NEAH BAY — The Neah Bay football team got off to a fast start in the Red Devils’ season opener, beating the Port Angeles JV team 74-7 on Saturday.
The Red Devils scored 30 points in the first quarter. Quarterback Julian Carrick had a great game, rushing for two TDs, throwing two touchdown passes and returning a punt 70 yards for a touchdown.
In other eight-man games held Saturday, Quilcene lost 38-8 to powerhouse Naselle down in southern Washington and Crescent was beaten 68-0 by Charles Wright Academy.
Neah Bay’s opener was a tune-up for the Red Devils’ huge game Saturday against Naselle. That game will be played at 5 p.m. in Forks. Naselle made it to the 1B state semifinals last year.
“The things we talked about in practice showed up on the field,” said Neah Bay coach Kane Bachelor. “We appreciate Port Angeles JV coming out to Neah Bay to play. They were a little outmatched, but they played hard.”
Bachelor said Neah Bay tried playing kids in some new positions. “Kaeden Butterfield on the defensive line looked great,” he said.
Carrick had touchdown runs of 14 and 15 yards. He also threw 30-yard and 15-yard touchdown passes to Adan Ellis.
Makyah Chambers had a 47-yard touchdown run and Tyler Swan scored on a 25-yard run. Jodell Wimberley had a 32-yard run for a touchdown, while Mathias Greene also had a 1-yard run for a score. Charles Halttunen added a 25-yard touchdown run and Zakius Butterfield recovered a fumble.
Bachelor said the Red Devils are looking forward to the Naselle game. The Comets beat the Red Devils 48-42 in overtime last year, but Neah Bay returned almost all of its players from last year’s very young squad.
“That is a huge, huge game. We’ve been looking forward to that game since we scheduled it in the spring,” Bachelor said.
Naselle 38, Quilcene 8
NASELLE — Not much went right for the Quilcene Rangers in their season opener against Naselle.
First, their bus broke down Friday and the game had to be rescheduled to Saturday. After the game was rescheduled, several players had prior commitments and couldn’t make the game, so the Rangers only suited up 12 players, including five sophomores to play a powerful Comets team.
Despite all that, Quilcene hung tough with Naselle in the first half, going into halftime down just 6-0. But the Comets erupted for 24 points in the third quarter to pull away for a 38-8 victory.
Coach Trey Beathard wasn’t making excuses, however. He said the Rangers were hurt by turnovers and penalties.
“We played pretty poorly. We had six fumbles and more than 150 yards in penalties,” Beathard said. “When you do that, you’re not going to give yourself much of a chance. “I’m hopeful we’ll be quite a bit better next week.”
Beathard said before the season began that he thought the young Rangers might start the season slowly. He said Quilcene could lose its first two games and end up one of the top five or six teams in the state.
Jayden Love, playing quarterback, running back and receiver, scored the Rangers’ touchdown on a 12-yard run. He also completed an 18-yard pass to Dominick Smith. Love also had eight tackles on defense and an interception with a 23-yard return.
Senior Deakon Budneck “was all over the field,” on defense, Beathard said. He had 15 tackles and a quarterback sack. Smith also rushed six times for 39 yards and made eight tackles, including one tackle for a loss. He also blocked a pass. Newcomer Mason Iverson rushed eight times for 68 yards.
Quilcene (0-1) will next host Mossyrock (1-0) at 1 p.m. Saturday. Mossyrock beat Concrete 60-6 on Saturday and Beathard expects this to be a tough game.
Charles Wright 68, Crescent 0
JOYCE — Crescent was missing a number of players and showed its youth in a season-opening 68-0 loss to Charles Wright on Saturday.
“I said there would be some growing pains,” said coach Brian Shimko. “I told them before the game, ‘this is going to hurt. It will take time, but it will be worth it.’ ”
Shimko also said the entire Crescent roster wasn’t available. “I think it might have been a different game … we had 10 kids not suited up,” he said.
Shimko said Charles Wright, based in Tacoma, was much bigger than Crescent. “Their running backs went 230 to 240 pounds,” he said.
Quarterback Henry Bourm was 4-for-11 passing for 66 yards. Lucas Love had three of those receptions for 66 yards.
Dominiq Sprague gained 12 yards on six carries while Terrell Emery had 10 yards on 11 carries.
The Loggers (0-1) next play Taholah on Saturday. That game was set to be a road game, but may be moved to Crescent High School, Shimko said. If so, it will likely be played at 1 p.m.
Friday night games
On Friday night, Forks beat Sequim 32-14, Port Angeles beat Blaine 33-19 and Kingston beat East Jefferson 50-23. For more details on these games, go to www.peninsuladailynews.com.
