Photo Rocky Ross
INCOMING TIDE. Foss running back Julian Cruell found the going pretty rough against Gig Harbor.
Six games into the 2008 Narrows League football campaign, the Falcons of Henry Foss – who have recently been of the soaring variety – were brought down hard by Gig Harbor’s wild-west ground attack led by Chet Thompson and Nico Youngren and a swarming, clinging defense (some of those clings, Falcons fans have noted, should have been called holding!) on Oct. 10 at Mt. Tahoma Stadium.
With a commitment to the big-play enhancing spread offense, the Tides scored from 47 yards on the first play of the game, watched the Foss players’ drop their heads in dismay (never to look up again), and scored and scored some more. But, Gig Harbor also put the Foss scoring machine, which had scored 35 points in each of its past two games, up on blocks, posting a shutout, 41-0.
The loss drops the Falcons to 4-2 in the league with upcoming games against South Kitsap, at White River, and at Olympia.
“They played at a high level in every phase of the game, offense, defense, and special teams,” said Foss coach Ken Baker. “We did not.”
The Falcons were last shutout some 13 games ago.
“Nobody was more surprised than I was,” said assistant head coach Darryl Franklin of the Falcons getting shut down.“They took it to us.”
It was a big game for Foss, an opportunity to affirm its bona fides as playoff contenders.
“Some of the players kind of understood what they needed to do to be ready for the game, and some didn’t. We are working very hard on ‘focus’ this week. I’ll be very surprised if they come out flat this week,” Baker said.
Foss hosts South Kitsap this week (Oct. 17) at Mt. Tahoma at 7 p.m., and as things start to take shape in the standings, things could not be bigger for a Foss team representing the embattled city schools, which have fallen on very hard times in the Narrows League. They can clinch a playoff spot with a win.
Foss has a 4-2 record in the league and overall, and South Kitsap is 3-2 in the league, 4-2 overall.
Mt. Tahoma, Lincoln and Bellarmine are still in the hunt for a playoff spot, while Wilson and Stadium must continue to play for respectability – and in the Tigers’ case, a victory. Stadium, winless this season – but not without some talented players – will play at Bellarmine, which lost to South Kitsap last week, 21-13.
Lincoln was the only winner of these contenders in week six, dusting off Wilson, 49-20.
“It was good to get back in sync,” said Abes’ coach Ben Cochran, who had seen his team suffer consecutive losses, to Olympia and Central Kitsap. “We ask our kids every week to just play to their potential. This week they did.”
Mt. Tahoma fell, surprisingly to Sumner, 34-20. The Thunderbirds travel to Central Kitsap this week.
