SEQUIM — Sequim clicked in all three aspects of the game in Friday’s 20-0 homecoming win, which doubled as a showdown for first place in the Olympic League 2A Division with previously unbeaten North Mason.
The Wolves’ defense held fast on three North Mason drives inside the Wolves’ 15-yard line on the night, stopping the Bulldogs on fourth down all three times.
“All that matters is that they don’t score, right?” Sequim coach Erik Wiker said with a grin after the game.
Bearing down close to the goal line defensively is a point of emphasis during the Wolves’ Thursday practice sessions, which tend to be more about the mental side of the game than the physical.
“That’s huge, and when we talk on Thursday and go over our goals, we explain that one of them is [to play] tough in the red zone,” Wiker said. When [opponents] are in the red zone, a lot of their plays are taken out of their playbook … so it actually almost gets easier even if they are closer and being closer almost doesn’t matter.
“It’s knowledge, it’s not, ‘Oh man, they are closer,.’ It’s [the opposition] have less plays they can call. We don’t have to cover as much field and it’s harder for them than it is for us. And it’s a mindset.”
Wiker compared it to the tale of two halves that was Sequim’s come-from-behind 20-16 win over Forks in week two. The Wolves trailed 16-0 and looked out of sorts heading to halftime of that game.
“We made some adjustments, everybody thinks they are magical adjustments, but it’s more magical mindset adjustments,” Wiker said. “That’s what it was, that’s what red zone defense is and its one of the things we try to teach.”
Sequim controlled the ball and the clock offensively with sophomore running back Taig Wiker and quarterback Riley Cowan gashing the Bulldogs for meaningful yardage from the opening drive.
“Powers and counters and huge holes,” Taig Wiker said. “The linemen blocked really well the entire game. There were a couple of times when their ends chip blocked and went in, but [offensive tackle] Johnnie [Young] handled it well. He shoved them to the ground and made a hole. The linemen were blocking really well all day.”
And Kyler Rollness added a 60-yard punt return touchdown early in the third quarter to put the game effectively out of reach on a rainy night in the Dungeness Valley.
The Wolves (2-0, 4-0) now sit atop the Olympic League after their second consecutive impressive league triumph.
Traditionally pass-happy Sequim favored the running game in its opening drive, running on 10 of 11 plays during a 65-yard scoring drive that was capped by a 5-yard TD scamper from Wiker, who also caught a two-point conversion pass from Michael Young, for an early 8-0 lead.
Wiker finished with 24 carries for 140 yards and the TD. Cowan had nine rushes for 57 yards as the Wolves dual-threat QB kept the Bulldogs’ defense honest.
“They have a lot of big guys and they are tough, but what we saw and in what we tried to do, we thought we could run the ball on them,” coach Wiker said… . “Plus, what did Taig get 50 [yards] in every game before this? So [the run game] wasn’t really a threat. And so you are going to try and stop Riley the passer and that opens up the run. I told them, what probably going to happen we think we can run, we need to establish the run and then how do you game plan against us if we can run or pass? In high school it’s hard to stop [both] the run and the pass.”
North Mason and it’s bruising running backs Dylan Tupolo and Ryan Smelcer carried the load on the Bulldogs’ ensuing 12-play drive, but Sequim stood tall and stuffed Smelcer for a 3-yard loss on 4th and inches from the Wolves’ 11.
North Mason threatened again early in the second quarter, driving to the Sequim 5-yard line. But the Wolves stiffened defensively, shutting down Smelcer for a 5-yard loss and forcing an incompletion on fourth down to hold once again.
“A lot of it is not getting down on yourselves because it is tough when you are giving up big runs like that,” senior defensive end Ben Cowan said. “But you have to stay mentally high and not think they have to score. Lots of times when they get in the red zone you are thinking ‘Ah, man, they are going to score.’ But you just have to think you are going to stop them every time.”
Taig Wiker, a linebacker on defense, credited the team’s attitude.
“Our entire defense had a great attitude,” he said. “We never got down, we were up the whole time, everybody was yelling at each other to make our calls and do everything we had to do to stop them. There was no doubt in our minds that we could stop them in the red zone.”
Sequim answered offensively after the stop, marching 90 yards in 13 plays and scoring when Riley Cowan found sophomore Michael Young from 7 yards out. The drive was keyed by a 26-yard scramble by Cowan on 3rd-and-7 on the Wolves’ 24-yard line.
North Mason went 3-and-out on its opening drive of the second half and punted to Rollness. The senior gathered the ball on the right side of the field, cut to his left to find the seam in the defense and was helped by a seal block by Wiker to find the end zone from 60 yards out.
The Bulldogs drove down to the Wolves goal line in the fourth quarter, but Sequim pushed North Mason back to the 7-yard line on consecutive running plays and forced two incompletions to preserve the shutout.
Sequim visits Kingston (0-2, 1-3) with the chance to secure Wiker’s 100th victory (99-51) in 15 seasons with the Wolves.
Sequim 20, North Mason 0
North Mason 0 0 0 0 — 0
Sequim 8 6 6 0 — 20
First Quarter
S—Rollness 20 pass from Cowan (Young pass to Wiker)
Second Quarter
S—Young 7 pass from Cowan (pass failed)
Third Quarter
S—Rollness 60 punt return (two-point failed)
Individual Stats
Rushing—NM: Tupolo 14-85, Smelcer 11-18, Nanez 2-5, Nogues 1-(-3), Ward 3-(-8). S: Wiker 24-140, Cowan 9-57, Whitney 4-5, Rollness 1-1.
Passing—NM: Ward 11-18-1 INT, 98. S: Cowan 12-19-0, 97, TD; Young 1-1-0, 10.
Receiving—NM: Nogues 3-51, Nanez 2-19, Smelcer 2-18, Anderson 2-9, Tupolo 1-1. S: Wiker 3-36, Rollness 4-29, Langston 2-27, Young 3-10, Oliver 1-5.
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Sports reporter/columnist Michael Carman can be contacted at 360-417-3525 or at mcarman@peninsuladailynews.com.
Michael Dashiell/Olympic Peninsula News Group Sequim’s Kyler Rollness returns a punt 60 yards for a touchdown against North Mason in the third quarter Friday night in Sequim.
