PORT ANGELES — Junior quarterback Carter Windle was in command of the Forks passing game and the Spartans defense stood tall in a 23-0 season-opening shutout of Port Angeles on Friday at Civic Field.
“I’m very proud of our guys, they showed a lot of toughness,” Forks coach Trevor Highfield.
“First game you’re going to have things like we had tonight — penalties, tackling is always an issue. We figured we would either win or learn and regardless — the win is still a big learning opportunity.”
Windle completed 19 of 27 passes for 258 yards, an interception and two touchdown passes to Logan Olson on the game.
“For a first-year varsity starter, he did an awesome job,” Highfield said. “We have some decisions we have to clean up, no question. But I’m very, very proud of him and everything he’s doing.”
Up 3-0 thanks to a first quarter field goal by Ethan Bello, the Spartans broke the game open with three touchdowns in the final 12:31 of the game.
Windle found Olson in the left corner of the end for a 3-yard TD.
The Spartans later scored on a 1-yard run by Dalton Kilmer.
A 22-yard pass from Windle to Olson on a tipped pass capped the big win.
“I was reading the corner not playing up on Logan, so he did a little helmet tap and did a go [route],” Windle said of the final scoring play.
Highfield enjoyed his team’s effort.
“We showed we could run the ball, we did a good job offensively,” he said. “Our defense made huge plays when we needed to. We kind of said the defense would be the backbone of our team and they stepped up tonight. I’m very excited about how hard we played.
“We made big strides between the first and second halves and we will make bigger strides between the first and second games.”
Forks (1-0) hosts Sequim next Friday.
Port Angeles (0-1) visits Class 3A North Thurston in Lacey.
Forks 23, Port Angeles 0
Forks 3 0 6 14— 23
PA 0 0 0 0— 0
First Quarter
F—Bello 35 field goal
Third Quarter
F—Olson 3 pass from Windle (kick failed)
Fourth Quarter
F—Kilmer 1 run (Bello kick)
F—Olson 22 pass from Windle (Bello kick)
Sequim 42, Washington 14
SEQUIM — The Wolves romped to a 28-0 halftime lead over the Patriots and didn’t look back in a season-opening win Friday night.
Taig Wiker threw three first-half touchdown passes, connecting with Garrett Hoesel, Hayden Eaton and Jonas Welch on touchdown passes of 78-, 45- and 5-yards. And Walker Ward also scored on the ground in the first half as the Wolves rolled.
Wiker finished the night 13 of 18 for 220 yards and the three scores and ran 10 times for 48 more yards.
Sophomore backup Kobe Applegate tossed a fourth-quarter TD to Zachery Ballantine.
Wiker and Ballentine completed 16 passes combined to 11 different Sequim receivers.
Sequim (1-0) visits Forks (1-0) next Friday.
Sequim 42, Washington 14
Washington 0 0 0 14— 14
Sequim 13 15 8 6— 42
First Quarter
S—Hoesel 78 pass from Wiker (Hoesel kick)
S—Ward 1 run (kick failed)
Second Quarter
S—Welch 5 pass from Wiker (Wiker pass to Eaton)
S—Eaton 45 pass from Wiker (Hoesel kick)
Third Quarter
S—Safety
S—Ward 10 run (kick failed)
Fourth Quarter
W— 90 fumble return (kick good)
S—Ballentine 21 pass from Applegate (Hoesel kick)
W—9 run (kick good)
Individual Stats
Rushing—S: Ward 17-55; Wiker 10-48, Young 2-20; Fitzgerald 6-14; B. Mote 1-10; Applegate 4-0.
Passing—S: Wiker 13-18-220, 3 TD; Applegate 3-5-38, TD.
Receiving—S: Hoesel 1-78; Eaton 3-54; Nestor 3-28; Young 2-22; Ballentine 1-21; Elias 1-16, Ward 1-11, Pinnell 1-9, Porter 1-9, Moore 1-6, Welch 1-5.
Port Townsend 49, Coupeville 16
COUPEVILLE — Dylan Tracer racked up four touchdowns, two on the ground and quarterback Noa Montoya threw for three TDs, ran for another and intercepted two passes defensively to lead Port Townsend to a thumping of the Wolves.
“We are really happy with everybody tonight,” Redhawks coach Patrick Gaffney said. “We expected Dylan and Montoya to be impact players for us again and they really were.”
Gaffney came away impressed with Coupeville’s Sean Toomey-Stout.
“They had Toomey-Stout, we had Tracer and Montoya. There were several drives where he made every tackle. He impressed us on the sidelines.
“When Dylan gets going and guys start keying on him, then we have Noa.”
Montoya had time and Tracer had room to run behind an offensive line boasting three freshman starters.
“Noa didn’t get sacked all night with three freshmen linemen,” Gaffney said.
Tanner Woodley caught one of Montoya’s touchdown passes.
“Tanner Woodley outjumped two guys to get that one,” Gaffney said. It was a perfectly thrown ball.”
Tracer added a safety on defense.
The Redhawks were lifted by the play of two freshmen on the defensive side of the ball.
“Rickey Vega really stepped up on the defensive line and Toby Fulton made some great plays at linebacker,” Gaffney said. “He played lights out for a freshman.”
Evan Toner was praised for his play at defensive end.
Jerome Reaux Jr. capped the scoring with a rushing touchdown late for Port Townsend.
The Redhawks (1-0) visit Kingston on Thursday.
“We heard Kingston beat Klahowya, so we know they are improved,” Gaffney said. “We have some things to work on and clean up for next week.”
