PORT TOWNSEND — The Olympic Peninsula Eagles semipro football team opened the 2012 season with a win at Memorial Field on Saturday night.
The Eagles beat the Puget Sound Outlaws 21-12 in a sloppy first game.
“It was a beautiful night for football,” Eagles coach Mike McMahan said.
The Eagles’ defense opened the scoring when a snap sailed over the Outlaws quarterback’s head and through the back of the end zone.
The Eagles then took the free kick down the field and scored on a 2- yard touchdown pass from Don Purser to “Red” Cory Hartfield, giving the Eagles an 8-0 lead at the end of first quarter.
The Eagles defense took over the game in the second period with an interception by safety Adam Harris, and a combined 10 sacks by defensive line stars Ron Wright Jr. of Neah Bay and Nick Tavale off the USS Ronald Reagan.
On the offensive side, the Eagles struggled to get any consistency but did manage to score again on an 8-yard run by running back B.J. Johnson, who finished with 24 yards rushing.
In the second half, the Eagles’ offensive line started to jell and fullback Roland Quinn racked up 40 yards on nine carries while tailback E.J. Johnson of Neah Bay was the team rushing leader with 65 yards on six carries plus two catches for 9 yards.
The score stayed 15-0 till the fourth quarter when backup fullback Larry Hoogstraten bowled into the end zone from 2 yards out.
Then Hoogstraten ran past his happy teammates into the stands to kiss his wife after his first career touchdown.
The Puget Sound Outlaws scored late during broken coverage on a long bomb, then got a touchdown on a no-call on an offensive pass interference to allow the Outlaws to score on the last play of the game.
Next week the Eagles will head to Portland to face the Inner City Shine, which lost to league powerhouse Seattle Stallions 50-26 on Saturday.
