POULSBO — For the North Kitsap football team, it’s a bit of a case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. And North’s Dr. Jekyll, said coach Jerry Parrish, is the team’s consistency.
“Overall, the word ‘consistency’ comes to mind the most often,” Parrish said, when thinking of Friday night’s game with Port Angeles. “And we’re getting a lot more consistent.”
But watch out for Mr. Hyde.
Hyde is manifested in the Vikings in what Parrish called “listlessness” — the inability by a team to keep a relentless intensity level.
“We got listless at 13-0,” Parrish said. “Good teams get rid of that characteristic and go for the jugular. You have to keep the intensity level high.”
Granted, North’s gridders garnered 524 yards of offense — 335 on the ground — and scored 42 points to pound the Roughriders into relative submission, 42-28. But the Vikings’ biggest tests are still to come, and that means Mr. Hyde needs to go away for good, Parrish said.
Nonetheless, the Vikings used Friday as a test of its own running offense — one it passed with ease. Quarterback Jared Prince rushed for four touchdowns, a move that was not planned, but was a pleasant surprise, the coach commented.
“He happened to be in the right place at the right time,” Parrish said of Prince. “But now that Prince is a running threat, it takes some pressure of the passing game.”
But the biggest statistic of the night wasn’t an offensive or defensive one — it was how many Vikings are getting into the game. Whereas North began the season using 12 players in its first game against Bainbridge, 20 players played in the win Friday. That means that not only are the younger players getting better, Parrish said, but that fact is allowing for much-needed rest for the starters.
“The cream is rising to the top,” he said.
North’s offense proved unstoppable for Port Angeles in the opening minutes of play. On the first Viking possession, Prince found a wide open Jeff Camus to drive the ball down to the 8 yard line. The senior quarterback then handed off to Andy Sturza for an eight yard score.
Four minutes later, Prince ran the pigskin himself for a two-yard score to put the Vikings up 13-0 with 5:02 to go in the first.
But then PA’s sole force on offense came alive, as Adam Macomber broke through North’s special teams for an 85-yard kick off return. After the Roughriders’ defense forced a turnover of North’s offense, Macomber again took things into his own hands taking a pass for a 35-yard touchdown. As PA went up 14-13 at the start of the second quarter, a hush fell over the packed NK stands.
But NK’s offense wasted no more than two minutes to put together another touchdown, with Camus rushing about 70 yards down field to put North in first and goal position. Prince took it in from two yards out — and then he ran it in again for the 2-point conversion to put North up 21-14.
But PA again scored quickly on a 3-yard touchdown run from quarterback Stefan Walker to knot things up at 21. Though North next turned the ball over, the Vikes’ defense forced a fumble which the Vikings’ Spencer Burns recovered. After Prince found Jordan Henry in the end-zone, the Vikes regained the lead 28-21.
Another Prince touchdown from two yards out put North up but PA stormed back behind an 18-yard rushing score by Walker to keep PA within a touchdown.
North again scored, however, when Prince took it in from a yard out to put the Vikes up for good at 8:36 in the fourth. There were no more scores on the night and North’s defensive efforts paid off as Travis Tobin made his second interception of the season at 7:40 left and Greg Ottele too made an interception with 2:00 minutes to go in the game.
Parrish believed Macomber — responsible for two of PA’s four scores — was contained in the second half because of a change in defensive strategy as well as a move to free up linebacker Spencer Burns.
“I think Spencer figured out he was a little better than he thought he was,” Parrish said. “Snyder let him go in the second half and he stuck his ears back.”
North Kitsap (4-1 league, 5-2 overall) heads to Olympic Friday.
North Kitsap 42, Port Angeles 28
PA 7 14 7 0 — 28
NK 13 15 7 7 — 42
First quarter: NK — Sturza 10 run (Ottele kick), 9:32. NK — Prince 3 run (Ottele kick failed), 5:03. PA — Macomber 85 kick-off return (Macomber kick) 4:49.
Second quarter: PA — Macomber 35 pass from Walker (Macomber kick) 11:50. NK — Prince 3 run (Prince run) 10:23. PA — Walker 3 run (Macomber kick) 5:58. NK — Prince 4 pass to Henry (Ottele kick) 2:40.
Third quarter: Prince 2 run (Ottele kick) 8:08. PA — Walker 2 yard run (Macomber kick) 0:33.
Fourth quarter: Prince 1 yard run (Ottele kick) 8:36.
NK PA
First downs 18 10
Rushing yardage 335 115
att-TD 44-5 36-2
Passing yardage 189 168
comp-att-int-TD 11-22-0-1 9-18-2-1
Total offense 524 283
Total plays 66 54
Fumbles-lost 1-0 3-2
Penalties-yards 4-30 5-47
Individual statistics for North Kitsap
Rushing — Camus 14-144, Prince 13-91, Tobin 7-72, Sturza 9-28, Ottele 1-0.
Receiving — Henry 3-36, Tobin 3-15, Camus 2-62, Sturza 2-69, Yee 1-7.
Passing — Prince 11-22, 189 yards.
