PORT ANGELES — The Roughriders’ defense made strides in a 6-0 homecoming loss to the North Mason Bulldogs.
“The defense played really well,” Port Angeles coach Bret Curtis said.
“We were real pleased to only give up six points.
“North Mason did move the ball a little bit, but our defense bent but didn’t break.”
Offensively, the Riders improved, but couldn’t find the end zone for the fourth straight game.
“We did have a couple of drives where we converted nicely,” Curtis said.
“We had 14 first downs. We passed for two and rushed for nine first downs [three by penalty]. We felt the offense turned a bit of a corner and we started to execute like we thought we could.
“We still haven’t put any points on the board which speaks volumes, but we did feel a lot better about our execution. But we still shot ourselves in the foot and had some broken plays that hurt us.”
The Riders had a shot to score end in the end zone with less than 5 minutes to play.
“It got pretty exciting toward the end,” Curtis said.
“We had a deep pass to Rudy Valdez that was ruled a fumble and they recovered it in their own end zone.
“He caught the ball and maybe took a step, and the ball was knocked out forward into the end zone. There was a scramble for it and a North Mason player ended up recovering.”
Valdez had three catches for 70 yards.
Quarterback Matt Warner led the team in rushing with nine carries for 56 yards.
“He ran the ball well,” Curtis said.
“We tried to get him out on the edge on some pass plays where he has the option to run the ball, and we ran a quarterback draw for him that picked up some yards.
Curtis praised the blocking of H-back Jace Lausche and the defensive play of Bryce Lauderback and Nathan Adamire at defensive tackle.
Bailey White had an interception for Port Angeles.
“It’s tough to take the measure of your team psychologically when they lose by 40, but last night there were some upset boys in the locker room after the game,” Curtis said.
“It was a tough one to take, but I feel they are going to rebound and be ready to play [next week].
The Riders (0-2, 0-4) visit Kingston (1-0, 1-3) on Friday.
North Mason 6, Port Angeles 0
North Mason 0 6 0 0— 6
Port Angeles 0 0 0 0— 0
Second Quarter
NM— Unknown 2 rush TD
Individual Stats
Rushing—PA: Warner 9-56, Shumway 10-22, Burns 5-20, Lausche 5-19, Valdez 3-(-5), Guttormsen 2-(-7).
Passing—PA: Warner 2-10-0, 45; Guttormsen 1-5-0, 25. .
Receiving—PA: Valdez 3-70.
Sequim 7, Bremerton 0
BREMERTON — You would think by now that opposing teams would know not to kick the ball to Wolves junior Gavin Velarde.
The dynamic athlete is a threat to score whenever he gets the ball, offensively, defensively or on special teams.
And he proved that Friday, taking the opening kickoff 95 yards for the lone touchdown in Sequim’s first win over the Knights in four seasons.
“We went up the right sideline and Payton Glasser made a good block near the end of the return,” Wolves coach Erik Wiker said.
“He decleated the kicker.”
It was the second opening kickoff return of the season for Velarde. He ran the first kick of the game back for a 92-yard TD in a 66-34 loss to Montesano earlier this month.
Velarde did make a mistake, muffing a punt return deep in Wolves’ territory late in the third quarter.
Bremerton threatened, moving the ball inside the Sequim 10-yard line, before the Wolves stopped a Knights’ pass play for no gain on Fourth-and-3 from the 6-yard line.
“That was their only legit chance inside the red zone,” Wiker said.
“We got inside the red zone three times and penalties and some other mistakes hurt us.”
Bremerton couldn’t get the ball past midfield for the rest of the game.
“Defensively, James Thayer was the man of the hour,” Wiker said.
“I think he had like 15 or 16 solo tackles. He was making good reads and making sure tackles.”
Sequim played keep-away down the stretch, putting together a clock-killing drive to end the game and pick up an Olympic League victory.
“I feel really good about it,” Wiker said of the win.
“All the games in about the past six years have been really super-tight, last play of the game-type games.
“There’s always been something that’s held us back.
The Wolves (1-0, 3-1) host No. 8 North Kitsap (2-0, 4-0) with first-place on the line at 7 p.m. Friday.
Sequim 7, Bremerton 0
Sequim 7 0 0 0— 7
Bremerton 0 0 0 0— 0
First Quarter
S— Velarde 95 kick return (Cowan kick good)
Individual Stats
Rushing—S: Conn 16-42, Gresli 5-16, Cowan 3-4, Velarde 1-2, Rollness 1-2.
Passing—S: Cowan 18-41-2-166.
Receiving—S: Velarde 5-73, Glasser 7-52, Rollness 2-13, Conn 3-13, Bell 1-15.
Seattle Lutheran 68, Clallam Bay 65
CLALLAM BAY — Now that’s the type of score expected from a six-man football game.
The Saints took advantage of a late Bruins turnover and scored with under a minute to play to pull out the shootout win.
“We had the lead and the ball with 3 minutes to go and we turned it over and they scored,” Clallam Bay coach Cal Ritter said.
“We got the ball back with under a minute left and we couldn’t get anything to go.
“It was a fun game. More of a true 6-man game than the first one we played (a 26-24 win against Tulalip Heritage).
Clayton Willis went wild for the Bruins rushing for 402 yards on 24 carries, including seven touchdowns on the ground, and catching the lone Clallam Bay pass from quarterback Ramon Tinoco for a 30-yard TD reception.
Ryan McCoy added 12 carries for 66 yards and two scores at fullback for the Bruins.
“Our offensive line blocked very well, and putting Ryan McCoy at fullback worked wonders for us,” Ritter said.
“Eric Strid, Kalin Duncan those two really stood out on the left side of the offensive line. That’s where most of our plays went.”
Clallam Bay had trouble stopping passes to Seattle Lutheran’s Josh Meyer.
“Offensively we clicked, unfortunately defensively, we didn’t,” Ritter said.
“They had a guy about 6’5, 6’6 [Meyer], and they could throw it up to him, and we just don’t have much height.
“He hurt us pretty bad in the first half, but in the second half we double-teamed him off the line and that slowed him down some.”
Ritter said the Bruins were boosted in the second half by a Ryan Strid interception.
Clallam Bay (1-1) will visit Tulalip Heritage at 1 p.m. Saturday.
Cascade Christian 47, Chimacum 19
PORT TOWNSEND — The 1A powerhouse Cougars knocked off the Cowboys (0-1, 1-3) at Memorial Field.
Chimacum hosts rival Port Townsend on Friday.
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Sports reporter/columnist Michael Carman can be contacted at 360-417-3525 or at mcarman@peninsuladailynews.com.
