Tides beat Shelton, get help from Olympia

Tides score 43 unanswered points, earn No. 5 seed

Marques Hunter

of the Gateway

Published: 04:25PM November 4th, 2009

Photo courtesy of Julie Saltvick

Tides quarterback Troy Castle receives a lead block from senior Ethan Roberts during a sweep play against Shelton on Thursday at Roy Anderson Field.

Gig Harbor junior Troy Castle’s eyes lit up when the score of the Olympia-Foss football game was announced over the intercom during the celebration of the Gig Harbor’s 49-6 homecoming victory over Shelton last Thursday at Roy Anderson Field.

Olympia 17, Foss 7.

The combination helped the Tides (4-4 league, 4-5 overall) snatch the Narrows League’s No. 5 seed to the crossover playoffs and a Tuesday matchup after press time with the Federal Way Eagles at Roy Anderson Field.

The winner of Tuesday’s game will play at Skyview in Vancouver on Saturday in the Class 4A state preliminary round.

Both Tuesday and Saturday games are loser-out.

Gig Harbor’s dominating win over the Highclimbers (1-7, 1-8) gave the Tides an opportunity to avenge a heartbreaking loss to Federal Way last year in the state preliminary round.

Initially, Shelton was poised to spoil Gig Harbor’s plans of advancing to the playoffs. The Highclimbers scored on a game-opening, 16-play drive that exhausted more than seven minutes.

Then Shelton’s Alex Spencer intercepted Gig Harbor quarterback Barrett Schmidtke on the Tides’ first pass attempt.

But Gig Harbor looked to Castle, an all-purpose player, for a spark. And he provided a flame.

After Shelton turned the ball over on downs, Castle was vaulted into the quarterback position and ran for 37 yards and tossed a 33-yard touchdown to junior wide receiver Austin Sefarian Jenkins to take a 7-6 lead with 9:59 remaining in the second quarter.

The momentum permanently shifted when Gig Harbor’s Beau Glover intercepted Shelton quarterback C.D. Hinkle on the ensuing possession, handing Gig Harbor the ball in the red zone.

Castle ran a quarterback sweep for an 11-yard touchdown. By halftime, he’d amassed 127 yards through the air and ground, including three touchdowns.

Castle was relieved at quarterback to begin the second half. But his efforts helped the Tides to a commanding 35-6 lead.

“I was just trying to do my job,” Castle said. “The guys were making a bunch of blocks. It was easy for me to do my job when I just had to run.”

Defensive specialist Austin Clague said Gig Harbor’s stop on fourth down when Shelton was driving with the lead early in the game changed a lot of things.

“After that, everything just went our way,” Clague said.

Gig Harbor junior running back Spencer Manjarrez couldn’t be stopped, though. With just 17 seconds before the half, he took a draw play for 82 yards, and he finished with 173 yards on 10 carries with touchdown runs of 12, 82 and 18.

Gig Harbor has made the playoffs in each of the 10 seasons since Darren McKay became head coach. McKay said it’s the first time a Narrows League team has advanced to the state preliminary round each year for a decade.

Notes

University of Washington head football coach Steve Sarkisian attended the game, reportedly to watch Sefarian Jenkins. The highly recruited wide receiver has expressed interest in attending UW but also has received letters of interest from a number of NCAA Division I schools, including Florida and Oklahoma.

Tides backup running back Jesse Cauble racked up 103 yards on 10 carries, including a touchdown after Gig Harbor built a sizable lead. None of Shelton’s rushers had more than 25 yards. Hinkle completed 10 of 26 passes for 107 yards with a touchdown and an interception.

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