Sequim Gazette staff

This non-league game was a non-starter — and for good reasons.

Centralia High School was shut down after staff received a threat of violence on Oct. 2 and the district shut down after-school activities — including the high school’s Homecoming game against Sequim later that evening, according to The Chronicle newspaper in Centralia.

Investigators say high school staff found a note at about 10 a.m. that stated a student planned to kill people during an assembly later in the day, The Chronicle reported.

“The buildings have been searched and we found nothing,” school district communications coordinator Ed Petersen told the newspaper.

Last week was Centralia High’s Homecoming week and an assembly was scheduled for Friday afternoon, with the non-league football Sequim-Centralia game to follow in the evening. However, the game, Homecoming dance and all other school activities through the weekend were postponed.

Though there was talk of rescheduling the game but, “a varsity game is hard to get together in a half day,” Dave Ditlefsen, Sequim High School athletic director, said.

“We didn’t get final call until 4:30, 5 p.m. — at that point they still hadn’t made a decision with their dance (set for) Saturday night,” he said.

With several Sequim players set to take SAT tests the following day (Sturday) and other commitments, the schools agreed to cancel the varsity game, Ditlefsen said.

Instead, the schools agreed to keep the already scheduled Sequim-Centralia junior varsity game set for Oct. 5. Ditlefsen, who also is an assistant coach for Sequim’s varsity team, said teams agreed to have several junior and sophomores from both squads play good portions of the first half and true JV squads in the second half of Monday’s game.

Sequim was coming off a 27-10 home loss to North Kitsap the week previous. Centralia was coming off a 13-0 loss to Kelso.

The Wolves (1-1 in Olympic League play, 3-1 overall) jump back into Olympic League play this week with a game at North Mason. The Bulldogs (1-2, 1-4) are coming off a 49-14 drubbing at the hands of league-leading North Kitsap on Oct. 2.

Ditlefsen said a kind of silver lining in the game’s cancelation is that the week off gives Sequim a chance to heal some injuries and get focused for key upcoming games.

“We have four very important league games coming up — to be healthy and fresh and energized is important,” he said.

Last season, Sequim edged North Mason 26-20 in overtime.