QUILCENE — With small- school football in flux all over the state due to COVID-19 restrictions, just getting an official game together is an accomplishment for area coaches.
The Quilcene Rangers agreed to drop down to 6-man football to play Crescent on Saturday. The Loggers normally play 8-man but are going to be a 6-man team for likely most of this year because of a lack of 8-man opponents (Neah Bay has not returned yet to football).
The Rangers won the game 33-12.
“It was really good to play again. I was really thankful Crescent agreed to play us,” said Quilcene coach Trey Beathard. “The kids and me, everyone was super-excited to play.”
“I’m just taking what we can get,” said Crescent coach Brian Shimko. “It was really good to have kids back on the field again.”
Bishop Budnek led the Rangers with 102 yards rushing on six carries. He scored two touchdowns on rushes of 25 and 60 yards. Isaiah Reimann had a touchdown catch and Chase Newman had a 12-yard TD run. Cash Thacker also had a 23-yard interception return for a touchdown.
For the Loggers, Weston Hart had 179 yards on 12-for-19 passing. Brenton Dalton had seven catches for 93 yards with two TD receptions. Wyatt Lee had 40 yards rushing on 12 carries and 57 yards receiving on four catches.
Quilcene will return to 8-man football with a game Saturday against Evergreen Lutheran, which is 2-0. Crescent will play Mary M. Knight.
Onalaska 24, Forks 16, OT
Forks quarterback Carter Windle passes against Onalaska on Saturday in Onalaska. (Eric Trent/The Chronicle)
ONALASKA — The Forks Spartans went up against defending 2B state champion Onalaska and gave them everything they could handle, taking the Loggers all the way to overtime before falling 24-16.
“It was exhilarating and fantastic to be able to compete again,” said coach Trevor Highfield.
How good might the Spartans be this year? Onalaska knocked off No. 1 Napavine 38-0 last week in its opener.
“The guys played extremely tough and extremely hard. I’m excited about where we are as a program,” Highfield said. “Our first game in 2B. What a way to start.”
He said he didn’t want to blame COVID-19 but said the difference in the game may have been that Onalaska was playing its second game while Forks was playing its opener because the area was still stuck in Phase 1 a couple of weeks ago.
Forks forced six turnovers. The Spartans took a 9-0 lead on a Hayden Baker pass to Colton Duncan and an 11-yard field goal by Luis Perez. Baker also had a 14-yard touchdown run to make the score 16-8. He ended up rushing for 85 yards on 21 carries.
Onalaska was able to come back to tie the game. The Loggers scored a touchdown and 2-point conversion to take a lead in overtime. Forks was able to move the ball when the Spartans got the ball, but Onalaska picked off a Forks pass to seal the win.
Spartans quarterback Carter Windle had 207 yards on 16-of-44 passing. Highfield said Tony Hernandez-Flores “had some huge plays” on third and fourth down as a wide receiver and had an interception. Hayden Queen had six catches for 110 yards. Highfield also said Trey Baysinger and Derrick Beebe played well on the offensive line.
The Spartans next play Pe Ell/Willapa Saturday at Montesano.
North Mason 52, East Jefferson 6
East Jefferson’s Logan Massie is tackled by a North Mason defender in Saturday’s game in Belfair. (Lisa Jensen photo)
BELFAIR — The combined squad of Chimacum and Port Townsend players needed a little more preparation time before their first contest together, but just being together and playing the game was a win.
“It was good to be out playing football again. The kids were excited,” coach Patrick Gaffney said.
“We had some penalties. They weren’t because we were out of control, but we had some penalties that hurt us at important times.”
Jojo Pennington scored on a 35-yard scoop-and-score fumble recovery to account for East Jefferson’s points.
“It ended on a good note, Jojo Pennington made a heck of a play,” Gaffney said.
Bjorn Daanan-Devas and Lonnie Kenney each had an interception.
“Lonnie Kenney played really well at safety,” Gaffney said.
Lineman Chris Fair also did well for the team.
“Chris Fair played every down on both sides of the ball, worked his tail off and they still struggled with him.”
Gaffney said there’s plenty of work to do.
“We need to do a better job of coaching and we need more time practicing against live bodies,” he said. “We haven’t worked on tackling enough, so we will work on that and some other things and coach them up.”
East Jefferson plays at Port Angeles at 3 p.m. Saturday at the Stevens Middle School field. The Roughriders had a controlled scrimmage against the South Kitsap junior varsity Saturday, but it was not an official game.
