NEAH BAY — The Crescent Loggers football team won its first game of the season on a last minute 51-yard kickoff return by Mikah Love, edging the Neah Bay junior varsity 26-19.
It was Crescent’s first game as a 6-man team. The Loggers dropped down to 6-man because they graduated six seniors last year and only had a handful of players available at their first practices.
After Love’s touchdown, there were only 3 seconds remaining. Crescent was able to keep Neah Bay from scoring on the final kickoff to end the game.
Love had a big overall game, passing for a touchdown, scoring in the fourth quarter on a 43-yard pass and intercepting a pass on defense.
In fact, Crescent had six interceptions. Loke Ellis and Mason Harris each had two, while Eli Tipler also had an interception. Neah Bay had three interceptions.
“We couldn’t do anything after those INTs,” said Crescent coach Brian Shimko.
Shimko was grateful that Neah Bay agreed to play its JV in a 6-man game and the two schools may play again this year.
“They also put on a good deal for us,” he said.
Love finished the game 6-for-12 with 88 yards passing and a TD. One of those touchdowns was to an eighth-grader, Wyatt Bauers, from 21 yards out. Bauers finished the game with two catches for 60 yards.
“He’s the spitting image [of older brother Conner Bauers, who played for the Loggers for years],” Shimko said. “Good things are going to come from him. He’s not afraid.”
Love also ran for 57 yards while Liam Sprague ran 11 times for 56 yards.
Loggers move to 6-man
The Loggers decided to drop down to 6-man football this season because they graduated six seniors from last year’s team, including co-captains Dom Sprague and Henry Bourm, and had just nine kids show up to the team’s first practice in late August.
Since school has returned to session, Crescent has had a total of 16 kids sign up for the team. The Loggers currently have 15 healthy but will stick with 6-man for at least this season.
“When we still had just 11 kids, we made the decision to move to six-man,” Shimko said.
The good news for Crescent is that there are a number of other 6-man teams in the area so dropping down doesn’t mean a lot of long road trips. The Loggers will play a pair of games against nearby Clallam Bay, which has been playing 6-man for a few years now, then will have a home-and-away pair of games against Lake Quinault in Amanda Park. They will also travel to Wishkah Valley.
There won’t be the brutal road trips and ferry rides to Darrington, Lummi or Concrete this season, but the Loggers will make one long road trip to the east side of the Cascades to play Easton this weekend.
This year’s team has five seniors, though one has never played, three juniors, one sophomore, four freshmen and three eighth-graders.
“We’re young and small. We don’t really have a front line,” Shimko said.
This move could be temporary as Crescent did have a couple of championship flag football teams at the middle school level this summer.
“When that group comes up, we’ll have lots of players again,” Shimko said.
The rest of Crescent’s (1-0) schedule includes: At Easton, 1 p.m. Saturday; at Clallam Bay, 7 p.m. Sept. 19; Lake Quinault, 1 p.m. Sept. 27; at Wishkah Valley, 1 p.m. Oct. 11; at Lake Quinault, 1 p.m. Oct. 18; Clallam Bay, 1 p.m. Oct. 25; Mary M. Knight, 1 p.m., Nov. 1.
The Neah Bay varsity (1-0) plays a monster game against 1B power Liberty Christian at 5 p.m. Friday at Everett Memorial Stadium.
