Port Townsend High School football’s three-game winning streak came to an end on Friday the 13th, as Klahowya managed to edge out PT by a single point, 7-6.

PT coach Alex Heilig attributed the narrow loss on Oct. 13 to “a complete breakdown in executing our offense,” even as he credited his team with doing “an unbelievable job” in maintaining their defensive line, to the point that Heilig estimated that Klahowya made less than 50 yards of progress.

“We were in their red zone plenty of times, but we just couldn’t put it in,” Heilig said. “We incurred penalties and suffered from misassignments.”

Although Heilig doesn’t anticipate many lineup changes, if only because “we don’t have a lot of bodies to switch around,” he hopes the loss can nonetheless serve as an educational if “painful gut check,” reminding his players that “little things matter. Our little mistakes multiplied until they became major issues.”

As such, between now and PT’s Oct. 20 away game against Vashon Island, Heilig aims to improve his players’ focus, so that they do “a better job of executing their assignments,” because however well they continue to do defensively, “we need to finish.”

Heilig rated Vashon Island as “dramatically improved” over last year, due in part to returning players, and he conceded that PT’s recent loss gives Vashon Island an opportunity to build on its successes.

“We need to step up,” Heilig said.