Olympic League standings
Team Lg. Over.
Sequim 3-0 5-0
Olympic 2-1 2-3
Bremerton 1-1 2-3
North Kitsap 1-1 4-1
Port Angeles 1-1 1-4
North Mason 1-2 3-2
Kingston 0-3 1-4
Down 9-7 in a crucial match-up at Olympic last week, Sequim coaches called a pair of time outs in the first two minutes of the second half to make sure everyone was on the same page.
“It was a critical (drive) to stop them,” Sequim coach Erik Wiker said, moments after Sequim locked up a 28-9 win in Silverdale on Oct. 5.
“It was lining them up for (Olympic’s) funky offense and getting their minds right.”
It seemed to work. What followed was a missed Trojan field goal, a Sequim drive that survived a reversed fumble call and a number of key second-half stops that helped the Wolves (3-0 in league, 5-0 overall) take the proverbial driver’s seat to an Olympic League crown.
For more photos from the game, click here.
Sequim running back Taig Wiker ran roughshod over the Trojan defense for 258 yards and two touchdowns as the Wolves remained perfect in league play.
“They’re good and they’re dangerous,” Erik Wiker said of Olympic, who intercepted Sequim quarterback Riley Cowan twice and kept SHS’s defense on its toes with varied offensive schemes.
“They’re well-coached and their kids were prepared,” Erik Wiker said. “These guys are athletic enough to beat us. It was basically a league championship-type game.”
Wiker’s sophomore son shouldered the load with 35 rushes on the offensive end and stopped a pair of Olympic drives with interceptions from his linebacker position.
“Taig was huge tonight,” Sequim senior lineman Johnnie Young said.
After the teams traded possessions for much of the first half, Olympic jumped out to a 6-0 lead in the second quarter after Darelle White capped a 90-yard drive with a 12-yard scoring rush.
Sequim came back with a 64-yard drive of its own, with Cowan connecting on four passes — his last, a nine-yard strike to Kyler Rollness for a touchdown and a 7-6 lead with 55 seconds left in the half.
Sequim looked to have the halftime advantage, but Olympic used a cross-field lateral on the kickoff to set up Joshua Kennedy’s 26-yard field goal.
“We’ve been down before,” Young said, noting the Wolves’ 16-0 deficit to Forks on week two of the season before a 20-16 Sequim victory.
“We know we can come back; everyone was positive (at halftime),” Young said, pointing to Sequim’s energy and effort as the deciding difference.
“Our coaches prepared us so well,” he said.
In the third quarter’s opening drive, Olympic got to Sequim’s 15-yard-line but Kennedy’s field goal try hit the post.
Sequim answered with a drive to the Trojan 2-yard-line, and then things got a bit sketchy. A Sequim handoff to Taig Wiker got loose and the Trojans scooped up the loose ball and returned it to near midfield. Sequim coaches insisted their player crossed the goal line while Olympic coaches sought confirmation of the fumble. After deliberation, officials ruled the Sequim running back down by contact at the 2.
Two plays later, Cowan scored on a quarterback sneak and a 13-6 lead Sequim, an advantage the Wolves would never relinquish.
Taig Wiker stuffed an Olympic fourth-and-short play at the Trojan 32-yard line on the next Trojan drive, and four plays later found paydirt and a 21-9 Sequim lead.
He added a 19-yard scoring scamper with about eight minutes left to seal the Sequim victory.
Quarterback Ezekiel Gillick led a balanced Olympic attack with 190 passing yards, while White (48 yards rushing) and Malcolm Dewalt (85 yards) paced the Trojan ground attack.
“The wildcat (formation) definitely caught us off guard,” Young said.
For Sequim, Cowan finished 11-of-21 for 117 yards, a score and two interceptions.
Rollness led the team with four receptions for 41 yards and a touchdown.
Sequim’s defense stopped all four Olympic fourth down conversions in the second half.
League on the line
With the win and a Bremerton loss last week, the Wolves can clinch a league crown with a victory at home when Sequim and Port Angeles renew the Rainshadow Rumble on Oct. 12 in Sequim.
Game time is 7 p.m.
“We’ve got the best mix of guys we’ve had in a while,” Young said.
“For me, this (PA match-up) is the biggest game so far,” he said.
Last week, the Roughriders upended Bremerton on the road, 28-9.
Last season, Sequim topped the Riders 29-14. The Wolves have won their past three match-ups against Port Angeles.
Sequim closes the regular season with a pair of road games: Oct. 19 at non-league foe Hoquiam, and Oct. 26 at Bremerton.
Oct. 5 — Sequim 28, at Olympic 9
Sequim 0 7 14 7 — 28
Olympic 0 9 0 0 — 9
Scoring:
Second quarter
O — White 12 run (kick failed), 5:32
S — Rollness 9 pass from Cowan (Cowan kick), 0:55
O — Kennedy 26 field goal, 0:00
Third quarter
S — Cowan 1 run (pass failed), 5:19
S — Wiker 2 run (Wiker run), 2:15
Fourth quarter
S — Wiker 19 run (Cowan kick), 8:13
Sequim stats:
Passing: Cowan 11-21, 117 yards, TD, 2 Ints; Wiker 0-1
Rushing: Wiker 35-258, 2 TDs; Cowan 10-7, TD; Whitney 1-(-4)
Receiving: Young 4-43; Rollness 4-41, TD; Wiker 1-24; Allen 1-5; Langston 1-4
First downs: 21
Third down: 5-10
Fourth down: 1-5
Penalties: 8-50
Olympic stats
Passing: Gillick 18-30, 190 yards, 2 Ints
Rushing: DeWalt 15-85; White 5-48, TD; Gillick 10-12; Feistner 3-5; Bailey 1-3
Receiving: Johnson 6-72; DeWalt 5-59; Andrews 3-31; White 2-20; Feistner 2-8
First downs: 20
Third down: 5-9
Fourth down: 0-5
With teammates looking on, Sequim running back Taig Wiker turns a short screen into a big gain. Wiker racked up 258 yards on35 carries in the Wolves’ 28-9 win at Olympic on Oct. 5. Sequim Gazette photo by Michael Dashiell
Sequim linebacker Johnnie Young, left, keeps a close eye on Olympic quarterback Ezekiel Gillick in the Wolves’ 28-9 win on Oct. 5. Sequim Gazette photo by Michael Dashiell
Sequim linebacker Johnnie Young, left, keeps a close eye on Olympic quarterback Ezekiel Gillick in the Wolves’ 28-9 win on Oct. 5. Sequim Gazette photo by Michael Dashiell
Sequim defensive lineman Austin Newton tries to wrap up Olympic running back Malcolm DeWalt in the first half of Sequim’s 28-9 win in Silverdale on Oct. 5. Sequim Gazette photo by Michael Dashiell
Sequim defensive lineman Austin Newton tries to wrap up Olympic running back Malcolm DeWalt in the first half of Sequim’s 28-9 win in Silverdale on Oct. 5. Sequim Gazette photo by Michael Dashiell
