POULSBO — Erik Wiker had a feeling about North Kitsap prior to this season.
Asked to assess who he thought might be the toughest challenger to his Sequim Wolves’ third straight league championship, the head football coach pointed to the Vikings.
Given that North Kitsap was coming off a dreadful 1-9 season that included just one Olympic League win, it was a bit of a bold prediction.
Fast forward seven weeks later, however, and fourth-ranked Sequim (5-0 in league, 6-0 overall) is set to visit North Kitsap (4-1, 4-3) tonight at 7 p.m. with the league crown hanging in the balance.
Win, and the Wolves move within one victory with of their seventh outright league crown in eight years. Lose, and the Olympic League becomes one big mess.
“Everybody thought I was crazy [before the season]; I do my homework,” Wiker said.
If North Kitsap’s victory over Port Angeles last week is any indicator, the Vikings do as well.
North Kitsap dominated the Roughriders almost from start to finish in a decisive 35-14 victory at Civic Field.
Utilizing a quick-hitting passing game early on, the Vikings’ multi-formation wing-T attack put the undermanned Riders on their heels and never let up.
Now the league championship could go in all sorts of different directions, with a North Kitsap win tonight even setting up the possibility of a three-way tie if Port Angeles were to beat Sequim in Dungeness Valley next week.
Of course, the Wolves have their destiny in their own hands.
They’ve already clinched a playoff spot as the league’s last remaining unbeaten.
If they can win each of their “league championship” games against North Kitsap tonight and Port Angeles next week, they’ll get the Olympic’s top seed in the Class 2A preliminary state playoffs and a date with the 2A SPSL’s fourth-best team in Poulsbo.
“I think we’re playing a lot better,” said Wiker, whose team responded to a narrow 27-13 home win over Kingston on Oct. 8 with a 35-8 drubbing of Olympic last Thursday.
“We were primed for a hiccup [against Kingston] at that time between homecoming and everything else.
“We were primed for that, and I think they saw that they could be beat and that kind of woke everybody up.
“Now that we get to the league championship games and playoffs, I think that’s another reason to focus.
“It’s a big test [tonight].”
