By Jeremy Martin

2013 has been a year of rebuilding and of ups and downs for both Chief Sealth and West Seattle High School, as the young teams had combined for only three wins entering Saturday night’s clash between the Seahawks and Wildcats.

The squads showed their youth many times over during the annual Huling Bowl, but the game, played for pride and a trophy was a hard fought, emotion filled affair that saw Sealth prevail 49-19 picking up its second win in a row over the Wildcats.

“We had a good week of practice, that’s the easiest thing to say. West Seattle is young, the future is ahead of them,” Chief Sealth head coach Luther Carr III said.

The future may be in West Seattle’s favor, but this night at least belonged to Chief Sealth.
Leading by just seven points at the half, the Seahawks (3-4) opened the third quarter on a rampage, scoring two touchdowns in only a matter of moments and extending its lead to 27-6 before most Wildcat players could even catch their breath.

Following a stalled West Seattle (1-6) drive to open the half, Marquis Givens found paydirt from 14 yards out for Sealth. The run, around the left end, the first of two scores for Givens, was immediately followed by a spectacular special teams play on the ensuing kickoff that resulted in a wildcat fumble, giving possession back to the Seahawks.

The very next play saw Brady Crane break away resulting in a 45 yard touchdown, a 21 point lead and what appeared to be a mountain of Seahawk momentum.

“We got some big guys, we got some big guys and we just take what the defense gives us essentially,” Carr said.

Sealth was led by tailback Daron Camacho who carried the ball 13 times for 109 yards, while Givens netted 73 yards on 7 carries.

Quarterback Weston Reed had an effeciant night picking up 85 yards on 5-11 passing.

Leeandre Dickerson caught two passes, both of which were touchdowns, for a total of 60 yards.

But just when it looked like Sealth was pulling away for good, the Wildcat passing game found new life with quarterback Robert Harrelson guiding West Seattle the length of the field, finishing the next drive with an 8 yard scoring strike to Carter Golgart.

The touchdown marked the second time the duo had hooked up for a score as Golgart hauled in a 10 yard Harrelson pass with 25 seconds remaining in the first half to get West Seattle on the board.
The Wildcats did enough offensively to win most games with Harrelson completing 10-24 passes for 158 yards and three touchdowns.

“He’s really grown up, he’s got his second game (as the starter) under his belt and he showed something out there, it’s a good thing he can take away,” West Seattle head coach Tom Burggraff said.

Golgart was the sophomore quarterbacks favorite target, nabbing 6 passes and racking up 70 yards.

Carter Mensing, the recipient of Harrelson’s third touchdown, pulled in three balls for 74 total yards.

Fynniecko Glover led the Wildcats on the ground with 35 yards on 8 carries.

“We moved the ball, we had some trouble executing tackles and they got some momentum in the second half. We finished the first half strong, it’s a game of momentum and they picked up some momentum in the second half. We had some miscues, a lot missed tackles and they kind of rolled with it. We tried to battle back,” Burggraff said.

Penalties were the order of the day early as both head coaches saw enough yellow flags to last them the rest of the season.

Sealth’s penalties woes went so far as to have two touchdowns called back within thirty seconds of each other.

Leading 6-0 with just under three minutes to play in the first half Camacho took a handoff up the gut and found the goal line from about a yard out. However a holding call backed the Seahawks up to the 11.

Undaunted, Reed hit widout Alloney Burris deep in the right side of the end zone for another apparent TD, however an offensive pass interference call sent the Seahawks backwards once again.

For Sealth the third time was the charm as Reed was able to hit Dickerson on another scoring strike, this one counted and the Seahawks began its steady climb to victory.

“We’ve got to work on that, I don’t want all those penalties, plain and simple. But we’re excited about the win and we’re moving on to the next game. I’m just glad we won,” Carr said.