By Mike Martin
Sports reporter
“That was some old-school football,” Sultan football coach Jim Wright said after his Turks fell to the Friday Harbor Wolverines 8-6 on Friday, Sept. 21 in Friday Harbor. “It was a very physical game,” he added. “A real slobber-knocker.”
Friday Harbor scored first on an Emeron Geiser touchdown early in the first quarter. With kicker Milo Geiser sidelined with an injury the Wolverines converted the 2-point attempt giving the home team an 8-0 lead. The scoring drive would be all that the Wolverines would need or could muster the rest of the way as Emeron Geiser was held under 100 yards rushing for the first time in 2018.
The Turks spent much of the evening in Wolverines territory only to be repeatedly left empty-handed. “We had numerous scoring opportunities,” lamented Weight. “We just didn’t execute in the red zone and they did.”
As one might expect, on a soaking wet night, the story of the game was defense. Neither team was able to get a ground game going. The Wolverine defense shut down the visitor’s rushing attack in the first half so the Sultans took to the air. However, the Turks quarterback completed as many passes to Wolverines players as he did his own team finishing the night going 3-19 for 26 yards and three interceptions.
“Our secondary was stellar,” says assistant coach Rob Walters.
Jordan Lawson had two interceptions including one in the end zone to turn away a Sultan player. Brian Wolf picked off a Sultan with a diving interception in addition to three passes that he batted down.
Weston Swirtz and Emeron Geiser were the top Wolverine defenders with 11 tackles apiece with three of Swirtz’s stops in the Turks’ backfield including a sack. Gavin Mason and Austin Wynne had eight tackles each.
The Wolverines defense ran their scoreless streak to 12 quarters before the Turks scored a late touchdown. Their 2-point conversion came up inches short. The visitors mounted one final scoring threat but the Wolverine secondary was, again, up to the task batting down four pass attempts in the final minute.
Friday Harbor Wolverines open league play on the road in Concrete on Friday, Sept. 28. The game can be listened to live on fhTinyRadio.com. The pregame show begins at 5:30 p.m. with kickoff at 6 p.m.