COACHES MAY LOATH looking ahead, but I certainly don’t.
In fact, I’m going to do a little of that here.
Go ahead and look at the Olympic League football standings.
See who’s sitting at the top? Yep, archrivals Port Angeles and Sequim.
All of the sudden, an idea that would’ve been scoffed at by some just one month ago, is gaining more and more steam as each week passes.
If everything holds to form, the Roughriders and Wolves will be playing a de facto league championship game when they meet at Civic Field on Oct. 29.
If that doesn’t get you excited, you either, A) don’t like sports, B) don’t like Port Angeles or Sequim or C) don’t have a pulse.
“That would be great,” said Sequim coach Erik Wiker, who is 4-2 against Port Angeles. “My kids are looking forward to that.
“I said at the beginning of the year, no matter what [the game is] way more dynamic because it’s league.
“It’s going to be like a bowl game or something.”
It would be one that almost nobody saw coming.
While an Olympic League coaches’ poll conducted by the PDN and Kitsap Sun listed Sequim as the preseason favorite, Port Angeles was a distant seventh out of eight.
Considering the Riders were coming off an 0-10 season, it was understandable, even if they were moving down to Class 2A.
Yet all they’ve done under first-year head coach Tom Wahl is win their first five games for the first time in 18 years.
“I’m not too surprised that they are one of the top teams,” Wiker said. “We played them all year in the summer, and they have good athletes.
“I thought that with this kind of league they are going to have more success.
“And once you start believing, you really do well.”
Not surprisingly, Wahl wasn’t quite ready to warm up to the prospect with three games to go before that meeting.
A close-to-the-vest man by nature, he instead opted for some coach speak.
“We’re just taking it one game at a time,” Wahl said.
“We know ultimately that game is going to happen. Whatever our records are at that point, it doesn’t matter. It’s always a big game.”
The Riders will face perhaps their greatest obstacle to a winner-take-all rivalry game next week when North Mason comes to Civic Field.
Wahl called the Bulldogs “our toughest opponent yet.” And he might be right.
North Mason sits just behind Port Angeles (3-0 in league, 5-0 overall) and Sequim (3-0, 4-1) at 2-1 in league.
That being said, Sequim’s next opponent, Kingston, seemed to pass the eye test a little more in its 14-9 loss to Port Angeles last week.
They just looked more physical and disciplined than North Mason, which fell to Sequim 49-20 on Friday.
“[That win] was our first league championship game,” Wiker said. “As long as we keep winning, we’re going to have more league championship games.
“I think Kingston is probably going to be the tougher one out of those two, and that’s our next league championship game.
“When we get through that, if PA is still undefeated or has one loss, than that’s our next league championship game.”
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Matt Schubert is the outdoors and sports columnist for the Peninsula Daily News. His column regularly appears on Thursdays and Fridays. He can be reached at matt.schubert@peninsuladailynews.com.
