POULSBO — After dropping off of state polls and conceding their invincible status with a loss to then-unbeaten Gig Harbor Sept. 15, the now No. 10 Olympia Bears flexed back into the form of a 200-pound boulder rolling down the face of the Olympic Mountains Friday night.

They came to Poulsbo to battle with a North Kitsap Viking squad, gathering no moss following a double-overtime 27-21 loss to Mount Tahoma the previous week.

Friday night’s game — which will be a big factor in where the teams end up for the post season — gave North reason for some early enthusiasm. The Vikings strung together a drive, marking the first points of the game with a 29-yard field goal off the foot of sophomore Zach Sampson.

That 3-0 lead held through a gritty first quarter, but the tug-of-war pulled decisively in the Bears’ favor early in the second when Olympia’s Casey Sherwood took a sweep off the left-hand side of the line 60 yards into the end zone, untouched.

The Bears’ momentum transferred to its defense, which rattled North’s cages on the ensuing Viking drive. After forcing fourth and long, Olympia’s special teams made the play that broke the Vikings’ back.

A sleuth of Bears bullied through the middle of NK’s line, senior Coletun Frank got his paws up to block the NK punt and Olympia recovered it at the Vikings’ 10-yard-line.

Olympia’s offense was just as dominant once it got its legs underneath itself. Sherwood carried the ball 27 times for 233 yards on the game, while NK’s backs — Jamaal Smith, Levi Pixton and Brian Cleaver — combined for just 94 yards on 24 carries.

After having a Sherwood touchdown on the first play following the blocked punt called back on a penalty, the Bears took to the air with a tricky hook-and-ladder play that caught North off guard for another TD. Garrett Fullerton booted the extra point through the uprights giving his team the 14-3 which it would carry through half time.

“I think our mentality wasn’t as good as it was in Mt. Tahoma. I don’t think we were as psyched as we should’ve been,” Pixton said. “There were a lot of mental mistakes, and that shouldn’t have happened.”

Smith sparked NK out of the locker room with a 35-yard kickoff return, however, the game dissolved into a Viking downward spiral from there. On the ensuing drive, Viking quarterback Paul Stock lofted his first of three interceptions thrown in the second half. On the game, Stock finished 4-17 for 43 yards.

Olympia’s methodical offensive attack pounded away at the willful NK defense, and scored the breakaway points of the game on another Sherwood sweep with just under six minutes remaining in the third quarter.

“Olympia did some things that just took the game away from us,” said NK head coach Steve Frease , noting big plays for the Bears on defense contributing to inconsistency for the Vikings’ offense. “We just didn’t have an answer.”

With only two games remaining in the regular season, the Vikings (1-2 NL, 2-3 overall) are sitting on the bubble, looking for the answer to the question of a playoff berth. An NK loss to either Central Kitsap (0-3, 0-6) Oct. 13 or Bellarmine Prep (2-1, 3-3) Oct. 20 will spell disaster for the Vikings’ postseason.

Luckily for the Vikings, they’ve got a lot to play for.

“We always play because we love the game,” Pixton said, noting the brotherhood of the Vikings’ squad. “We’re not gonna let just a loss bring us down — we’re stronger than that.”