It was a disappointing couple of football games for Port Townsend and Chimacum players, regardless of where they played.

East Jefferson Rivals Football Coach Tony Haddenham acknowledged that his team’s away game against the Klahowya Secondary School Eagles, at Silverdale, on Friday, Oct. 20, did not go well for his boys, with a final score of 49-20 in their opponents’ favor.

“You can’t win a game with seven turnovers,” Haddenham acknowledged, as he took stock of his players’ shortfalls. “They [had] four receptions that were fumbled, and they didn’t kick deep at all.”

At the same time, Haddenham emphasized that the Rivals were able to move the ball through passes and rushes, and “controlled the clock” throughout the majority of the second half of the game, to which Haddenham said receiver Cash Holmes had “contributed very well’ by making some key plays.

In all, Haddenham credited the Rivals with making a total of 450 yards on Oct. 20, with at least five different backs making 277 yards passing and 19 yards rushing between them.

“All season long, these boys have been work horses,” Haddenham said. “They’ve been driving the ball to score. Our offensive line has not given up a single sack the entire season. Whatever mistakes they’ve made, they’ve learned from them. Whatever penalties or turnovers they’ve had, they’ve kept on moving the ball. These boys did what they do very well, and I don’t think they get enough recognition for that.”

The Rivals returned home on Saturday, Oct. 28, to face off against the Bellevue Christian High School Vikings of Woodinville at the Jefferson County Memorial Athletic Field, but the results proved even less encouraging, with a final score of 48-13 in the visiting team’s favor.

“Our team had chances to do great things, but they simply couldn’t deliver,” said Haddenham, who noted that both the Rivals and the Vikings scored in the first quarter, with the Vikings scoring a touchdown on their very first play of the game, while the Rivals scored on a subsequent quarterback sneak. “But we couldn’t get any stops defensively.”

According to Haddenham, the East Jefferson players’ chances to stop Bellevue Christian were cost by “constant penalties” and “not being able to sustain our drive” offensively.

“During the third quarter, we had the ball for 10 minutes, but we just couldn’t punch it in,” Haddenham said. “We finally made an 84-yard touchdown pass, but it wasn’t enough.”

Between the games of Oct. 20 and 28, one of the Rivals’ larger players suffered an injury that took him off the field, which Haddenham deemed “a big hit, defensively,” in addition to the boys shouldering the ongoing burden of their relative youth, as a team “loaded” with freshmen and sophomores, in their coach’s words.

“You put 14-year-olds up against 18-year-olds, that’s a big deal,” Haddenham said. “The good news is that things can only get better for them from here, as they grow and gain more experience.”

Haddenham thanked the Rivals’ fans for their support, conceding that it’s been “a down year” for East Jefferson football, even as he expressed hope that his boys “will turn it around next year.”