By Paul Moseley

The young Chief Sealth Seahawks team found their groove. The 0-2 Chief Sealth Seahawks took on 1-0 Ranier Beach Vikings Friday night at Southwest Athletic Complex (SWAC). The Seahawks were looking for their first win after two hard fought and close games against Evergreen and Cleveland. Chief Sealth has proven they have the offensive power with a combined 46 points in the first two games behind QB Weston Reed and Running Back Daron Camacho. They have struggled defensively, alternating between tough hitting defense and allowing long runs to break their rhythm.

Rainier Beach entered it's second game coming off a big win over Ingraham last week and took the field with confidence behind starting freshman QB Simon Robinson.

The Vikings got on the board first, taking advantage of good field position that started them on the their own 45. At 4th and 5, they went for it on the Seahawks 36 yard line, and followed up with a beautiful run by the athletic Robinson, putting them on the board 6-0.

That's all the end zone they would see until the 4th quarter. Early in the 2nd quarter, the Seahawk defense stepped up and recovered a Viking fumble, setting up a halfback pass to the Seahawks Leeandre Dickerson to make it 7-6. They didn't know it yet, but Chief Sealth was on a roll.

On the ensuing kick-off, Rainier Beach fumbled and Seahawk Justin Alvarez picked it up and ran it in for a touchdown, putting the Seahawks up 12-6. The Seahawks converted one more time in the first half with a beautiful 80 yard drive punctuated with a slant pass to Brady Crane that got them to the Viking 27, then a toss to Dickerson for his 2nd TD of the night.

The Seahawks went into half-time with an 18-7 lead and, for the first time this season, their confidence was evident as they walked off the field.

The third quarter was part Seahawk offensive clinic and part referee synchronized flag waiving. It what may be the longest quarter of the season so far, both teams suffered a slew of penalties highlighted by a Rainier Beach coach ejection for what appeared to be a sideline conversation gone wrong.

In between flags, the Seahawks put two more scores on the board including a 20 yard run by Daron Camacho to make it 30-7 Chief Sealth.

Just when the folks in the stands who didn't have kids in the game started leaving, the Vikings reminded everyone of their tenacity. They drove down to the 18 yard line and Viking Dimitrious Anderson sprang an 18 yard run to make it 30-13. On the Seahawks next possession, they fumbled and Tyrone Cooke picked it up ran it in from 40 yards, making it 30-20 with 5:14 left in the 4th. The Seahawks fumbled again on their next possession, but the Vikings couldn't convert.

It was a less than perfect game for the Seahawks, but a great improvement and an exciting win for the team that's just starting to gel.

Coach Carr has a positive take on the direction of the team. "We've got 18 new starters. We're making mistakes a team with 18 starters makes. We cut down on mistakes and it looked like a better performance. We were able to run the ball...something that we really focused on this week". On the outlook for the team, Coach Carr is enthusiastic. "We're getting better and the guys are playing hard and they are excited about the game and they came out and played."

Final Score: Chief Sealth 30, Rainier Beach 20.

Chief Sealth takes on the Bishop Blanchet Braves next week at 7:00 at SWAC.