.
“He’s a very solid, very good quarterback, but his running . . . he’s one of the faster guys on the field, he’s one of the more athletic guys on the field,” Wiker said of Moroles.
“He’s a very good runner with the ball.”
Jones then scored on a 37-yard run to make it 14-6 after one quarter.
Jones finished with 65 yards rushing on seven carries.
Moroles’ 38-yard touchdown in the second was followed by Jones’ second touchdown run, a 5-yarder.
Velarde’s touchdown catch gave Sequim a 33-6 lead going into halftime.
Velarde added a 13-yard touchdown run in the third quarter.
He also made 5 of 7 PAT attempts after taking over kicking duties Thursday because the Wolves’ top two kickers missed the game.
“It was like, ‘OK, who can even kick this thing?’” Wiker said. “And he did it at practice and made every one, so we’re like, ‘OK, you’re the kicker.’”
Freshman Hayden Gresli closed out Sequim’s scoring with a 1-yard run late in the third quarter that extended the lead to 47-6 and put the merciful running clock into effect.
“That team’s good. I mean, they have a lot of speed over there. I don’t know if there’s anybody on our team that’s as fast as anyone of their starters,” first-year Chimacum coach Mike Dowling said.
“That’s a really, really good team, well-coached, so we take our hats of to them. They beat us.”
The Cowboys scored twice late in the fourth quarter to cut the gap.
Victor Hitt ran in from 2 yards out and defensive lineman Lane Dotson stepped in front of a pass by Sequim freshman quarterback Payton Glasser near midfield and outran everybody to the end zone with under a minute to play.
Dowling appreciated that his team kept competing until the end.
“They didn’t give up. They kept playing, kept fighting. There’s a lot of heart in that locker room,” Mike Dowling said.
“We’re going to get better. I like the fact that they kept together.”
Yackulic was the Cowboys’ workhorse, running 21 times for 43 yards, including runs of 16 and 20 yards.
Quinn Dowling completed 8 of 17 passes for 82 yards.
“They have some athletes, they throw, they’ve got big receivers, they’ve got a big running back but they’ve also have quickness, like No. 1 [Yackulic], he’s a good running back,” Wiker said of Chimacum.
The Cowboys will host Forks, which lost 52-0 to Mount Douglas of Victoria, B.C., at Memorial Field in Port Townsend next Friday.
“We’ve got a lot of work to do. A lot of work,” Mike Dowling said. “For us, again, we’re trying to get this whole thing going.
“We have to do a better job as a coaching staff. The guys gave effort; if we didn’t get it done, we didn’t have them in the right spot.”
Sequim travels to face Coupeville next Friday in a battle of Wolves.
Coupeville opened its season by beating South Whidbey 35-28.
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Sports Editor Lee Horton can be reached at 360-417-3525 or at lhorton@peninsuladailynews.com.
