PORT ANGELES — Nathan Angevine is making the most of his move from quarterback to running back, and the move is certainly paying off for the Port Angeles football team.
After a couple down years, the Roughriders head into Friday’s homecoming game against Olympic in the thick of the Olympic League playoff race.
In last week’s 38-34 win over Bremerton, the Roughriders were in trouble late.
They trailed 27-24 and faced a crucial third-and-14 at the Knights’ 34-yard line with 3:29 left in the game.
Port Angeles called a timeout to set up pass play that had quarterback Ryan Rodocker lining up in the shotgun.
“We’d had some snap problems, and a little bit of iffyness going into the play,” Angevine, a senior running back, said this week, “and so I told Ryan, I’m going to line up behind you and then if it goes over your head I’m going to catch it and throw it, so block for me.
“He kind of threw a little block down on [Bremerton defensive lineman] Taylor Saylor, he chipped him a little bit, and that’s all I needed.”
The snap did go over Rodocker’s head. Rodocker tipped the ball, and Angevine caught it, dropped back and launched the ball to the end zone where it was hauled in by Kellen Landry for a touchdown.
“I thought we fumbled because I heard the other team’s crowd, it got loud, but I saw Nate had the ball and was ready to throw it, so I just kept running,” Landry said.
“It was cool to see it on the film. I didn’t know exactly what happened until I saw the film — I didn’t know if it was snapped straight to him or what happened.”
It all occurred so quickly that hardly any of the Port Angeles players realized exactly what transpired.
“No one saw anything,” Angevine said. “And then, I guess when we came over to the sideline, no one knew I threw it, either.”
The play was so fast and fluid that it almost looked planned. Or, at least, that the Riders were taught contingency plans in practice.
Nope.
“That was just heads-up thinking on his part,” Port Angeles coach Tom Wahl said of Angevine.
“It was good anticipation on his part, and he knew exactly what the play was, and being that he’s a quarterback, he just heaved it . . . down the field, knowing approximately where it was supposed to go. Kellen just happened to be there and make a great catch.”
From snap to catch, the Riders didn’t miss a beat.
Angevine caught the tipped ball and immediately dropped back. Rodocker (5-foot-8, 160 pounds) missed the snap, then immediately put himself in front of the 6-foot-3, 250-pound Saylor.
Landry and the other receivers ran their routes, extending them a bit longer than they were meant to be. Then Landry made the catch, despite having a defender hanging all over him (pass interference was called).
It will undoubtedly go down as one of the North Olympic Peninsula’s best plays of the football season.
And it all started because Angevine saw a potential kink in the play and then came up with and executed a plan to fix it.
“He is a very intelligent player. That’s definitely one of his fortes, his advantage — he’s smart,” Wahl said.
“When he’s back there in the secondary, he’s doing that with the defense, too.”
Angevine was Port Angeles’ starting quarterback last season, until missing the last three weeks with a freak injury — he hurt his knee while essentially walking during a weight lifting class — and for the first game of this season.
But when running back Isiah Last was lost for the season in the season opener, the Riders needed someone with size and experience to take his place in the backfield.
Angevine (5-10, 188 pounds) had both, having played running back as a sophomore. And Rodocker had three games of varsity starting experience at quarterback after taking over when Angevine when down last year.
“I told coach at the beginning of the year that wherever I needed to play, then I’ll play it,” Angevine said.
“As long as I’m on the field; like last year, knee surgery, I couldn’t play, so wherever I am, I’m fine playing football.
“They knew I was willing to go anywhere, and I was the biggest body and able guy, so they threw me in and I took it.”
For Angevine, it’s not just the touchdowns, the hitting, the time on the field. He also likes — loves — the preparation and mental part of football.
“I love watching film. Offense and defense, whatever it is, I study everything,” he said.
“Football, in all the aspects — playing, on the sidelines — it’s the best sport. I live it as much as I can.”
He’s come up as big for Port Angeles on defense as he has on offense this season.
After quarterbacking the Roughriders to a go-ahead touchdown in the season opener against Port Townsend, Angevine ended the Redhawks’ potential game-winning drive when his savvy and anticipation led to an interception at the goal line with less than a minute left in the game to seal the 14-13 win.
In fact, Angevine prefers defense to offense.
“I like defense better,” Angevine said.
“I like offense, running the ball, but defense is so much more of a scheme for me as an outside linebacker/safety, and you’ve got to get your read and you can be more of a captain, directing everybody back there, so I like defense more.
“Then, if I play [college football] next year, that’s probably where I’m going to play, somewhere on defense, hopefully.”
But college football is more of a long-term goal for Angevine. There are still six weeks left in his senior season — at least six games.
After seeing the Roughriders compete for league titles and make the postseason when he was in eighth grade and his freshman year, Angevine’s own varsity career has consisted of Port Angeles going 0-9 his sophomore season and 2-7 last season.
This year, the Riders are turning things around with a 3-1 record (1-1 in Olympic League).
“Now, it’s like, we’re going to restart that Olympic League running for the title, getting to the playoffs. Because that’s where I want to be — I want to be in the playoffs more than anything,” Angevine said.
“We don’t need the [league] title. It would be amazing to get it, but if we could make the playoffs, that’s where we should and can be, and we can start to peak from there and get better.”
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Sports Editor Lee Horton can be reached at 360-417-3525 or at lhorton@peninsuladailynews.com.
