Out of nine North Olympic Peninsula football teams, as many as four or five will play in the postseason this year.
Last year, only Neah Bay and Port Townsend were the only teams to advance.
Neah Bay and Quilcene have locked up spots in the Class 1B Quad-District playoffs.
Port Angeles and Sequim can either earn their way into the West Central District playoffs this week or set up a three-team playoff next Tuesday with either North Mason or Kingston (see story on Page B1 of Tuesday’s edition).
Port Townsend is going in the 1A district playoffs, but the Redhawks just can’t get past their complicated relationship with the Nisqually League.
That kicks off the three things learned last week in high school football:
■ The ol’ Tarrier two-fer?
Port Townsend’s 48-0 homecoming triumph over Chimacum sealed the Redhawks’ first Olympic League 1A Division title and set up an interesting twist to the final week of the season as well as their district playoff game with probable Nisqually League runner-up, Charles Wright Academy.
With the Tarriers also scheduled to come to Memorial Field for a nonleague contest this Friday, Port Townsend will likely face two games in two weeks against Charles Wright.
Not an ideal scenario by any means, but one that Redhawks athletic director Scott Wilson did imagine when setting up the team’s schedule.
“This isn’t the first time that something like this happened, and we knew that this could possibly happen with Cascade Christian being such a strong team and Eatonville leaving to play in District 4,” Wilson said.
Cascade Christian, which shares the No. 1 ranking in Class 1A with Colville, can lock down the Nisqually League title by avoiding a monumental upset at the hands of 1-7 Bellevue Christian on Saturday.
Wilson had his doubts when asked if Port Townsend and Charles Wright had any intentions of turning Friday’s game, which also triples as the Redhawks’ senior night and Halloween, into the district playoff game.
“I really doubt we can use Friday’s game as the playoff,” Wilson said.
“It’s a decision for West Central District 3 commissioner Shelly Thiel, and really this isn’t a playoff-type scenario.”
Wilson was looking into the situation with emails sent to the Nisqually League football commissioner and Cascade Christian athletic director Keith Patefield and to the West Central District office.
He also planned to contact Port Townsend head coach Nick Snyder to gauge his feelings.
“Charles Wright may not want to play a playoff game in that type of atmosphere — and we may not want to make our senior night a playoff game,” Wilson said, referring to the emotions of senior night and the excitement of Halloween.
“I don’t like the idea of playing two games in a row against them, either.
“I’m going to talk to Nick and see what he thinks about it.”
If things stand pat, Port Townsend would play Charles Wright again on Friday, Nov. 7, or Saturday, Nov. 8.
It is unknown where that district game would be played, but West Central District postseason games are usually required to be played on artificial turf rather than grass fields such as Memorial Field.
■ Injuries taking a toll.
When Chris Whitaker went down with a broken fibula in Sequim’s 39-0 loss to Olympic last Friday, it was another in a long line of injuries the Wolves have experienced.
This one particularly hurt, though, because of the big roles Whitaker played on both sides of the ball combined with the Sequim’s ever-decreasing depth.
Whitaker is Sequim’s starting middle linebacker, and head coach Erik Wiker compared losing him at that position to losing a quarterback.
Following Friday’s loss, Wiker wasn’t sure exactly who would end up filling that spot this week against Bremerton.
“We had contingency plans all over the place, but now we don’t,” Wiker said.
Whitaker also had become Sequim’s feature back on offense after injuries depleted the Wolves at running back.
Now, that job will be filled by Brandon Stamper and Mark Feeney.
The Wolves aren’t the only area team with injury problems.
Things got so bad at Crescent that the Loggers had to cancel their game against Lummi earlier this month.
Forks also has been hobbled this season with injuries to top players such as Javier Contreras and Miguel Morales, which severely hampered the Spartans’ chances in the Evergreen 1A/2A League.
Quilcene hasn’t had an injury problem this season, but might have a problem in the postseason after star running back Colten Pol was forced out of Saturday’s game with what appears to be a high ankle sprain.
Fortunately for the Rangers, they have this week off, giving Pol a week to rest before the postseason.
■ Routing with class.
Top-ranked Neah Bay is a Class 1B state championship contender.
Crescent is fighting to survive and finish out its schedule.
Herein lies the chasm in 8-man football between those who have and those who have not.
The defending champion Red Devils are in the midst of a possible 8-man football dynasty — a state title this year ought to seal that status — while the Loggers have struggled the past two seasons to field a team of players with prior football experience.
Crescent coach Darrell Yount and athletic director Dave Bingham both praised the way Neah Bay handled last Friday’s game between the teams, which was won by Neah Bay 78-32.
“The Neah Bay coaching staff, Neah Bay High School and community should be congratulated on their great season and for balancing their need to prepare for the playoffs with the circumstances of the game,” Bingham wrote in an email to the Peninsula Daily News.
“[Neah Bay] coach [Tony] McCaulley did wonderful job of making a potentially very lopsided game into a game where the Crescent kids were able to walk off the field feeling as though they had played hard and accomplished some positive things on the football field. What a class act.
“Good luck to the Red Devils as they begin their quest for a second consecutive 1B State football championship.”
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“Three things learned in high school football last week” appears each week in the PDN.
Sports Editor Lee Horton can be reached at 360-417-3525 or at lhorton@peninsuladailynews.com.
Sports reporter Michael Carman can be contacted at 360-452-2345, ext. 5250 or at mcarman@peninsualdailynews.com.
