And South Kitsap used a fake punt and a steel-curtain defense to beat Olympia, 10-6, snapping the Bears’ 27-game win steak in the Narrows League.
Olympia’s last league loss came in 2004 against Lincoln, 28-14.
“Your defense doesn’t give up a touchdown and you lose,” Olympia offensive line coach Steve Davis said. “That’s a tough pill to swallow.”
Facing a fourth-and-6 with his back to his end zone, South Kitsap’s Leon La Deaux faked a punt and raced 88 yards for his team’s only touchdown. La Deaux saw an opening, tucked the ball and ran for his life.
“It wasn’t called in the huddle,” said La Deaux, a two-time all-league wide receiver. “I made it up. I hesitated. I just decided to run for it.”
La Deaux’s gamble worked, catching Olympia’s defense off guard.
“I knew I better make it,” La Deaux said.
Olympia stopped a South Kitsap offense that was averaging 39.3 points a game on a goal-line stand late in the second quarter and turned the Wolves back again on a fourth-and-6 inside the 30.
“We couldn’t have asked any more from our defense,” Davis said. “We just needed to get some more from our offense. Mistakes hurt us.”
It’s the first time South Kitsap has beaten Olympia since a crossover playoff game in 2002.
South Kitsap is off to a 4-0 start for the first time since 2001. Olympia, which has won four straight league titles, dropped to 3-1.
It was a defensive battle in a game with 10 punts, two interceptions and a little more than 500 yards in a combined total offense.
On its second possession, Olympia went 80 yards in 11 plays, scoring on Jordan Pine’s 4-yard run to the right side.
On a fourth-and-2, Olympia quarterback Jared Mercer drew the Wolves offside to pick up a first down near midfield. Mercer completed passes of 17 yards to Spenser Killman and 33 yards to Numia Magalei, giving the Bears a first-and-goal at the 4.
On the next play, Pine scored his eighth touchdown of the season.
On the extra-point kick, Isaiah Davis burst through the right side to block the kick.
Pine finished with 137 yards on 23 carries, averaging 6.0 yards per carry. But Pine was Olympia’s only weapon. The Bears had just 280 yards in total offense, 180 yards rushing and 100 passing.
“It’s a tough loss,” Olympia linebacker Steven Malepeai said. “That punt ruined us.”
Mercer, throwing under constant pressure, completed 10 of 20 passes for 100 yards with one interception.
Late in the second quarter, South Kitsap had a first-and-goal from the 5.
On fourth-and-1, Gordy Anderson scored on a quarterback sneak. But the Wolves were called for delay of game, forcing South Kitsap to settle for an Isaiah Davis 22-yard field goal.
“They scouted us pretty good,” said Steve Davis. “They knew our tendencies pretty well. They had a great defensive game plan.”
Late in the game, Olympia was called for running into the punter on fourth-and-1 with 1:49 left. But the Bears stopped South Kitsap, giving Olympia one last chance with 51 seconds left.
A pass interference on South Kitsap on fourth-and-10 with 35 seconds left, gave Olympia new hope at the Wolves’ 45. But Olympia’s final pass fell incomplete and the Bears’ league win streak was ended.
South Kitsap’s quarterback Anderson completed just 8 of 20 passes for 92 yards with an interception. The Wolves, who avenged a 42-6 loss to Olympia in 2008, finished with 297 yards in total offense – 205 of it on the ground.
