PORT ANGELES — Momentum is a fickle, front-running friend. It boosts the good times but smothers when things start going wrong.
Port Angeles experienced that harsh reality in its 23-7 homecoming loss to Bremerton at Civic Field on Friday.
On the opening drive of the third quarter, Bremerton’s Dylan Reed kicked a 43-yard field goal to break a 7-7 halftime tie.
The Roughriders responded by marching 64½ yards in 10 plays to inside the Bremerton 1-yard line, a foot or two away from taking the lead.
But following a false start and a short run by Kellen Landry, quarterback Ryan Rodocker’s pitch was too high for Cyler McBride, and Bremerton recovered the resulting fumble.
“I think that’s where it kind of changed and they got a lot of fire under their butts,” Rodocker said.
“We were moving the ball soundly, and I think we just kind of lost confidence and they gained a lot of confidence.”
To its credit, momentum did stay loyal to the Riders for a few more plays.
The defense stuffed the Knights on three straight plays to force a punt, but Port Angeles’ ensuing drive ended with a turnover on downs at the Knights’ 28 on the final play of the third quarter.
Momentum switched allegiances in the fourth.
Bremerton quarterback Savante Perrigo hadn’t completed a pass in the first three quarters, but he connected on four on the next drive, including a 27-yard touchdown to Michael Barber that made it 17-7 with 9:18 left in the game.
Reed kicked another field goal, a 30-yarder to make it 20-7 for the Knights.
Rodocker then threw an interception to Bremerton’s Tony Watson.
The Knights drove inside the 20, but were pushed back by a blocking penalty. On third-and-24, Landry appeared to strip the ball before the runner was down, but the officials disagreed.
Instead of a turnover, Reed kicked a 47-yard field goal that gave Bremerton a three-score lead, 23-7.
“That’s quite the tool that they have there,” Port Angeles coach Bret Curtis said of Reed.
Had Reed not kicked those three field goals, and Port Angeles was able to force turnovers on downs — which is completely conceivable since Bremerton struggled to move the ball most of the game — the Riders would have remained within a touchdown and wouldn’t have been forced to throw so many passes in the fourth quarter.
“He’s a soccer kid, and he came out this year, he’s only a junior, and we figured out that if we get across the 50, it’s just as good as a punt, and heck, we might get three points out of it,” Bremerton coach Nate Gillam said of Reed.
Port Angeles did find a new playmaker in Friday’s loss.
On fourth-and-3 late in the first half, freshman Rudy Valdez took a reverse from Landry and ran 23 yards for the first touchdown of his high school career.
Landry carried 18 times in the first half — he finished with 29 carries for 99 yards — which is probably why Bremerton bit so hard on the play, and Valdez was hardly touched until an uncalled late hit at the back of the end zone.
In the fourth quarter, after the Knights took a 23-7 lead, Valdez returned the kickoff from the Port Angeles 2 to the Bremerton 42.
Port Angeles (0-2, 1-3) next faces undefeated and 10th-ranked Olympic (1-0, 4-0) at Silverdale Stadium this Friday.
The Trojans have allowed only six points this season and are coming off a 21-6 road win over W.F. West.
“One of the things I told them specifically is we can’t let this loss define our season,” Curtis said.
“It’s a tough loss, and we honestly thought we made better strides than we ended up showing, but that’s one of those things.”
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Sports Editor Lee Horton can be reached at 360-417-3525 or at lhorton@peninsuladailynews.com.
