PJH football turns corner late in season

Published 12:00 pm Saturday, November 4, 2006

POULSBO — On the field of play, the one thing that speaks louder than wins and losses is improvement. Despite records, determination and subsequent advancement are a team’s lasting legacy.

The Poulsbo Junior High Panthers are discovering late in the season just how important it is to turn it up.

As the team enters its final game of the season — which will begin at 6 p.m. under the lights of Viking Stadium against the archrival Kingston Cavaliers — its productivity is reaching screaming levels. Oct. 24, the Panthers zipped to their first win of the season — 42-12 over Bremerton.

“The effort has been fantastic in the last few games,” said assistant coach Michael Coe. “That’s been a definite improvement.”

“At the beginning, we weren’t really into it, we didn’t play as hard as we should’ve, and now we’re actually going all out,” said freshman running back/linebacker Josh McCown.

Thursday, facing Fairview on the road, McCown and company left everything on the field, but still came up short by one touchdown — 20-13. Headed into the final game of the year, PJH’s record stands at 1-5.

The Panthers began their season with a sub-par performance against a solid Ridgetop team that remains undefeated (6-0) and leading the league.

The Raiders cruised to a 30-8 victory in the opener.

In the second game of the year, John Sedgwick came to Poulsbo and left with a 32-6 victory as the Panther offense struggled to put points on the board.

But rather than hang their heads after two lopsided losses, the Panthers picked themselves up and picked up the pace against Cedar Heights Oct. 12.

Poulsbo presented a diversified offensive attack and managed to score 38 points in the game, but it wasn’t quite enough. The Rain Devils scored 44 for the win.

“Being able to complete passes has really helped us a lot in being able to score,” said head coach David Denton.

Aaron Smith scored twice at Cedar Heights while Trevor Bennett, Alex Flores and Jaecen Avery each put up a touchdown in a contest that Denton called, “exciting and a huge improvement for the team.”

Following a 30-0 loss to No. 3 Marcus Whitman Oct. 19, the Panthers’ improvement paid off with the team’s first win over Bremerton. The momentum carried over for a ??-?? win/loss to Fairview Thursday.

“We’ve made a lot of big plays,” coach Coe said, noting how big the late-season wins are for the team. “We’ve become a big play offense which has become really cool.”

Those big plays and big wins have been the highlight of a season aimed at finding the right combination to prepare the PJH eighth- and ninth-grade gridders for high school play.

“It just gives us a lot of experience, and I’ve learned a lot of work ethic here,” Freshman linebacker/offensive lineman Jake Sartain said in summation of this season.