POULSBO — Turnovers and penalties sank the Wolves as Sequim lost 16-8 to the North Kitsap Vikings in Poulsbo on Friday night in their first Olympic League game of the season.
The Vikings got a measure of revenge for the Wolves’ 16-14 win last year in Sequim that cost North Kitsap the Olympic League 2A Division championship.
North Kitsap scored on their second drive of the game on a 1-yard Josh Fisher run after an earlier drive was held by the Wolves, who blocked the resulting field goal attempt.
The second and third quarters were marred by a series of miscues from Sequim, with several fumbled snaps turning into turnovers deep in Wolves territory. The Vikings turned two of those mistakes into field goals in the second quarter before Sequim finally got on the board, capitalizing on a muffed punt to take over deep in Vikings’ territory, where quarterback Taig Wiker found Hayden Eaton for a 20-yard touchdown pass.
The point after failed after another poor snap kept Garrett Hoesel from even trying the kick.
The third quarter saw another Wolves’ fumble deep in their own territory turn into a Vikings field goal, though Sequim finally started to get some momentum going their way. Their defense held strong against the Vikings’ best attempts, and Wiker and Walker Ward got the running game rolling while Hosel and Isaiah Moore made several key receptions to keep drives moving.
The Wolves struggled in the red zone, though, twice turning the ball over on downs deep in Vikings territory. One of those turned into a safety, though, after multiple Sequim linebackers sniffed out a run from the two yard line and combined to haul down Vikings running back Taylor Jackson in the end zone.
Despite having to deal with all the turnovers and an incredibly hostile crowd, Sequim had an opportunity to tie the game in the last minute of the game. They had marched down to the five yard line, and even had their drive extended by a pass interference call in the end zone, but couldn’t punch the ball in and turned the ball over on downs with less than 30 seconds left in the game.
“We had to deal with a lot of adversity tonight,” Wolves head coach Erik Wiker said after the game. “But despite what we had to deal with, the self-inflicted wounds are what hurt. I’m still proud of how they responded though. They played hard, they played with emotion, and they should be proud of how they played.
“If we can cut out the mistakes and be a little more consistent, we’re still a good enough team to be in the hunt for the league championship.”
Looking ahead
The Wolves (2-1, 0-1) play the third of three consecutive road games at North Mason (2-1, 0-1) on Friday.
Last year Sequim shut out the Bulldogs 20-0 in Sequim. North Mason lost to Olympic on Friday, falling 46-6 on the road to the first-place team in the league.
North Kitsap 16, Sequim 8
Sequim 0 6 2 0 — 8
NK 7 6 3 0 — 16
First Quarter
NK — Fisher 1 run (DeLuna kick)
Second quarter
NK — DeLuna 25 field goal
NK — DeLuna 30 field goal
Sequim — Pinnell 20 pass from Taig Wiker (PAT failed)
Third quarter
North Kitsap — DeLuna 40 field goal
Sequim — safety
Individual stats
Passing — NK: Bower 9-19-101. Sequim: Wiker 14-32-120, TD, 2 INT.
Rushing — NK: Bower 15-45, Fisher 8-14, TD; Wanzek 4-10. Sequim: Ward 13-65, Wiker 13-36, Hoesel 3-11.
Receiving — NK: Burchill 4-62, Fitsemons 2-25, Fisher 1-10, Castillo 2-4. Sequim: Hoesel 5-56, Moore 3-11, Eaton 2-32, Nestor 2-14, Ward 2-7.
Sequim running back Walker Ward tries to escape the grasp of North Kitsap’s Nathan Simms
