FORKS — The pregame fireworks exploding behind the south end zone at Spartan Stadium foreshadowed the offensive outburst to follow.
Forks’ new hurry-up spread offense amassed 555 yards of total offense on 68 plays, and despite a dogged second-half rally by Chimacum, the Spartans (1-1) held on to win 33-28 Friday.
“Our guys are responding,” first-year Spartans head coach Craig Shetterly said.
“Our kids are so . . . they want it so bad it makes it easy to coach kids like that.”
Forks sophomore Cole Baysinger was in command in his first home start at quarterback, completing 20 of 31 passes for 355 yards and four touchdowns and throwing one interception.
“We try to keep the concepts pretty simple for him,” Shetterly said.
“The offense wasn’t invented by me, lots of guys have had success with it and I’ve learned a lot at the stops I’ve made.”
Baysinger is a fan.
“I love it,” he said.
“I love playing in it. It’s awesome. It’s not boring at all, but it’s pretty simple once you get the gist of it.”
Baysinger joked that even the wideouts are catching on.
“It’s pretty basic for the receivers, too,” he said. “Some of them are pretty airheaded, but they get the job done.”
Baysinger deflected credit for the big offensive output.
“It came down to my lineman holding their blocks for me, and the receivers were catching the balls. And the ones that weren’t catching were blocking great for us,” Baysinger said.
Baysinger found his favorite target, junior Austin Whiting, for the first of four first-half touchdown connections on an 18-yard route up the middle.
Chimacum answered quickly. Quinn Dowling rolled to his left and fired a 45-yard touchdown strike to James Porter to make it 8-6 Forks after the first quarter.
Second-quarter show
Baysinger heated up in the second quarter, completing 8 of 9 passes and firing touchdown receptions to Whiting of 9, 47 and 50 yards.
Whiting finished with eight grabs for 171 yards.
Dowling had his best stretch of the game before halftime as well, completing passes of 17 and 24 yards and throwing a 28-yard touchdown to Matthew Torres as the Cowboys trailed 27-12 at the break.
“I kind of tried to put it on Quinn’s shoulders because I thought we could beat them in the air,” Cowboys coach Mike Dowling said.
Dowling ended up completing 11 of 26 passes for 222 yards with two touchdowns and two interceptions.
Forks scored on its first touch of the ball in the second half.
Garrison Schumack gathered a Chimacum punt and reversed field, ranging from the right sideline to the left hash and getting a big boost from a crushing block by junior lineman Jack Dahlgren on his way to a 70-yard TD return.
“We were having some trouble fielding punts in practice, and [assistant coach] Jason Richards said, ‘We have to put Garrison back there,’” Shetterly said.
“And the first chance he gets, he makes it pay with that cutback across the field.
“And Jack just leveled that kid. He’s a football player. If you don’t make sure to find him out there you’re going to have a tough time trying to win.”
But the Cowboys wouldn’t go down without a fight.
Chris Bainbridge returned the ensuing kickoff 75 yards for a score to trim Forks’ lead to 33-20.
The Spartans lost lineman Billy Palmer for the second half with an injury, and that loss played a key role in slowing down Forks’ offense.
“Billy Palmer went to the ER, so we were all concerned and it hit us pretty hard going forward,” Baysinger said.
Shetterly agreed.
“After Billy got hurt, guys had to snap out of that and it was tough,” he said.
Keishaun Ramsey jumped a slant route for an interception inside the Chimacum 30-yard line, but Forks’ offense stalled, giving the Cowboys another chance.
Chimacum drove down to the goal line, but fullback Trevon Noel was stopped inches short on an off-tackle plunge on fourth down.
The Cowboys held on defense, and a bad punt snap by the Spartans forced a turnover on downs at the Forks 4-yard line.
Noel wasn’t denied on his next rush, scoring easily, and after a Dowling two-point conversion, Chimacum trailed 33-28 with 6:35 to play.
Baysinger then made his biggest mistake of the game, an off-his-back-foot pass to the middle of the field that Bainbridge intercepted for the Cowboys with 5:05 to go.
Chimacum drove down and appeared to pick up a first down inside the Spartans’ 20, but the play was called back for holding.
It was the third penalty of the Cowboys’ final drive, and it backed them up near midfield.
Three incomplete passes later, Forks had the ball back and was able to pick up a first down to run out the clock.
“When you lose a guy like Billy in the second half, there’s a little bit of adjustment, kind of shock, and you have to get a response,” Shetterly said.
“As we responded to that, we caught some grease, but like I said, we are a young team and there were penalties and mistakes and things we’ve got to clean up, but I feel like it’s all fixable.
“We are playing with a lot of youth, there’s not a senior announced on our starting lineup, and that bodes well for our future but there are going to be growing pains. You have to learn how to win.”
Despite the close loss, the program’s 14th straight defeat, Dowling found plenty to be encouraged about.
The 28 points were the most his team has scored in his 12 games in charge.
“I feel better than I’ve ever felt as coach,” Dowling said.
“The guys played all night, they never gave up and we had shots to win it late.
“If they are going to give me that effort and we do our job as coaches, we’re going to get something out of it. And we’re going to keep going to work.
“I wish they’d got something out of it other than a close game tonight, but hopefully it makes us stronger.”
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Sports reporter Michael Carman can be contacted at 360-452-2345, ext. 5250 or at mcarman@peninsuladailynews.com.
