Eagles fall short in Sequim

SEQUIM — The scene and setting was different but the story, a painful one for Klahowya and its fans, remained the same.

Sequim scored two first-quarter touchdowns, added a third on an 85-yard kickoff return and held off a surging Eagle squad for a 28-25 Olympic League win Friday night in Sequim, effectively sealing both teams’ playoff fates.

Andre Moore had two touchdown runs and 85 yards while Cody Hertenstein ran for 107 more but Klahowya (5-3) fell short of the Wolves by less than a touchdown for the second time this season.

“That’s about as close a game as you can get,” Eagle coach Brad Hamblet said. “(The difference was) the first half: we gave them field position and a long kickoff return.”

Down 14-0 in the second quarter, Klahowya put together a seven-play, 52 yard drive capped by Moore’s 17-yard scamper.

Sequim (6-2) answered right back on the next play as Kincaid Nichols took the ensuing kickoff 85 yards for a score, pushing the Wolves’ lead to 21-7.

Klahowya got some of it back when John McLaughlin kicked a 36-yard field goal with less than a minute on the clock.

And, like they did against Sequim on Sept. 21, the Eagles had almost enough momentum in the second half to make up the halftime disparity. Playing through frigid and rainy conditions, the Eagles put together a nine-play, 65–yard drive that Moore converted for a touchdown, shrugging off a number of tackles from 7 yards to close the score to 21-17.

After Sequim back Travis Decker found the end zone to put Sequim up 28-17, Jeremy Alder ran roughshod through Sequim’s linebackers for a 33-yard touchdown run and Hertenstein converted the two-point play for the game’s final score with 7:28 on the clock.

But the Wolves ran off three-and-a-half minutes and Klahowya couldn’t mount much of a drive with four minutes left. The Eagles’ last-gasp drive died at their own 32-yard-line.

“They definitely came back and played hard,” Hamblet said of his players. “They don’t quit.”

Alder finished with 99 yards on 16 carries, helping the Eagles out-gain Sequim in total yardage 299-159, all on the ground. Neither team completed a pass.

Up next for the Eagles is a non-league contest at Adna. As the Olympic League’s No. 2 team, Klahowya is on the road in week 10 to face the Nisqually League champion, either Fife or Steilacoom, the winner advancing to the first round of the class 2A state playoffs. Last year, under similar circumstances, Klahowya traveled to Fife and fell 56-8.

With the win and Port Townsend’s loss at North Mason Friday night, the Wolves claim the Olympic League 2A title and host a state playoff play-in game in week 10.

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