Dejuan Frye is used to taking a handoff and racing for a finish line.
Turns out the track star can play a bit of football, too.
Frye and his Hawks teammates overcame a resilient Sequim defense and a slew off penalty-inducing errors for a 43-6, non-league win in Sequim on Sept. 13.
Elijah Camacho led River Ridge with 99 of the team’s 179 rushing yards and two scores and quarterback Kobe Key added 225 passing yards and a pair of scores in the rout.
Frye, part of River Ridge’s state track and field champion 4×100 relay team in May, had a touchdown catch, interception and several long kick returns to set up River Ridge scores.
Sequim, seeking revenge for a 34-0 loss at River Ridge in 2012, never seemed quite on track and didn’t score until backup quarterback Chris Frick found Dylan Lott for a 30-yard score late in the fourth quarter.
“In the first half our defense played great,” Sequim coach Erik Wiker said. “We had a nice goal line stop and we didn’t give up. I don’t think they outplayed us until the end.”
River Ridge played sloppily, earning 16 penalties before halftime and 23 for 165 yards by the game’s final whistle.
But Sequim had errors of its own, tossing four interceptions and seeing key drives stall because of penalties as well.
“Those are things we’re still learning from,” Wiker said. “We are young and inexperienced. We played a lot better team.”
Camacho opened the scoring with 1:28 remaining in the first quarter, set up by a 24-yard Key-to-Jason Kananin pass play.
River Ridge looked to go up by two scores but Ty Jones picked off a Key pass at the 5-yard-line in the second quarter. The Hawks got a fortunate bounce, however, when Sequim quarterback Miguel Moroles’ next pass was tipped and snatched out of the air by River Ridge’s Gabe Fraser in the end zone.
Sequim looked to grab a bit of momentum before halftime, but a muffed punt set up a 31-yard field goal from Hawk Christopher Behnke, giving River Ridge a 17-0 lead.
A Frye interception on the next offensive play set up a Key-to-Frye score with 1:08 before halftime, putting the Hawks up 24-0.
Sequim earned a defensive stop to open the second half and Moroles put the Wolves in scoring position with a 45-yard scamper, but River Ridge’s Michael Key picked off a Moroles toss and raced end zone to end zone for a 30-0 Hawks lead that effectively sealed the ballgame.
Moroles finished with 57 yards passing and another 64 yards on the ground. Brett Wright led the team with 49 receiving yards.
Sequim takes on the defending Olympic League champion Bremerton Knights in the third of three home games to open the season.
Bremerton (1-1) beat Foster 51-6 top open the season but dropped a 66-9 decision to Wilson on Friday.
Last season, Bremerton upended Sequim 21-6, sending the Wolves to 0-3 for the first time in 10 years.
Wiker said the Knights lost many top athletes from last year’s league title-winning squad but isn’t as concerned about the Bremerton team as his own.
“A big key for us is taking care of ourselves,” he said. “It’s, ‘Alignment, assignment, stance.’ That’s what we have to do first. That’s our mantra this year.”
Reach Michael Dashiell at editor@sequimgazette.com.
