Community Sports
Peninsula falls one play short against undefeated Lakes
The Peninsula (2-4, 1-2 Puget Sound League) football team gave Lakes (6-0, 3-0) all the Lancers could handle on Friday, Oct. 12, at Roy Anderson Field. But the Seahawks’ last-second pass in the end zone fell to the ground, securing a 21-15 victory for the visitors.
Both teams displayed tenacious defense early in the contest. The only scoring in the first quarter was a safety forced by the feisty Seahawk defense.
Yet Peninsula’s offense showed it could move the ball early, with runs from last week’s offensive star, Kobe Dejohnette, and tailback Wyatt Abrigo, who had just returned from injury.
Lakes got their first big offensive play when their tailback ripped a 55-yard run to the Seahawks’ 15-yard line near the end of the first quarter. Lakes got on the board a couple plays later with a 2-yard touchdown run.
The Seahawks threatened on the next possession with Abrigo’s 21-yard gain, but quarterback Mana Smythe’s deep pass hung in the air a little too long and a Lakes safety made a leaping interception.
The Lancers capitalized on the turnover, mostly running behind a physical offensive line. They scored again from five yards out on a nifty wide receiver reverse. Lakes got a two-point conversion when their holder stood up and fired to an out-breaking tight end. Up 15-2 midway through the second quarter, it looked like Lakes may run away with this one.
But that outlook changed quickly when Jake Akiskalian, the Seahawks’ versatile Swiss Army knife, returned the ensuing kickoff 55 yards to the Lancers’ 32-yard line.
Then Smythe looked to his left, executed a perfect pump fake that froze a defensive back, and hit receiver Hayden Bundy in stride for a pretty 24-yard touchdown that tightened the score to 15-9.
Bundy made another big catch a few minutes later, this time from his safety position. He jumped to intercept a pass, ending a sustained Lancers drive.
Hayden Bundy of Peninsula, shown in a game earlier this season, had a touchdown and two interceptions on Oct. 11 against Lakes. Photo by Bryce Carithers
Despite a difficult start, the Seahawks were only down six points at halftime.
After an impressive routine from the Seahawk cheerleaders, the Peninsula band took the field before the Homecoming court and the King and Queen were announced to a large audience of Seahawk supporters.
The Lancers started the second half with a long drive that consumed a big chunk of the third quarter clock. They reached the Peninsula six-yard line before the Seahawk defense stripped a Lancer of the ball and Akiskalian recovered the fumble.
The pattern repeated itself. The Seahawks punted, then Lakes mounted a long drive that ended in a turnover. It was Bundy again, who picked off a pass thrown under intense pressure from the Seahawks defensive line.
Bundy returned his second interception of the night up the sideline to the Peninsula 33-yard line and the Seahawks were back in business.
The Lakes defense held, forcing Peninsula to go into its bag of tricks. Smythe, who doubles as Peninsula’s punter, drifted to his right looking like he may execute a running punt on fourth down. Instead he fired a cross-field pass to a wide-open Bundy, who hauled it in and raced up the field to the Lakes 35-yard line.
After a pass interference penalty, an inside screen pass, and a run from Bundy, Jacob Martin scored on a two-yard run to tie the game at 15. But Lakes blocked the extra-point attempt, which left the score tied in the fourth quarter.
The Seahawk defense needed one more stop with less than three minutes to go, but gave up a 51-yard pass up the sideline to Jalen Boone, who looked like he would score before Akiskalian made a shoestring tackle inside the Seahawks’ 10 yard line.
The Lancers took the lead for good with a touchdown on a fly sweep to the short side of the field from five yards out. The Lakes kicker gave the Seahawks hope by missing his extra point attempt wide left. Lakes led 21-15.
The Peninsula offense breaks the huddle. Photo by Bryce Carithers
The Lancers kicked off short and got just what they wanted when a Seahawk lunged for the ball. It went off his fingertips and into the waiting arms of a Lakes player for a turnover.
The Seahawks got a stop and forced a punt, bringing their offense back on the field on their 20 yard line with just over a minute to go.
Peninsula marched down the field — a 22-yard Smythe run with a 15-yard unnecessary penalty; a 20-yard catch-and-run by Abrigo; a 12-yard screen pass to Bundy — to put themselves in position. With three seconds left in the game, the Seahawks had the ball at the 20-yard line.
On the game’s final play, Peninsula sent four receivers on go routes to the end zone, trying to split the safeties and open some space. But Smythe’s pass in the end zone fell incomplete and Lakes escaped from Purdy with a hard-fought, 21-15 victory to remain unbeaten.
Peninsula has a must-win game on Oct. 17 against River Ridge (4-2, 2-1) at Roy Anderson Field to climb into a possible playoff picture. They close the regular season at Timberline (1-5, 0-3) on Oct. 24.
Gig Harbor wins a down-to-the-wire affair
Gig Harbor (3-3, 2-1) earned a vital win at Central Kitsap (1-2, 2-4) on Friday to keep their postseason aspirations alive.
The Tides’ 17-13 win in Silverdale wasn’t secure until 8.7 seconds remained on the clock.
Central Kitsap opened the scoring with a five-yard touchdown run with four minutes left in the first quarter. Gig Harbor’s Peyton Howard blocked the extra point, a play that would pay dividends later.
The Tides closed to within 6-3 on Boone Leverett’s 25-yard field goal. Gig Harbor’s Ryland Geldermann set up the kick with a 25-yard scamper down the sideline. That score held for the remainder of the first half.
CK took a 13-3 lead on a 61-yard touchdown run with 8:49 to go in the third quarter.
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The Cougars still led by 10 when the Tides found themselves facing fourth and 10 at their own 40-yard line with six minutes to go in the game. That’s when freshman quarterback Sawyer Hayes found unsung senior Joseph Young, who made the biggest catch of his high school career across the middle for a first down.
DJ Darling hauled in a 15-yard reception, then Geldermann pulled Gig Harbor back within 13-10 with a five-yard touchdown run with 4:05 left.
The Cougars fumbled a quarterback-running back exchange and Gig Harbor’s Keegan Johnson pounced on it at the Cougars’ 20-yard line with 3:09 to play in the game.
Gig Harbor seized the lead on a misdirection play. Hayes rolled left and threw across his body to an out-cutting Darling, who caught the pass in the end zone to make the score 17-13 with 2:13 to go in the game.
Hayes may not be Josh Allen at this point, going 8-17 for 84 yards with a touchdown. But he deserves credit for throwing catchable balls when the pressure mounted in a must-win game.
Gig Harbor linebacker Cole Krillich made a clutch interception with a 33-yard return on CK’s next possession. Krilich handed the ball back to his offense at the Cougar 10 yard line after dragging several tacklers on the return.
Gig Harbor ran the ball three straight plays to force the Cougars to use their remaining timeouts. But Leverett’s chip-shot field goal attempt was wide left and the Cougars had life with a minute to go from their own 10-yard line.
The Tides got a sack on fourth down and it appeared the game was over. But a referee called a questionable unnecessary roughness penalty that moved the ball to the Tide 45-yard line with an automatic first down. A 20-yard run by the CK quarterback gave the Cougars a first down at the Gig Harbor 25-yard line with 8.7 seconds left.
Gig Harbor clung to a four-point lead. Thanks to Howard’s blocked extra point in the first quarter, the Cougars could not tie the game with a field goal.
Howard sacked the CK quarterback on the final play to finally secure a 17-13 Gig Harbor win over Central Kitsap.
“I thought our O line did a great job creating seams for the running backs tonight and we really played well as a team to fight through adversity,” Gig Harbor coach Darren Reeves said.
Gig Harbor plays at Mount Tahoma at 7 p.m. Oct. 18.