Fall sports preview: Wolves football is primed for postseason push

Fall sports preview: Sequim High School Football

2016 record: 7-3 overall, 5-1 in Olympic League (second); 0-1 in postseason

Head coach: Erik Wiker (14th season)

Expected starters, offense: Riley Cowan (QB), Gavin Velarde (WR), Kyler Rollness (WR), Nate Despain (WR), Jarrett Allen (WR), Hayden Gresli (RB), Masen Larsen (OL), Tyler Conn (OL), Austin Henning (OL), Adam DiFilippo (OL), Johnnie Young (OL)

Expected starters, defense: Larsen (DL), Henning (DL), Ben Cowan (DL), Cody Bell (DL), DiFilippo (MLB), Young (MLB), Gresli (OLB), Ben Newell (OLB), Rollness (DB), Despain (DB), Velarde (S)

Sequim’s Wolves ended a four-year postseason absence with a solid campaign last fall that led to the West Central District playoffs.

And despite losing 80 percent of his offensive line, SHS head coach Erik Wiker likes his team’s chances in 2017.

“I think we’ll win a lot of games,” said Wiker, the 14-year veteran coach of the Wolves, who seek to echo or improve their 7-3 mark in 2016.

Sequim senior Mason Larsen is the lone returning lineman protecting Olympic League Offensive MVP quarterback Riley Cowan.

“The line’s getting better all the time,” Wiker said as he watched a preseason drill last week.

Because the Wolves, as in recent seasons, are relying on a pass-heavy offense, Wiker says Sequim will play to their strengths.

“We’ll pass a lot, run some and screen some like we always do,” he said. “We have a ton of good receivers.”

Leading that receiving corps is Olympic League MVP Gavin Velarde, a triple-threat athlete who set school records with 58 catches for 919 receiving yards and 11 touchdowns. He chipped in 230 yards and five scores on running plays.

Velarde — who now owns the school mark with 1,732 receiving yards (Tyler Forshaw is second with 1,222), receptions (103), touchdowns (19, tied with Ryan Rutherford) and 100-yard games (eight) — is a threat to score on kicks as well. He has a seven kickoff returns for touchdowns in his prep career, three of them last year.

None of them was bigger than his game-opening score in week four against Bremerton. The Knights, who had knocked Sequim out of the playoff hunt the previous season, couldn’t catch the speedy Velarde and it wound up being the difference in a 7-0 Wolves win.

“I went back and looked at the tape (and) it was all Gavin,” Wiker said. “We blocked well downfield, but he had three jukes at the 10-yard-line.

“Playmakers are nice. They can make you look like a great coach.”

Sequim went on to win five of their six league games to finish second, behind North Kitsap, scoring about 33 points per game.

For the third consecutive season Wiker will have Cowan leading the offense. Last season, the then-sophomore threw for 1,980 yards — the second-highest total ever for Wolves — and had the most touchdowns (24) thrown in a single season.

“We ask him to do a lot,” Wiker says of Cowan, noting the quarterback needs to be ready to carry out as many as 100 different plays.

Cowan now has the second-most passing yards in school history with 3,120, behind Drew Rickerson (4,857), and is second in career touchdowns with 36 (Rickerson leads with 52).

Wiker says a third year under his belt helps Cowan be a leader on the field, along with Velarde and junior receiver Kyler Rollness.

“Having Riley, Kyler and Gavin, the team can be more advanced. (It’s) because of their leadership,” Wiker said.

Rollness had 414 yards and five touchdowns as a receiver in 2016. The Wolves add Nate Despain, who starts at point guard in the winter, to their receiving and defensive back corps.

Hayden Gresli, who had 69 yards on the ground in 2016 takes over prime running back responsibilities.

Velarde anchors the defense from his safety position; as a junior, he intercepted two goal-line passes for scores in 2016.

Similar schedule

The Wolves play a mirror image of their 2016 schedule this fall, simply swapping home and away locations with their league foes along with non-league opponents Port Townsend, Montesano and Centralia.

“We’re not going to surprise anyone,” Wiker said of the schedule.

In 2016, Sequim book-ended a 66-34 loss to 1A powerhouse Montesano with close wins against Port Townsend and Centralia, and another in week four against Bremerton.

“Last year was a little overachieving of a team,” Wiker said. I tell them, ‘All the little things matter.’ We had great goal-line defense (in those three games). We could have been 0-4 or 3-1 by just a little bit.”

Following a 42-7 loss to eventual league champ North Kitsap, Sequim won convincingly in their four remaining Olympic League games before falling 59-42 to Eatonville in the district playoffs.

“It’s how the team responds. (They played better) because they played somebody tough. It’s, ‘How do you respond in a crisis?’”

The Wolves were scheduled to open up their 2017 season at home against Port Townsend’s Redhawks on Sept. 1 but a lack of eligible players for PT canceled that match-up. As of Aug. 28, SHS athletic director Dave Ditlefsen said the team was not able to reschedule a team for the opening week.

The Wolves are at Montesano on Sept. 8 and then host Centralia on Sept. 15.

SHS Football — 2017 season schedule

Sept. 1 — Sequim vs. Port Townsend, 7 p.m — CANCELED

Notes: Port Townsend owns an edge in the head-to-head matchup all-time, 44-40, with five ties, but Sequim has won the past seven match-ups, winning each season from 2002-2007 and last year, 27-26 … a resurgent Redhawks squad has racked up a 17-3 record in the past two seasons, going 7-3 and out-scoring opponents by an average of 39 points per game in those seven wins … They lost in the first round of the 1A state playoffs to La Center, 28-7.

Sept. 8 — Sequim at Montesano, 7 p.m.

Notes: Perennial 1A powerhouse Montesano clobbered Sequim 66-34 last year in the first meeting between the schools since 1945 … the Bulldogs went 11-1 overall in 2016, falling to eventual state runner-up Connell in the round of 16 at the class 1A state tournament … Sequim’s 34 points were the most Montesano gave up last year, with Aberdeen’s 20 points the second-most.

Sept. 15 — Centralia at Sequim, 7 p.m.

Notes: After a matchup between the teams never materialized in 2015 (a threat of violence shut Centralia’s after-school activities), Sequim knocked off the Tigers 28-14 on the road in 2016 … Centralia went 3-6 in 2016 for the second consecutive season, missing the postseason … the teams have played just three times, including a 2A state playoff game in 2008 … Tigers have a new coach in Jeremy Thibault.

Sept. 22 — Bremerton at Sequim, 7 p.m.

Notes: Sequim won a classic in Bremerton in 2016, with Gavin Velarde taking the opening kickoff in for the game’s only score, a 7-0 SHS win … The Knights had won each of the past three match-ups by seven points or less … Sequim owns an 11-7 all-time series lead … The Knights improved for the third consecutive season in 2016, going 5-4 before losing to Franklin Pierce 60-7 in the 2A state playoffs.

Sept. 29 — Sequim at North Kitsap, 7 p.m.

Notes: Vikings were Olympic League champs in 2016, their third title in four seasons … NK handed Sequim’s Wolves their only league loss, a 42-7 decision in Sequim … Vikings have won past six meetings … NK leads the series 35-11, with two ties … the Poulsbo school went 1-1 in postseason play, knocking off Orting before losing to eventual state 2A champ Archbishop Murphy, 34-0.

Oct. 6 — Sequim at North Mason, 7 p.m.

Notes: In another lopsided Sequim win against the Belfair school, SHS topped the Bulldogs 47-12 in 2016 … the Bulldogs avoided a winless campaign last fall with a 6-0 victory over Port Angeles, the second consecutive season their only league win came against the Roughriders … Sequim is 26-9-1 against the Bulldogs all-time.

Oct. 13 — Olympic at Sequim, 7 p.m.

Notes: Sequim racked up a big road win against the Trojans in 2016, topping the Silverdale school 48-26 … Olympic went 5-4 last fall and edged into the 2A playoffs before falling to Steilacoom, 29-14 … Trojans hold a 15-4 all-time series lead over the Wolves.

Oct. 20 — Sequim at Port Angeles, 7 p.m.

Notes: The Wolves made it two consecutive Rainshadow Rumble series wins with a 49-9 romp in Sequim last season … Roughriders suffered through an 0-9 season in 2016, getting shut out six times and scoring 27 total points … PA has an advantage in all-time series at 52-22, with six ties.

Oct. 27 — Kingston at Sequim, 7 p.m.

Notes: Sequim earned a 37-17 win at Kingston in 2016, a final warm-up for the postseason … SHS is 8-2 since series began in 2007 … Bucs finished 2-8 overall last fall, with wins over North Mason and Port Angeles.