FORKS — Tom Wahl doesn’t care about any double-digit losing streaks.
As far as the Port Angeles football coach is concerned, the Forks Spartans are always tough, no matter the circumstances.
So don’t expect his Class 2A Roughriders to take the 1A Spartans — losers of 10 straight games dating back to last season — lightly in tonight’s matchup at Spartan Stadium at 7.
“We don’t consider Forks a joke,” said Wahl, whose Riders (1-0 overall) are fresh off a 48-0 pasting of Class 3A Chief Sealth.
“It doesn’t matter what they do, they always have hard-nosed kids.
“I think there’s enough guys here that realize what happened last year, that we can’t take them lightly.”
Indeed, Forks (0-1) held Port Angeles to six points in the first half of last season’s Week 2 affair at Civic Field.
Port Angeles eventually broke through for a 34-0 win, overcoming 135 penalty yards in the process, but it was hardly one for the highlight reel.
A year later, there’s little doubt that this year’s Forks squad is an improvement on last year’s edition — one that finished winless for the first time in recent memory.
New head coach Mark Feasel has installed the Wing-T offense, and while his Spartans were shut out 42-0 in last week’s season opener at Sequim, they easily put up more resistance than a year earlier in a 58-7 loss to those same Wolves.
“We had some good things happen and just couldn’t finish them,” Feasel said.
Added Feasel, “For us, this is about getting ready for Hoquiam in our first league game [Sept. 16]. Port Angeles and Sequim is a lot to bite off for us.
“I think the kids are pretty confident in what we have coming, but we also know we have a lot to work on.”
Port Angeles was quite impressive in its home win against Chief Sealth a week ago, amassing 399 yards of offense behind a superb performance from three-year starting quarterback Keenen Walker.
The senior completed 8-of-14 passes for 125 yards and two touchdowns, and also ran for 75 yards and another score.
Combined with another shutout from the defense — Port Angeles’ third in 12 games under Wahl — it was a near-perfect start to the season.
“Winning these two [nonleague] games, or having good performances at least, is important,” said Wahl, whose 2010 team rode wins over Chief Sealth and Forks to an 8-0 start to the season.
“I thought we played pretty well last week, but we certainly can’t come out and take a step backward this week. We’ve got to keep building on that.”
Chimacum at Klahowya
■ Time: Tonight at 5.
■ Last meeting: Chimacum 67-14 win in Silverdale, Sept. 9, 2010.
■ Records: Klahowya, 0-1 overall; Chimacum, 0-1.
■ At stake: The Cowboys are looking to rebound from last week’s 51-0 season-opening loss to Kingston.
The Cowboys have beaten the 2A Klahowya Eagles — 48-16 losers to 2A Steilacoom last week — two years in a row under head coach Shawn Meacham.
But with so many new faces starting for Chimacum this fall, this isn’t the same team that’s beaten the Olympic League doormats by a combined score of 107-30.
Evergreen Lutheran at Neah Bay
■ Time: Tonight at 7.
■ Last meeting: Neah Bay 70-32 win in Des Moines, Sept. 11, 2010.
■ Records: Evergreen Lutheran, 1-0; Neah Bay 0-1.
■ At stake: The Red Devils open their Northwest Football League schedule with a big test against 2B Evergreen Lutheran.
The Eagles trounced Lake Quinault 78-34 in last week’s season opener, while Neah Bay is looking for its first win after falling to defending 1B champion Lummi in the final moments, 38-36.
Crescent at Clallam Bay
■ Time: Tonight at 7.
■ Last meeting: Crescent 46-22 win in Joyce, Sept. 3, 2011.
■ Records: Clallam Bay, 0-1; Crescent, 1-0.
■ At stake: Last Saturday’s dress rehearsal between these two — a 46-22 Logger win — served as an appetizer for tonight’s Northwest Football League affair.
The Bruins paid a steep price in last week’s defeat, losing three players to injury. At least one of those Bruins — eighth grader Alan Greene broke his arm — could be out for the rest of the season.
Tulalip Heritage at Quilcene
■ Time: Saturday at 1 p.m.
■ Last meeting: This is the first.
■ Records: Tulalip, 0-0; Quilcene, 1-0.
■ At stake: A week after topping Highland Christian 48-24 in its opener, Quilcene serves as the first varsity football opponent in Tulalip Heritage history.
The Rangers are looking to start 2-0 for the second year in a row while also beginning their Northwest Football League schedule with a victory.
Sequim at Meridian
■ Time: Saturday at 5 p.m.
■ Last meeting: Meridian 54-16 win in Sequim, Sept. 11, 2010.
■ Records: Meridian, 1-0; Sequim, 1-0.
■ At stake: The Wolves are out to avenge last year’s 54-16 drubbing at the hands of the 1A Trojans of the Northwest Conference.
The nonleague game figures to be quite a step up for Sequim, which goes from beating a rebuilding Forks team 42-0 last Friday to taking on last year’s 1A semifinalists.
A win against the Trojans — ranked No. 5 in 1A by the News Tribune — would go a long way toward bolstering Sequim’s football profile across the state.
