Olympic League standings
Team L.g. Over.
Olympic 5-0 8-0
North Kitsap 5-0 6-2
Sequim 3-2 5-2
Kingston 2-3 2-6
Bremerton 2-3 2-6
North Mason 1-5 1-7
Port Angeles 0-5 1-7
by MICHAEL DASHIELL
Sequim Gazette
The Olympic Trojans came in as a top 10 state-ranked team boasting a powerful offense and stingy defensive crops.
Friday night did little to dissuade the doubters.
The Trojans scored on seven of their first eight drives and routed the host Sequim Wolves, 48-7.
“They got the breaks but they were playing at a high level,”
Sequim coach Erik Wiker said. “They were on fire today. They played the best game they’ve played all season.”
Olympic quarterback Matt Becker threw for 131 yards and three scores and ran for another 163 yards and a score, and Trojan running back Geordyn Shinard added 123 rushing yards and three touchdowns.
The win keeps the No. 7-ranked Olympic squad (5-0 in Olympic League play, 8-0 overall) in line for an Olympic League title, one they’ll have to earn on Oct. 30 when they take on North Kitsap (5-0, 6-2).
Despite the loss, Sequim (3-2, 5-2) sees its playoff hopes remain alive with one more game to go, an Oct. 29 matchup with the Bremerton Knights. (See playoff scenarios below).
Sequim was one of just two teams (Kingston was the other) to score at least seven points against Olympic. The Trojans had given up just 13 points all season.
“We would have liked to scored more — and we could have,” Wiker said. “We had too many mistakes to be happy.”
Gavin Velarde provided the lone Sequim scoring highlight, an arcing 10-yard touchdown pass from Riley Cowan on a fourth down that trimmed Olympic’s lead in the third quarter to 36-7.
Velarde said he expects his team to be more prepared than last year’s squad, one that dropped a one-point decision to Bremerton in the season’s final game that forced the tiebreaker.
“We’ve got to come back and practice harder,” Velarde said.
Quick start for visitors
Olympic forced a three-and-out on Sequim’s opening drive, then found pay dirt by putting Shinard behind a big offensive line and plowing their way down the field. Becker capped the 10-play, 79-yard drive with a two-yard score on fourth down.
Olympic made it 15-0 on their next possession, taking advantage of a turnover on downs to go 50 yards in just five plays. Shinard took it in from a yard out, followed by Becker’s two-point conversion.
Sequim managed just one first down on its next possession and Olympic came right back with an eight-play scoring drive highlighted by Becker’s 55-yard scramble on third down-and-20. Becker found Colton Wade from 12 yards out for a score and 22-0 lead.
The Trojans made it 29-0 soon thereafter, with Becker racing through the Sequim defense for a 47-yard play and Shinard finding pay dirt two plays later.
Becker found Wade once again from 12 yards out for a TD pass and 36-0 Olympic advantage before Sequim put together their only scoring drive. The Wolves went 70 yards in 15 plays, getting a key, 10-yard run from Mark Feeney on a fourth down before their drive stalled at the 10-yard-line. Cowan, a freshman QB, found a leaping Velarde across the middle, breaking up the shutout.
“He (Velarde) plays super hard all the time — that’s why good things happen,” Wiker said.
Cowan would finish the night 9-for-23 for 103 yards and a fourth-quarter interception.
“He (Cowan) has put a lot of work into it,” Wiker said. “He’s the product of a lot of hard work. I think the world of him. He does all the things right.”
Olympic capped the scoring with two scores in the fourth. Becker found Shinard from 11 yards out to make it 42-7 with 11:54 to play, and Shinard added an eight-yard plunge with 6:14 left.
Olympic finished with 334 yards rushing and 465 yards overall. Sequim managed 93 yards rushing and 196 total yards.
Arnold Black led Sequim with 44 yards on 10 carries. Velarde had six catches for 75 yards.
Sequim looks like they’ll be without the services of linebacker Chris Whitaker, who suffered an injury in the first half against Olympic. Coupled with SHS defensive back Kane Stoddard’s injury against Port Angeles a week previous, the Wolves are missing two key defensive pieces heading into this week’s game against Bremerton.
Playoff scenarios
A win Thursday night against the Knights secures a No. 3 seed for Sequim, setting up a pigtail playoff game against the Seamount League’s No. 3 team.
A loss? That makes things a bit murkier.
Last season, Sequim, Port Angeles and Kingston ended in a three-way tie and played 16-minute tiebreakers to decided the advancing team (PA beat Sequim, then got beaten by Kingston).
This year, there isn’t an extra week to solve the deadlock with a tiebreaker, with pigtail games set for Nov. 2. So league athletic directors are looking into how to solve the situation without adding a game (or two).
The Knights (2-3, 2-6) are coming off a 44-0 win at North Mason.
Bremerton football has been in the news of late, but not for its play on the field. District officials have asked assistant coach Joe Kennedy to stop offering a personal prayer after football games or face possible termination. Since that notice earlier this fall, Kennedy has continued the practice and hired legal counsel for some postgame press conferences.
