PORT TOWNSEND — Port Townsend played musical chairs offensively due to injuries, but the result was the same: another Olympic League 1A blowout, this time 63-12 over rival Chimacum.
The Redhawks managed to put up big yardage despite fullback and leading rusher Wesley Wheeler being out for the season with a knee injury and running back Ezra Easley nursing an injured shoulder.
David Sua moved from quarterback to fullback, the position at which he earned Olympic League 1A Offensive MVP honors last season, and junior Kyle Blankenship filled Easley’s shoes.
“Sua must have had 200 rushing yards,” Port Townsend coach Nick Snyder said. “He was sensational.
“And Kyle Blankenship was phenomenal. He must have had 100 yards rushing.”
Detrius Kelsall got things going for the Redhawks, picking off a James Porter pass and returning it for a TD.
“Blankenship then went 25 [yards] for a TD, but they did score on us,” Snyder said.
Port Townsend fumbled away a Chimacum punt and the Cowboys recovered and scored on a short field.
“We held them and they were kicking a field goal, but we roughed the kicker,” Snyder said.
“Then they threw a TD pass to the back of the end zone on third down.”
But the Redhawks were just too much for the Cowboys to contain.
“Our offensive linemen were just blowing open big holes,” Snyder said.
“We were up 49-12 at halftime.”
Snyder praised senior linebacker Keegan Khile.
“He was all over the place,” Snyder said. “He broke 100 tackles for the year and had a bunch of quarterback hurries.”
The Redhawks (6-0, 8-0) visit Charles Wright on Friday for a nonleague game.
The Tarriers upset Port Townsend 24-14 in the district playoffs last season, a week after the Redhawks blew them out 49-6.
“We are definitely ready to get after them and play them again,” Snyder said.
A similar situation may arise this season, as the loser of Saturday night’s game between Bellevue Christian and Charles Wright will travel to face Port Townsend in the district playoffs.
Either way, the Redhawks will face a team for the second time in the district playoff.
Port Townsend shut out Bellevue Christian 44-0 in September.
North Kitsap 48, Port Angeles 6
POULSBO — The Roughriders dropped their sixth straight game, while the Viking remained unbeaten in league play.
North Kitsap scored a touchdown on its first play from scrimmage, but Port Angeles coach Bret Curtis said the Riders hung with the Vikings rather than hang their heads.
“We’re really trying to work through those sort of things,” Port Angeles coach Bret Curtis said of Friday’s early deficit.
“A little adversity, and you can’t fold up when those kind of things happen, and we didn’t.”
“Competitively, it wasn’t bad. It didn’t start to shape up to be a runway early on.”
The score remained 7-0 until North Kitsap (5-0, 6-2), which will play at Olympic for the Olympic League 2A title this Friday, scored four second-quarter touchdowns.
“That’s kind of where we’re at with our program,” Curtis said.
“And they’re playing for the league title this week. We knew going in they were a tough team.
“We knew we were going to have to play a perfect game to be competitive going into the end.”
The Vikings racked up 426 total yards — 348 of those on the ground — and held the Riders to 113 total yards, including 17 yard rushing.
Port Angeles’ leading rusher Kellen Landry was held to minus-18 yards on seven carries.
“Defensively, they kept us pretty bottled up,” Curtis said.
“Kellen Landry’s done a great job for us, that’s all there is to it.
“Other teams did figure out that we’re going to get the ball to Kellen.”
Tyrus Beckett again started at quarterback for the Riders and led them in rushing with 28 yards while completing 4 of 6 passes for 47 yards with one interception.
Curtis was proud of his team for “fighting right to the end,” and singled out a few seniors for the way they played Friday.
“Joe Danz made a very nice catch and played pretty well for us defensively,” Curtis said.
“Branden Currie, another one, just does everything we ask of him.
“Ryan Rodocker plays his heart out every game.
“Caleb [West], we’ve moved him from tight end to tackle back to tight end — he had a nice catch.”
Those seniors will finish their high school football careers this week at home against Kingston.
The game is currently scheduled for Friday but likely will be moved to Thursday as a courtesy to the Buccaneers, who suddenly find themselves in postseason position after Olympic League 2A picked up a fourth district playoff spot when the KingCo League dropped their second bid.
If Kingston and Bremerton, which hosts Sequim on Thursday, have the same result in their games this week, they would play a tiebreaker game early next week.
Curtis said Saturday that Port Angeles’ game against Kingston had not yet officially been moved up a day.
North Kitsap 48, Port Angeles 6
Port Angeles 0 0 0 6— 6
North Kitsap 7 28 6 7— 48
First Quarter
NK—Crowell 55 pass from Andrews (Warren kick)
Second Quarter
NK—Crowell 80 run (Warren kick)
NK—Henden 23 run (Warren kick)
NK—Clark 47 run (Warren kick)
NK—Henden 15 run (Chapman kick)
Third Quarter
NK—Kjormoe 22 run (kick missed)
Fourth Quarter
NK—Andrews 1 run (Chapman kick)
PA—Beckett 3 run (kick blocked)
Individual Stats
Rushing—PA: Beckett 13-29, Bohman 7-22, Currie 4-7, Rodocker 2-(-8), Landry 7-(-18). NK: Crowell 6-116, Solis 10-64, Henden 6-63, Clark 1-47, Kjormoe 2-27, Ingram 3-15, Andrews 4-9, Golden 1-7.
Passing—PA: Beckett 4-6-1, 47; Rodocker 2-10-2, 49. NK: Andrews 4-7-0, 78.
Receiving—PA: Danz 3-39, West 2-28, Valdez 1-29. NK: Crowell 1-55, Milyard 1-12, Wlodarchak 1-10, Clark 1-1.
Aberdeen 21, Forks 7
ABERDEEN — Penalties and turnovers doomed the Spartans in a loss to the previously winless Bobcats.
Forks threw four interceptions in the game and had two touchdowns taken off the scoreboard due to penalties.
The Spartans snapped Aberdeen’s shutout bid when Garrison Schumack scored on a 4-yard run in the second half.
Forks (0-6, 1-7) wraps its season against Eatonville at Montesano on Thursday.
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Compiled from coaches’ reports.
