On Friday, Sequim’s football squad began a new chapter with an emphatic win against an old rival.
On a broken play early in the fourth quarter, Sequim senior quarterback Miguel Moroles scrambled left, juked, then outran the entire Chimacum Cowboy defense 61 yards, putting as much distance as he could from last season’s weeks of frustration and could-have-beens.
Sequim dominated Chimacum 47-21 in a game that wasn’t as close as the final score indicates.
Moroles tallied 170 rushing yards on just eight carries and threw for another 125 yards and a score, but it was his early scamper to the end zone that sparked Sequim’s first win since Oct. 19, 2012.
“All the work paid off,” Moroles said. “Our offense’s pace is really good. That helps a lot.”
A cadre of Sequim running backs — Ty Jones, Gavin Velarde, Brandon Stamper, Mark Feeney and Hayden Gresli — helped
Sequim rush for 314 rushing yards as the Class 2A Wolves ran roughshod over a 1A Cowboy squad seeking an upset.
“We played pretty darn well,” Sequim head coach Erik Wiker said. “We have a decent amount of playmakers at running back … and a plethora of receivers that can make plays.”
Sequim showed some first-game jitters after fumbling the opening kickoff, leading to Chimacum running back Drew Yackulic’s three-yard scoring run and a 6-0 Cowboy lead.
“There are a lot of monkeys on your back when you are (losing),” Wiker said, noting some early Sequim miscues. “And (there were) first game nerves.”
Two plays later, Moroles showed why he was one of the more dynamic athletes in the Olympic League in 2013. Moroles took the snap, broke through the line and raced to pay dirt, the first of 47 unanswered points for Sequim.
Only a pair of late Chimacum touchdowns against Sequim reserves kept the game relatively close.
“A lot of room for improvement,” Wiker said, tempering the scoreboard discrepancy.
Sequim’s squad went 2-7 in 2012, earning a win in the season’s second-to-last game, a 34-7 win against Port Angeles. Eleven losses followed, though Sequim players and coaches alike said they outplayed opponents for a half or more but simply couldn’t come out on top int he end.
On Friday, that much wasn’t in dispute by halftime. Following Moroles’ score, Sequim’s Jones broke through the line for a 48-yard scoring run and 14-6 Wolves lead. A failed Chimacum possession later led to a Moroles 37-yard touchdown run to open the second quarter scoring. Jones made it 27-6 soon after, scoring from five yards out to make it 27-6 Sequim, and a Cowboy turnover on downs led to a 60-yard Moroles-to-Velarde pass to put Sequim up 33-6 at halftime.
In the third quarter it was more of the same. Sequim took advantage of a Cowboy fumble to open the half as Velarde ran it in from 13 yards out, increasing Sequim’s advantage to 40-6. Gresli, playing up from his junior varsity spot, tacked on a one-yard score to cap Sequim’s scoring at 47-6.
Victor Hitt (one-yard run) and Lane Dotson (interception return) had fourth quarter touchdowns for the Cowboys.
Looking ahead
Sequim next targets Whidbey Island’s Coupeville Wolves, tied with Columbia for the smallest school in the 1A classification.
Coupeville edged South Whidbey 35-28 on Sept. 5.
Wiker said he expects to see something akin to a power-I formation from Coupeville, with three backs in the backfield.
The teams have a short history, playing once each in 1929 and 1930.
Scoring:
First quarter
C — Yackulic 3 run (kick blocked), 9:40
S — Moroles 61 run (Velarde kick), 8:42
S — Jones 48 run (Velarde kick), 1:32
Second quarter
S — Moroles 37 run (Velarde kick), 8:35
S — Jones 5 run (kick blocked), 4:12
S — Velarde 60 pass from Moroles (kick blocked), 2:12
Third quarter
S — Velarde 13 run (Velarde kick),
S — Gresli 1 run (Velarde kick), 1:08
Fourth quarter
C – Hitt 1 run (Noel run), 4:02
C — Dotson 58 interception return (Pape-Uphoff kick), 0:54
Olympic League week 1
standings (2A division)
Team Lg. Over.
Bremerton 0-0 1-0
Kingston 0-0 0-1
North Kitsap 0-0 1-0
North Mason 0-0 0-1
Olympic 0-0 0-1
Port Angeles 0-0 1-0
Sequim 0-0 1-0
2A Olympic League Week 1 scores:
at Sequim 47, Chimacum 21
at Port Angeles 14, Port Townsend 13
WF West 27, at Kingston 14
at Wilson 30, Olympic 20
at Shelton 28, North Mason 21
at North Kitsap 29, Bainbridge 7
at Bremerton 36, Cleveland 16
