For their first game using the spread offense, Sequim’s Wolves looked awful comfortable in it on Friday night.
Sequim used precision passing and the galloping legs of senior running back Travis Decker to a 51-0 blowout of Forks on Sept. 4.
The Wolves scored on each of their first seven possessions and were so efficient in the new-look offense they faced just five third downs all game.
"I think (Forks) was worse off because they didn’t know what was coming,’ Sequim coach Erik Wiker said after his team pounced on the Spartans for 38 first-half points.
"They (Sequim players) really prepared on both sides of the ball," Wiker said. "They excelled, except for the penalties."
Despite 15 penalties in the contest, Sequim moved the ball quickly and effectively all night against the overmatched Spartans, making up for any miscues with quick slant pattern passes over the middle and mixing in a long run from Decker.
Quarterback Drew Rickerson connected on all 11 first half passes and was 13-of-14 for 127 yards and two scores overall. Back-up QBs Joey Hall and Frank Catelli each had touchdown throws.
"It was sweet; the spread (system) is money," Clancy Catelli said.
The senior tight end caught four passes Friday night, two for scores.
"I don’t think there’s any kinks to this offense," he said.
Decker, the workhorse for much of the past two seasons for a predominantly run-first Sequim offense, still racked up 105 yards on just eight carries and two touchdowns.
"I like (the spread offense) a lot," said Decker, who had a 50-yard romp in the first quarter negated by a holding penalty.
Decker says this team has talented players at several positions, including his own.
"It’s nice knowing you can take a play off and someone just as good as you goes in," he said.
Sequim scores
early and often
The Wolves, ranked No. 8 in the 2A classification in a Tacoma News Tribune preseason poll, stopped the first Spartan drive thanks to first of two Isaac Yamamoto quarterback sacks.
Rickerson found receiver Joel Anastasi for 10 yards on the first play from scrimmage. Seven plays later, Decker found the end zone from 14 yards out, and a two point conversion made it 8-0 Sequim.
After a Forks three downs-and-out, Decker went to work once again. On Sequim’s fourth play on the drive from midfield, Decker slipped through the Spartan defense for 25 yards, then repeated the effort for his second touchdown on the next play. Another two-point conversion made it 16-0 Wolves.
Yamamoto sacked Forks quarterback Brian Santman on the next Spartan possession and punt returner Alex Gillis broke through coverage for a 51-yard touchdown on the second play of the second quarter. Sequim took a 24-0 lead.
Another three-and-out for Forks gave Sequim the ball back in Spartan territory and Hall, one of Sequim’s backup quarterbacks, found Clancy Catelli in the end zone from 7 yards out. Another two-point conversion made it 32-0 Wolves.
Forks’ fifth drive ended abruptly when Clancy Catelli knocked Forks quarterback Brady Castellano’s throw into the waiting hands of Catelli’s brother Frank.
Drew Rickerson capped Sequim’s fifth scoring drive of the half with a deep, 27-yard strike to Gillis for a 38-0 halftime lead.
Sequim added two scores in the third quarter – a 12-yard Drew Rickerson-to-Clancy Catelli pass and a 44-yard throw from Frank Catelli to Anastasi – to complete the scoring.
The bright spots for Forks: 43 rushing yards from freshman running back Shane Whiteeagle and the new rule in Washington prep football that keeps the clock running when a team amasses a 45-point second half lead, a kind of mercy rule.
The Spartans needed it Friday.
Roughriders
come to town
Up next for the Wolves is cross-peninsula rival Port Angeles. The Roughriders (0-1) are coming off a 24-12 loss at North Mason.
When the Roughriders are on their game, they give Sequim’s Wolves a tough match-up: in three games between 2005 and 2007, Port Angeles won a pair of games by seven points or less while Sequim won a 19-6 contest that was closer than the score indicates.
But last season Sequim dominated, topping the green-and-white P.A. squad 38-7 in front of the Roughrider faithful at Civic Field.
Sequim coach Erik Wiker says despite their loss to North Mason and coming off a 1-9 in 2008, Port Angeles players are always up for this rivalry game.
The Roughriders showed a wing-T formation of offense against the Bulldogs in week one, a formation Wiker and the Wolves have seen several times in recent seasons. The formation is designed to confuse defenses with multiple running options.
Reach Michael Dashiell at miked@sequimgazette.com.
Rivalry week: Sequim vs. Port Angeles Roughriders
When: 7 p.m., Friday, Sept. 11
Where: Sequim High School athletic field, 601 N. Sequim Ave.
Tickets: $5 for adults, high school/middle school students w/o ASB card; $3 for seniors (60+), middle school students with ASB card, K-5 students; high school students w/ASB cards, preschool students are free
Series (since 2004): Sequim leads 3-2
2008 result: Sequim 38, Port Angeles 7
