QUILCENE — Ace Elkins scored four rushing touchdowns to lead Quilcene to a 40-24 nonleague football win against Crescent.
Elkins rushed 19 times for 122 yards, scoring all his TDs on short runs, and also led the Rangers in tackles defensively.
“Ace just played really well against Crescent,” Quilcene coach Trey Beathard said.
“He made a whole lot of tackles, and ran really hard against them.”
Up 22-12 at halftime on two Elkins touchdowns and a 10-yard run by Acea Such, the Rangers gave up two Loggers’ touchdowns on the first two plays of the second half to trail 24-22.
Crescent’s KC Spencer connected with Noah Leonard on touchdown passes of 57 and 25 yards, the latter set up by a Spencer interception of Quilcene quarterback Andy Johnston.
But the Rangers answered the challenge, scoring the final 18 points of the contest on touchdown runs by Elkins and another by Ben Bruner.
“They put a little pressure on us,” Beathard said.
“We could have really got down there emotionally after giving up those two scores, but the kids did respond.”
“We ran the ball pretty well and we didn’t have a very good day of throwing it. A lot of our pass plays Andy turned them into scrambles and he did a good job of making positive yards. We didn’t do as good a job of protecting them.”
Johnston had 61 yards rushing on seven carries.
Such finished with six rushes for 65 yards.
“They have some big kids, athletic big kids, so those rushing yards were hard earned,” Beathard said.
“Hayes [Beathard] was the lead blocker on all those Elkins TDs, and really our line did a good job against those big kids from Crescent.”
Beathard praised Jarod Smith for his play on defense and for filling in for an injured Robert Comstock at tight end.
Juan Rogers also drew a compliment.
“Juan did a good job of containing and setting up his teammates to get a lot of tackles. He kept the edge and pushed stuff inside really well.”
Beathard said his team needs to clean up its play after committing too many penalties for his liking and turning the ball over four times.
Quilcene (3-0) faces Sea-Tac League favorite Tacoma Baptist (4-0) at Curtis High School in University Place at 7 p.m. Friday.
Crescent (2-2) visits No. 3 Neah Bay (3-1) at 7 p.m. Friday.
Quilcene 40, Crescent 24
Crescent 6 6 12 0— 24
Quilcene 14 8 12 6— 40
First Quarter
Q— A. Elkins 1 run (A. Elkins run)
C— Emery 37 pass from Spencer (conversion failed)
Q—Such 10 run (conversion failed)
Second Quarter
Q— A. Elkins 3 run (A. Elkins run)
C—Story 40 run (conversion failed)
Third Quarter
C— Noah Leonard 57 pass from Spencer (conversion failed)
C— Leonard 25 pass from Spencer (failed)
Q— A. Elkins 4 run (run failed)
Q— Bruner 4 run (pass failed)
Fourth Quarter
Q— A. Elkins 3 run (pass failed)
Individual Stats
Rushing—Q: A. Elkins 19-122, Johnston 7-61, Such 6-65, Bruner 13-34, Reynolds 2-14, Rogers 2-13.
Port Townsend 61, Bellevue Christian 13
KIRKLAND —The Redhawks opened Nisqually/Olympic League play with a thumping of the Vikings.
“We had a good night, we were pretty happy with our night,” Port Townsend coach Alex Heilig said.
“I think defensively, we did an unbelievable job. Their first TD was an offensive miscue on our part that they scored on, and then we gave up a score in the final minutes.”
Heilig said defensive tackle Jacob Massie and outside linebacker Kyle Blankenship played well.
“Jacob Massie had a good game for us. He made some good tackles on the defensive line,” Heilig said.
“Kyle Blankenship had a pick-6 [interception returned for a touchdown] and forced a lot of movement inside which is what we want from his position.”
Blankenship also contributed on the other side of the ball.
“We clearly had a good night offensively as well,” Heilig said.
“Blankenship had some great runs for us. Detrius [Kelsall] had some powerful runs, and our offensive line stepped up for us.”
Newly eligible transer Jack Immerman also stood out at wide receiver and inside linebacker, according to Heilig.
Port Townsend (1-0, 2-2) is the visiting team in Friday’s rivalry game against Chimacum (0-1, 1-3) at 7 p.m. at Memorial Field.
Cross Country Port Angeles at Bellvue Invite
ISSAQUAH — Gracie Long finished second out of 67 runners in her 5,000-meter heat with a time of 19 minutes, 55.5 seconds at this large and popular race at Lake Sammamish State Park.
The event is so large that varsity runners compete in 60-75 person heats rather than in one big pack of competitors.
“Gracie Long improved her time by over 30 seconds from last year,” Roughriders boys coach Rodger Johnson said.
“She worked on pacing, increasing her speed through the race. Gracie’s third mile was her fastest.”
Freshman Ella Holland paced herself with veteran teammate Madelyn Dougherty and then kicked it up for the last 1,000 meters, flying past Dougherty and four other runners to finish eighth in her heat with a time of 20:37.
Dougherty finished with a time of 21:07. Other Port Angeles runners and their times: Ellie Hiigel (23:30), Laura Nutter (23:34), Alisandra Baccus (24:42) and Jennifer Danielson (28:28).
Cameron Butler led the Riders’ boys with a time of 17:06, good for 19th in his 67-strong heat.
“The boys ran very well today, everyone improved their times over last year,” Johnson said.
“This is a flat course and everyone was looking for a PR, but there are so many runners in each heat, it is easy to get boxed in.
“The kids really had to battle through the whole course.”
Other Port Angeles runners were: Tom Lismonde (18:14), Tristin Butler (18:23), Gabe Long (18:44), AJ Fischer (19:19), Aron Trubow (19:48) and Tomasso Begal (20:07).
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Sports reporter/columnist Michael Carman can be contacted at 360-417-3525 or at mcarman@peninsuladailynews.com.
