By Oly Archibald
PORT ANGELES — The winter high school sports season has officially started as Rebecca Gundersen’s Port Angeles Roughriders bowling team opened the season against Olympic. The Roughriders lost to the Trojans 6-1 but had some standout performances. Co-captains Abby Robinson and Paige Pangaro had the top scores of 171 and 156. Freshman Xoey Penn earned a turkey with 3 consecutive strikes and bowled a 144. The Roughriders host Sequim on Monday.
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The Roughrider swim team will be swimming around Federal Way at the Aquatic Center for the state swim meet. Roughrider Head coach Sally Cole said she is really pleased with her young team qualifying 7 of her swimmers for 10 events. The meet starts tonight and runs all day on Saturday. It’s truly a great sporting event to attend.
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In NWAC soccer action, it’s “Final Four” time for both Peninsula soccer teams. The 4th ranked Pirate Men take on #1 ranked Columbia Basin at 1:30 pm and the #1 ranked Pirate Women take on 2nd ranked Spokane at 6:30 pm. The winners will advance to the Championship games on Sunday in Tukwila.
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The big night has arrived for the Port Angeles Roughrider football team. Their first state tournament bid since 2010. Their award for knocking Franklin Pierce Friday night 28-18 is taking on the #1 ranked state power Tumwater Thunder birds. Tumwater is ranked right there with Lynden and O’Dea as one of the top programs in Washington state football history. Former T-Birds alum Cade Otten, a Washington Husky All American, caught two TDs last Sunday for Tampa Bay and his little brother is a 4-star recruit red shirting this year at Washington.
The T-Birds have one of the highest-powered offenses not only in the state but the nation. The T-Birds averaged 53 points per game and 8 times scored over 55 points this season. They have 6 running backs that are used and all of them average 10 yards per carry in the Wing T formation offense. Combine the Bremerton and Franklin Pierce offense, and you have the T-Bird attack. The leading rushers are Kooper Clark, a 5’9″ 175 lbs. senior with 744 yards on 69 carries and 13 TDs. Logan Cole is a 5’9″ 165 senior with 752 yards and 14 TDs. If the T-Birds rushing attack does not destroy a defense the T-Bird passing attack is just as effective. QB Ethan Kastner a 5’11” 173 lbs. senior has completed 59 of 80 pass attempts for 1,149 yards and 21 TDs with 2 interceptions. When Kastner airs it out, he looks for David Milroy, a 6’2″ 180 lbs. junior. Milroy has 15 receptions for 339 yards and 5 TDs. Brady Bryant is a 5’11” 170 lbs. senior with 7 receptions for 149 yards and 5 TDs. Bryant also has 4 interceptions in the T-Bird secondary.
The T-Bird defense is just as lethal. You start with the very athletic Malijay Tucker, a 6’0″ 250 lbs. junior. Tucker leads the T-Birds in sacks with 6 and 16 tackles for losses.
Despite being the biggest underdog by most of the media, the Roughriders are confident they can slowly work the ball down the field and score while keeping the T-Bird offense on the sideline like the Roughriders did to Franklin Pierce. Roughriders senior lineman Wyatt Leitz said, “If we are going to be state champions we might as well knock off #1 in the first game”!
The Roughriders again received some inspirational love from former Roughrider and New Orleans Saints running back coach Joel Thomas.
The KONP Newsradio pre-game show will start at 6 pm with 1983 Roughrider graduate Derrick Fox the CEO of the Alamo Bowl, one of college football’s biggest bowl games. Derrick talks about growing up in Port Angeles, being one of the Cameron Crazies at Duke University and the job of running the Alamo Bowl and being a big part of college football in general.
The “Dustin Clark Show” will follow and then it’s the Roughrider “Locker Room Show” featuring Roughrider senior linebackers Landon Jones, Ezra Townsend and Jason Hawes. Kickoff is set for 7 pm from Sid Otten Stadium in Tumwater. Oly Archibald and Greg Thomas have the play by play.
Seniors Ezra Townsend and Parker Nickerson, on the KONP post game show, are 2 of 14 Roughrider seniors that have put Roughrider football back on the map