This one was truly a Rumble in the Rainshadow.

In one of the most exciting games in recent years in the long rivalry between the Sequim and Port Angeles football teams, Sequim quarterback Lars Wiker hit Toppy Robideau with a 15-yard touchdown pass with 20 seconds left in the game to beat the Roughriders 36-32 on Sept. 23.

Sequim roared back from a 20-0 first-half deficit. Port Angeles mounted its own comeback in the fourth quarter with starting quarterback Parker Nickerson out of the game with a leg injury.

The two teams combined for four touchdowns in the fourth quarter.

And ultimately, the game came down to whoever had the ball last.

It was the seventh straight win for Wolves over their Olympic Peninsula rivals.

“We’re 0-3, down 20 in the first quarter. To come back from that. That’s crazy,” Wiker said.

“We kept our heads in the game. We knew we could stick with these guys,” said Isaiah Moore, who contributed a spectacular touchdown catch.

“That was one hell of a game.”

Photo by Keith Thorpe/Olympic Peninsula News Group Sequim’s Toppy Robideau, left, makes an end-zone reception over the defense of Port Angeles’ Tanner Jacobsen in the closing seconds of the fourth quarter to put the Wolves over the Roughriders on Sept. 23 in Port Angeles.

Wiker said he was part of a huge comeback last year that entailed a 93-yard winning drive.

“I’ve been there before; that game had a little bit of everything,” he said. “In the second half, we started dominating them a little bit.”

Said Sequim coach Erik Wiker, “It was a great game to be a part of. I would have been proud of my kids even if they hadn’t scored at the end.”

Robideau said the play that produced the game-winning TD, was supposed to go to the right side.

“QB and coach Wiker told me to run a skinny post [route] if there was no free safety and when I saw there wasn’t I ran it and caught it,” Robideau said.

“They are our biggest rival, so it’s a big win, besides it being our first win. We didn’t have a good start to practice this week, but we got going.”

Coach Wiker said he told his players they could compete with the Riders even after Port Angeles got up big because the Riders scored all of their points on three big plays, not sustained drives.

“We had the more potent offense,” coach Wiker said.

Port Angeles coach Dustin Clark said it was a lot of little things that hurt the Riders. One of those little things — six offsides penalties.

“It was that and guys not quite doing what they were supposed to be doing,” Clark said. “We couldn’t get stops when we needed them.”

“No one on our team gave up when we were down 20-0. That’s what impressed me the most,” Sequim running back Aiden Gockerell said.

“Our line stepped up their blocking, Lars [Wiker] threw some dimes and Toppy [Robideau Jr.] made a play.”

Gockerell was a workhorse in this game, running the ball 32 times for 204 yards — his second-consecutive game with 200-plus rushing yards.

Lars Wiker had 176 yards passing.

Coming up

The Wolves get back-to-back home dates, taking on Kingston for SHS’s 2022 Homecoming Game on Sept. 30, and Olympic on Oct. 7.

Kingston (2-2) is coming off a 61-30 home loss to Bremerton.