POULSBO — North Kitsap Coach Jerry Parrish and Bainbridge Island Coach Andy Grimm are veterans of their respective football programs.
But ask either when the last time a team of gridders from the island beat its nearby neighbors across Agate Pass and you’re not likely to find an answer.
“It’s been a long time since we beat North,” said native islander and coach Grimm. “I’d have to check the books.”
Either way, the exhibition that took place Friday night between North Kitsap and Bainbridge Island was an explosive contest in which 10 touchdown passes were thrown and two senior quarterbacks tossed for more than 500 yards combined. But when Bainbridge’s Grant Leslie and North’s Jared Prince were finished, the Islanders had topped the Vikings 44-41, with the edge coming from Spartan Angelo Ritualo’s field goal in the final three minutes of play.
“This was just an incredible high school football game,” Grimm said. “I don’t think you could ask for more.”
The 3A metro-league Spartans (1-0) relied heavily on Leslie, who was 10-for-15 in the game and threw for 220 yards. Prince did his part with five touchdown passes, going 19-for-37 and 328 yards.
“I knew it was gonna be a shootout,” Grimm said. “The question was, who was going to come out on top.”
The key to the Spartans’ win was keeping North off balance with a myriad of strategies, Grimm commented.
“We rotated a lot of guys through,” he said. “We used our variety to keep them honest.”
Coach Parrish said he believes that coaching errors are to blame in the loss, especially a weak pass defense that gave Leslie too many opportunities.
“Coaching errors were made and we did not prepare (the players) correctly,” he said. “The coaching techniques are my responsibility. They played very well but we had a lack of preparation.”
The Bainbridge-North Kitsap rivalry was reignited last year when the two gridders’ teams met for the first time since 1992. The game was vastly different than the one played a year ago on the island, which saw North bust through the Spartans’ defense for six rushing touchdowns en route to a 45-19 win.
Bainbridge drew the first blood of the game — much to the surprise of the home crowd — when Leslie threw for a 15-yard touchdown at 8:43 in the first quarter.
A face mask penalty put North on the Spartans’ 18-yard-line, setting up Prince’s first delivery — a floater down the sideline to Jordan Henry to tie the game, 7-7.
Momentum appeared to shift in North’s favor when Travis Tobin intercepted Leslie and Andy Sturza broke through the Spartan defense for a 35-yard score, North’s only rushing touchdown of the game.
The Vikings — looking impressive after an interception, rushing and passing touchdown — would begin to live up to oddsmakers’ expectations, right?
Wrong.
That notion was disproved on a single play, one that not only demonstrated Leslie’s abilities at quarterback but also that North had holes it was struggling to fix on defense.
With the ball on North’s 49 yard-line, Leslie went to the air with a high, arching pass that was six-points the second the pigskin left his fingers. Ritualo caught the pass with not a Viking in sight, knotting things up at 14 apiece.
Prince fired another touchdown — this time a 40-yard pass to Sturza — with 2:19 left in the second. But a dropped pass by North in the backfield resulted in another Spartan touchdown.
With time winding down in the half, North capitalized on a drive of short passes and picked up first-and-goal on a pass interference call. At fourth down and eight yards to go — and time expired — Prince found Tobin on the far sideline, with the Vikes’ senior wide receiver doing some well-timed acrobatics to give North a half-time lead, 27-21.
Bainbridge Island quickly regained the lead in the third quarter, with Leslie throwing both a 51-yard and 6-yard touchdown pass to tight end Blake Jensen to take a 34-27 lead with 5:32 to go.
It was North’s turn to play catch-up, with Prince again finding Tobin for a 49-yard touchdown with seconds left in the third.
With 12 minutes left in regulation, it was again a new ball game. The “last-team-to-score” mentality was in full effect, as defensive stops were few and far between.
Ritualo again played hero for the Spartans, coming up with a 33-yard catch from Leslie to take the lead 41-34. Prince answered right back on booming 56-yard pass to Sturza to tie.
North Kitsap held steadfast on its own 5-yard line against the Bainbridge attack but the Spartans took the lead behind a 30-yard Ritualo field goal to go up 44-41.
Two drives by North to tie or take the lead came up empty, the last of which ended on an interception with 16 seconds to go. A mass celebration ensued on the Spartans’ sideline, while NK’s fans left in silence.
Grimm said he believes the game ultimately came down to confidence — which team believed it could win more.
“4A school. Jared Prince. North Kitsap. It all didn’t matter,” Grimm commented. “The kids just believed they could do it.”
Parrish said that he’s confident North (0-1) will come back from its loss.
“You learn by your mistakes,” he said, “and I believe this team will learn from this one.”
North Kitsap will be away at Wilson Friday, playing at 8 p.m. in the Tacoma Dome. Wilson is 0-1 on the season.
