It had been 10 years since the Peninsula High football program had tasted a postseason victory.
Peninsula savored the flavor again Friday, using two key trick plays and four touchdowns from senior running back Jimmy Price to beat the Oak Harbor Wildcats, 36-12, in a Class 3A preliminary-round playoff game at Roy Anderson Field in Purdy.
The Seahawks (8-2) advanced to the state playoffs for the first time since 2002, and will host the winner of Saturday’s Shelton-Nathan Hale contest next week.
“We had a great plan coming in,” Peninsula coach Ross Filkins said. “Oak Harbor, they’ve had some injuries and stuff, but they came in at full strength.
“We came into this one and said, ‘Hey, we’re going to fire every bullet in the chamber.’”
Price, who ran for 139 yards on 19 carries, got Peninsula going on the game’s first series with a 5-yard touchdown run.
Oak Harbor got within 7-6 in the second quarter on Isaiah Trower’s 12-yard dash, but then Peninsula opened its bag of tricks for the first time.
On a second-and-10 play, quarterback Austin Filkins hit Alex Weymiller on a short curl route, and Weymiller pitched the ball to Conner Walch on a hook-and-ladder. Walch completed the 42-yard scoring play for a 14-6 Seahawks lead at halftime.
“It was big momentum, and it just worked perfectly,” Walch said. “I wasn’t so sure we were going to run it. We had it in the playbook last week and we didn’t run it.”
Peninsula’s defensive front seven took over after that, limiting Oak Harbor’s double-wing T offense to three first downs on its next three possessions.
“Our defensive line, those guys are meat-grinders up there,” Ross Filkins said. “They may not look like the toughest kids on the block, but they’re pretty nasty.”
The Seahawks weren’t done surprising the Wildcats. Weymiller pulled off a fake punt on fourth-and-24 near midfield, barely reaching the first-down marker. Price then scored from 15 yards for a 21-6 lead.
By the time Jon Lanningham barreled in for Oak Harbor’s last points, Price had scored on runs of 5 and 33 yards to pad the Seahawks’ cushion to 36-6.
At Gig Harbor H.S.
Oak Harbor0600—12
Peninsula77715—36
P—Jimmy Price 5 run (Sam Shea kick)
OH—Isaiah Trower 12 run (kick failed)
P—Conner Walch 42 pass from Austin Filkins (Shea kick)
P—Price 15 run (Shea kick)
P—Price 5 run (Blake Dukowitz pass from Filkins)
P—Price 33 run (Shea kick)
OH—Jon Lanningham 2 run (pass failed)
Records—Oak Harbor 6-4.
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