BREMERTON — Two quarterbacks battled to the bitter end on a stormy Friday night at Bremerton Memorial Stadium, but Colton Bower and the North Kitsap Vikings prevailed over the Knights 35-27.

Bower finished the night over 185 yards rushing and threw for another 150 yards and three touchdowns. His counterpart on Bremerton, Kelo Logova, was just as good, throwing for 230 yards and three touchdowns and adding 75 on the ground.

The key drive was a nine-minute possession to start the third quarter. The Vikings had just erased a 21-3 lead in the second quarter and received the ball at the beginning of the half. They moved methodically down the field and Bower hit Cache Holmes on a short out route to give his team the lead.

“That was the killer drive, that set the tone for the second half,” Bower said. “We needed that.”

North Kitsap then got a little lucky later in the quarter. Bower was looking to hit receiver Erik Burchill streaking towards the end zone and his off-target throw bounced off a safety’s hands right to Burchill for a 26-yard touchdown.

The Knights weren’t finished, though. Logova launched a 50-yard touchdown pass to Darick DeJesus midway through the fourth quarter and threatened again with about three minutes to go when Logova connected with Keith Jackmon, who broke a tackle and scampered 60 yards down the field to put them in the red zone. But the defense held and Bremerton turned it over on downs in the red zone.

“It was great from a fan’s perspective,” said North Kitsap head coach Jeff Weible. “My blood pressure is a little high.”

The Vikings tied up the contest in the second quarter on a 3-yard run by Bower and Josh Fisher’s 1-yard reception just before halftime.

Ethan Farley opened the scoring in the first quarter with a 2-yard touchdown and Bower answered to tie the game with a rushing score of his own. Logova then linked up with sophomore Willis Newman for a 60-yard touchdown, and not long after that he threw a 19-yard touchdown to DeJesus.

North Kitsap and Olympic now sit atop the Olympic League with 2-0 records, and with only three playoff spots available this season, the Knights have to rebound at next week’s home game against North Mason. But after playing a close game with the league leaders, Bremerton should still have some confidence heading into that match.

“We feel like our chances are pretty good,” said Bremerton head coach Paul Theriault. “We would like to play these guys ten times to see what happens.”

North Kitsap 35, Bremerton 27

NK 7 14 14 0 — 35

BM 21 0 0 6 — 27

Scoring summary

First quarter

Bremerton — Ethan Farley 2 run

North Kitsap — Colton Bower 1 run

Bremerton — Willis Newman 60 pass from Kelo Logova

Bremerton — Darick DeJesus 19 pass from Logova

Second quarter

North Kitsap — Bower 3 run

North Kitsap — Josh Fisher 1 pass from Bower

Third quarter

North Kitsap — Cache Holmes 2 pass from Bower

North Kitsap — Erik Burchill 26 pass from Bower

Fourth quarter

Bremerton — DeJesus 50 pass from Logova