What a game it was on the weekend that the Gig Harbor Tides beat the Peninsula Seahawks 14-10 in a tight defensive battle. There were many offensive struggles for both teams, as neither offense could get anything going, but there were small glimpses of surges on some big yardage plays. With this being a rivalry game, there were, as you would expect, a lot of penalties from both sides, many of which were called on some big plays. Ultimately, the game involved a lot of punts, a few game-changing plays, and aggression displayed throughout the game.
The first quarter did not have a lot going for either side, as the defense was apparent in every possession of each drive. There was no scoring that took place after a few promising drives were halted from both offenses. There wasn’t much to cheer about at the beginning of this contest, as there didn’t seem to be any sense of awareness of any kind of game plan whatsoever.
Toward the end of the second quarter, we saw our first points of the game after Peninsula was able to air it out down the field for a big gain, which set up a short touchdown run for the Hawks. After gaining momentum out of thin air, this propelled the Seahawks after containing the Tides junior quarterback Koi Calhoun (11), not allowing him any open receivers when throwing the ball, and pressuring him every snap. The tides were only sticking with the game plan of running the ball, which did not work well at all as the Hawks were reading everything. After a couple of sacks and turnovers forced by Peninsula, it looked as if Gig Harbor wasn’t going to be able to get anything going, let alone any points.
Heading into the half with a 7-0 lead for the Hawks, the one score appeared to be all the difference to sum up the first half. It was a physical half with little to show for it as both teams had something to prove as they had a lot to talk about in the locker room. For the Tides, they would need to figure out an offensive scheme that would help them move the ball down the field without just running the ball. The passing game wasn’t a factor whatsoever, limiting the playbook to just offensive runs with the running back Ryland Geldermann (11). On the other hand, for the Hawks, they would have to continue doing what they had been doing best, which was containing the Tides quarterback, only allowing them to run the ball. Offensively, they would have to find a game plan that could help them keep pressure on the defense for Gig Harbor and keep their time of possession high.
As the third quarter played out, the same story that had been happening all afternoon continued to be true, as the defenses were the ones stepping up and the offenses were blundering. Peninsula was able to get a little going as they were able to tack on a field goal to stretch the lead to 10-0. After Gig Harbor kept failing to move the ball downfield, Coach Reeves decided to make the move to bench quarterback Calhoun and bring in the freshman Sawyer Hayes (9). This was a risky move by the head coach to bring in his less experienced player, but it couldn’t have worked out any better for the team. As soon as Hayes stepped out onto the field and started running the offense, everything seemed to click. The offense looked smoother and more fluid as Hayes was able to make the throws he needed to make. He was able to move the chains consistently, air it out down the field, and scramble out of the pocket to gain some big chunk yards on the ground. This shifted the entire momentum in the game as the first drive that Hayes was out there, he led a nice touchdown pass that was converted to wide receiver Liam Green (11) in the corner of the endzone. After a holding call against the Tides, which pushed them back deep in the rez zone, the next play the Tides were able to come through. After a burst of hope for Gig Harbor early in the fourth quarter, it looked as if Gig Harbor wasn’t going away.
After another defensive stop, the Tides regained possession around minefield, and that’s when the fireworks started to happen, as running back Geldermann ran in a long touchdown run, which put the Tides up in front. As a few minutes remained in the game, the Tides’ defense stepped up as they were able to contain the Seahawks once again to ice the game. The Gig Harbor Tides were able to roll back to defeat the Peninsula Seahawks 14-10.
Our student body president, Ty Rushforth (12), said regarding the comeback, “We’ve been in comeback situations before; the team collectively knew how to handle the situation and turned it into a great win.” Rushforth emphasized that it was a team effort and wasn’t just the quarterback change that helped the team win, but instead the team effort overall putting it together. Kicker Boone Leverett (12) said, “Once Sawyer was put into the game, we got pumped up. We brought a lot more energy that we didn’t have before during the last stretch when we needed it.” Robbie Wade (12) also elaborated on how the team was able to pick it up. He explained, “We were able to find our rhythm on offense, which helped us get into a groove that wasn’t there previously.”
With this Tides win, they will move into the season on a high note, looking to carry this momentum down the road. They traveled down to California to play for a cool second game of the year to make a statement for PNW football. As they continue to grow and learn as a team, hopefully, they can enhance their team chemistry as a whole to set them up for success.