AAA Football -- South Kitsap Dominates, Charges Past Kentridge

TACOMA - South Kitsap left no doubts.

The third-ranked Wolves dominated every aspect of the game en route to a 29-0 victory over Kentridge in the first round of the state Class AAA football playoffs last night at Lincoln Bowl. They amassed 413 yards of total offense to 84 for Kentridge.

"They're a great team," said Kentridge senior Jon Peninger, a big reason the Chargers (7-3) made the playoffs. "We couldn't get anything going."

South Kitsap (10-0) plays at Newport (9-1-) in next Friday's quarterfinals. Newport rolled past Bremerton 42-6 last night.

Newport beat the Wolves in the opening round of the playoffs last season and went on to capture the state title.

Peninger, an all-around threat to score as a receiver, runner or return specialist, touched the ball only three times, catching two passes for 38 yards and fielding one punt for a 1-yard return.

"That was great, wasn't it?" South Kitsap Coach Ed Fisher said. "We wanted to keep the ball out of Peninger's hands, and we did."

Offensively, SK quarterback Adam Fisher, the coach's son, completed 9 of 17 passes for 142 yards and two touchdowns. Brad Ecklund rushed for 153 yards on 19 carries and Mike Babcock added 104 yards on 24 tries, scoring the Wolves' other two touchdowns.

South Kitsap's Big Two, Tony Coats (6 feet 7, 278 pounds) and Benji Olson (6-4, 278) had their way up front.

"I thought Tony and Benji, after a while, just took over," Coach Fisher said. "They dominated the offensive line."

The end of the season came too suddenly for the Chargers, although they weren't expected to be here in the first place. Preseason underdogs, they shared the South Puget Sound League North Division title with Auburn to earn their first playoff berth since 1981.

Ironically, Kentridge beat South Kitsap 17-14 in overtime in the semifinals that year to reach the state championship game, ultimately losing 7-6 to Richland. Matt Sirotzki, a Kentridge assistant coach, was a sophomore at South Kitsap that season.

"It was a great year," said Kentridge Coach Marty Osborn, a 1979 Bremerton graduate who played against Fisher's teams in the late 70s. "If you look at the program, it went from 1-8 and 1-8 to 4-5 to 6-3 and this year we were co-champions. It's just been a nice progression."

OTHER GAMES

Lakes 29, at Kelso 27 - The Lancers exploded for 29 first-half points, then staved off the Hilanders' big-play offense to advance to the AAA quarterfinals. Lakes quarterback Scott Johnson passed for 131 yards, rushed and threw for touchdowns. Running back Michael Rigell also scored on a 19-yard run and had 95 yards total rushing.

Although the Lancers (9-1) led throughout, Kelso (8-2) capitalized on huge scoring plays, including a 79-run by running back Ty Fotheringill, who also rushed for 160 yards.