One, a game of near misses. Another, of missing key players.

In the end, both contests wound up going the opposing team’s way, sending Sequim’s Wolves to their first home and road losses of the season.

On March 19, Sequim (0-2 in Olympic League, 1-2 overall) put a barrage of shots on goal, but a defensive-minded Olympic squad held tight and capitalized on a quirky bounce off of a free kick for a score in a 1-0 Trojan win in Silverdale.

Sequim coach Dave Breckenridge said the Wolves peppered the Olympic keeper with 17 shots on goal but somehow couldn’t find the back of the net.

“We hit the crossbar multiple times,” he said, estimating Sequim had possession about 80 to 85% of the play.

“Brutal for us,” he said.

Back in the friendly confines of Sequim’s stadium on March 21, a deep and energetic North Kitsap squad took advantage of a depleted Sequim squad for three first half goals en route to a 4-0 victory.

“They wanted it more, no doubt about it,” Breckenridge said.

The Wolves came into the game minus five players for various reasons, with just one of four starting defenders available.

“Others [have to] step up and I’m asking them to play positions they haven’t played,” the Sequim coach said.

The second half was much better with just one goal allowed.

“The ball was being moved well and they were staying in their spaces,” Breckenridge said. “This is the toughest team we’ve faced.”

He credited Josh Alcaraz for a solid game — “he definitely put in the work,” Breckenridge noted” — as well as goalkeeper Nolan Valenzuela for a number of spectacular saves, and Mason Rapelje and Evan Cisneros for all-around play.

The Wolves were scheduled to host 3A Bainbridge on March 26; results were not available at press time.

Sequim is at Bremerton on March 28 to close out the team’s pre-spring break schedule.

The Wolves are back on the pitch April 9 at home against Kingston.

Sequim Gazette photo by Michael Dashiell / Sequim’s Max Stanford, left, races into North Kitsap territory and is challenged by Viking Ayden Jueco in a March 21 Olympic League match-up in Sequim.

Sequim Gazette photo by Michael Dashiell / Sequim’s Kyhlan Henderson, left, and North Kitsap’s Logan Anderson vie for the ball in the second half of a March 21 league match-up in Sequim.

Sequim Gazette photo by Michael Dashiell / Sequim’s Parker Knight, right, looks to impede the progress of North Kitsap’s Logan Anderson in a March 21 Olympic League match-up.

Sequim Gazette photo by Michael Dashiell / Sequim’s Mason Rapelje, left, pressures North Kitsap’s Mason Chmielewski in the second half of an Olympic League match-up on March 21. North Kitsap won, 4-0.