Football: Wolves’ seniors look to share strong work ethic

While their 3-6 overall record might not reflect it, senior receiver Malachi Hampton said Sequim varsity football’s season was great for growth as a team.

“None of these boys gave up; not one single game,” he said.

“Every single game, we came out here, no matter what the game was before, and we just kept on playing one game at a time.”

The Wolves wrapped their regular season on Thursday, Oct. 30 with a 37-23 loss to North Mason, who is set to play in the postseason in Prosser on Nov. 7. Running back Caden Atencio became the Bulldogs’ single season rushing yards leader (1,571 yards) after putting up 250 rushing yards and two touchdown runs in Sequim.

Sequim’s Zeke Schmadeke, a senior, who had 66 yards on the ground and a touchdown catch, said he’s played with many of his teammates since they were little, and they battled adversity all year, including injuries and issues outside of football.

“We came out every game, played hard,” he said. “That’s all you can do.”

With the season over and basketball and baseball seasons ahead of him, Schmadeke said he plans to continue being in the weight room through the school year encouraging the underclassmen.

“It’s a grind,” he said.

“My freshman and sophomore year we were smaller, were undersized … got beat and beat, but we got in the weight room and we had one of our greatest seasons and made a playoff round (last year).

“That’s all it is. There’s just an up and down ground.”

Fellow Sequim senior Andy Keeler echoed this encouraging underclassmen to get in the weight room.

“Watch out because hopefully in the next couple of years we’re going to be getting back to being pretty good,” he said.

Sequim Gazette photo by Matthew Nash/ Andy Keeler checks with the referee to make sure he’s lined up before the play.

In the game

The opening moments didn’t go well for Sequim with North Mason recovering a fumble on the opening kickoff and scoring on a 46 yard pass on their first play 13 seconds into the game.

Atencio scored on a 4 yard touchdown run to help the Bulldogs go up 14-0.

On Sequim’s next possession, they recovered a fumbled punt at the 17 yard line, which led to a field goal by Fred Wilhelm.

In the second quarter, the Bulldogs reclaimed momentum with a touchdown pass, punt return, and field goal to go up 30-3 at halftime.

In the second half, Hampton had a touchdown reception late in the third quarter from Kaden Miller bringing the score to 30-9 with a failed two point conversion after a bad snap for the extra point.

Schmadeke made a touchdown grab early in the fourth, and the extra point was good, but the Bulldogs responded with a long touchdown catch a few minutes later to go back up three scores (37-16).

Sequim’s defense held North Mason to a missed field goal on their next possession, which led to senior Liam Wiker’s five yard rushing touchdown with less than two minutes to play and the 37-22 finish.

The Wolves opened the season with three road wins, including an 18-14 win in Forks on Sept. 5. However, the Wolves went 0-6 in Olympic League play with their most recent games the closest.

Sequim Gazette photo by Matthew Nash Malachi Hampton makes a catch against a North Mason defender. Later in the game, he made a touchdown catch.

Goals set

Hampton, who transferred to Sequim his sophomore year, said he can’t recall ever playing on a team with such a bond.

“It’s just perfect,” he said. “I think it was a really good season for us, no matter what the record was.”

Keeler said he set (and significantly surpassed) his personal goals to record at least one touchdown and a sack, but the Wolves this year didn’t think that way.

“I felt that we grew a lot as a team, especially from our freshman year to this year,” he said.

“It used to be a lot of individuals on the team, and now we’re all teammates on a team, and it’s really nice to play with them.”

Hampton said he set a goal to just come out and play and put his worries behind him, and he encourages younger teammates to just enjoy playing.

“I know times can get rough, things can suck sometimes, but just enjoy playing the game of football,” he said.

“You only got so much time and unless you want to go off to college or you make it to the league, which doesn’t happen very often, you don’t have a lot of time, so just enjoy it.”

Reporter Michael Carman contributed to this report.

Sequim Gazette photo by Matthew Nash/ Liam Wiker rushes forward along the goal line against North Mason on Oct. 30. On the next play he scored on a five yard run.