PORT ANGELES — A Class 1B state championship-winning football team in Neah Bay. Port Townsend’s repeat trip to the 1A state playoffs. District playoff appearances by Sequim, Forks, Quilcene and Crescent upping the number of area postseason-bound to six of nine schools. Even some 6-man football action out of Clallam Bay.
Individual honors were widespread including Neah Bay’s Rwehabura Munyagi Jr. selection as the 1B state player of the year by The Associated Press, Sequim’s Gavin Velarde winning the Olympic League 2A Division MVP while his Wolves’ teammate and quarterback Riley Cowan was voted the league’s Offensive MVP.
And don’t forget Port Townsend QB Berkley Hill running over Nisqually-Olympic League competition to earn that league’s MVP award.
Yes, the North Olympic Peninsula’s 2016 prep football season was one to remember.
Here’s a look back at the five best games of the 2016 season.
5. Sequim 27, Port Townsend 26
The Wolves never trailed, but they never pulled away from the Redhawks in the opening game of the season. Port Townsend produced three second-half turnovers to rally against Sequim.
After forcing a fumble, the Redhawks put together an 11-play, 93-yard drive, capped by a 1-yard TD plunge by All-Peninsula Football team member Detrius Kelsall, to pull within 27-26.
But the snap on the extra-point attempt was high and the Wolves remained in the lead, eventually putting together a drive that sapped the remainder of the clock.
4. Neah Bay 26, Forks 20, OT
No postseason implications on the line, just pride. And both teams put on an entertaining display of football in front of a packed Spartans Stadium.
Munyagi showed why he was a deserving winner of the 1B state player of the year award, outleaping a Forks defender on a 53-yard catch-and-run TD, later intercepting a pass and returning it 85 yards for a score, and finally diving across with the game-winning QB sneak in overtime.
The Spartans’ Jack Dahlgren also showed his value, plowing over Neah Bay on power runs and outrunning Neah Bay’s speedy Cole Svec to the outside for a tying touchdown late in the game.
Svec, himself a former 1B state player of the year, responded with a huge run in overtime to set up Munyagi’s game winner.
“Funnest game I’ve ever played in,” Svec said. “This was a playoff atmosphere.
3. Forks 46, Elma 38, 3OT
The Spartans broke through and clinched a district playoff berth for the first time since 2011 with a marathon Everrgeen League victory against the Eagles.
Forks rallied from 22-8 halftime deficit, racking up nearly 400 rushing yards offensively and forcing two turnovers in the final four minutes of regulation to send the game to overtime. The following quote from first-year Forks head coach Emil West sums up the importance of this win:
“Knowing that we are going to the playoffs after a 1-9 season [in 2015], after all the stuff the senior class has gone through, having to have three coaches in three seasons and the rest of it … I don’t know if I’ve ever had a greater moment in football at any level. I’ve never had a win better than this. A triple-overtime, come-from-behind win that clinches a playoff berth? I don’t know if it can get any better.”
2. Neah Bay 28, Lummi 22
In a 1B semifinal at Everett Stadiu, the Red Devils rallied from a 22-14 deficit entering the fourth quarter to edge their biggest rival and advance to the state championship.
It was the third straight game between the two Northwest 1B rivals decided by six points. Lummi won in the state 1B semifinal 26-20 last year and beat Neah Bay 36-30 in a regular-season game in September.
“It doesn’t get any better than this,” said Red Devils coach Tony McCaulley. “Both teams played as hard as they could. There were no losers in this game.”
Neah Bay won the turnover battle 3-0, and got a huge fourth down stop to hold on late in the fourth quarter.
1. Neah Bay 64, Odessa-Harrington 34
The Red Devils overcame a shoulder injury to star quarterback Munyagi’s throwing shoulder and dominated offensively to win their fourth state championship in six seasons at the Tacoma Dome.
Cameron Buzzell came through in the clutch, moving over from wide receiver to quarterback after the injury and putting together an MVP-caliber performance (if they only gave out MVP awards for state championship games).
Buzzell racked up four total touchdowns, 168 rushing yards, 59 receiving yards, a state title-game record setting 92-yard interception return and a 32-yard pass completion.
“He did it all for us,” McCaulley said. “He made plays all over the field and just had a hell of a game.”
And to paraphrase McCaulley, it was one hell of a season.
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Sports reporter Michael Carman can be contacted at 360-417-3525 or mcarman@peninsuladailynews.com.
Steve Mullensky/for Peninsula Daily News The season started with a thriller between Gavin Velarde’s (23) Sequim Wolves and the Port Townsend Redhawks.
