By Kiara Doyal, The Seattle Medium
The long-standing Huling Bowl rivalry game between the Chief Sealth Seahawks and the West Seattle Wildcats took place last night at Chief Sealth High School.
The game started with high energy as the Seahawks advanced the ball to the 45-yard line on their first play of the game. But the drive quickly stalled as the Seahawks had difficulty navigating the strong defense and were forced to punt on 4th down. However, the punt wound up working in Chief Sealth’s favor as they quickly regained possession after West Seattle’s Sam Turner fumbled the ball, which was recovered by the Seahawks.
With the Seahawks advancing the ball towards the end zone, the Wildcats ramped up their defensive pressure, forcing the Seahawks to kick a field goal, which allowed them to take an early 3-0 lead.
The Wildcats responded by putting together a strong offensive drive of their own, getting the ball down to the Seahawks’ 15-yard line, but a series of holding penalties pushed them back to the 30-yard line.
Despite gaining some ground, West Seattle continued to face several holding and false start penalties. West Seattle’s LJ Moody was highly active on the field, consistently having the ball in his hands and doing everything he could to reach the end zone.
With 2:40 remaining in the first quarter, West Seattle found themselves on third down at the 25-yard line, looking to score a touchdown on the next play. However, an incomplete pass to Turner in the end zone forced West Seattle to go for it on 4th down, which led to a sack by Chief Sealth’s Marshawn Tovia-Ford, resulting in a turnover on downs. At the end of the quarter, the score remained the same, and Chief Sealth led 3-0.
The start of the second quarter was relatively slow, as the Seahawks were slowly making their way down the field. Despite the slow start, the Seahawks’ Xander Gomez scored on a 30-yard touchdown roughly three minutes into the quarter, followed by a successful extra point made by Seahawk kicker Ogi Petronijevic, bringing the Seahawks’ lead to 10-0.
Slowly but surely, West Seattle began to make progress by moving the ball down the field on a drive that was capped off by an impressive one-handed 13-yard touchdown reception by West Seattle’s Myles Mutchier, bringing the score to 7-10 after a successful point-after attempt by West Seattle’s kicker Scott Bremen.
Despite a large number of penalties, the second quarter flew by. With two minutes left in the half, West Seattle looked to take the lead on a deep passing play, but the ball was defended by the Seahawks’ J. Harris, denying the potential touchdown for West Seattle.
With a little under a minute left on the clock, and with West Seattle still in possession of the ball, the Seahawks’ Norman Ngonevolalath had what would have been an interception, but the play was negated by a defensive pass interference call, as West Seattle maintained the ball in scoring position with 39 seconds left in the half. But the opportunistic Seahawks’ defense came up big again as Kingston Cappiello recovered a fumbled ball by West Seattle’s LJ Moody at the 30-yard line.
Determined to make a big play, Ngonevolalath intercepted yet another ball intended for West Seattle’s Miles Guidry, but unfortunately, it was ruled as pass interference, resulting in the Seahawks calling a timeout.
The Seahawks then attempted a field goal from the 25-yard line, which was initially successful but called back due to an offsides penalty on the defense. Now kicking from the 20-yard line, this time their attempt was blocked by a Seahawk defender, leaving the score at 10-7 in favor of Chief Sealth at halftime.
The second half of the game remained uneventful until 8:10 left in the third quarter when Gomez made a key tackle to stop West Seattle from advancing. Shortly after, West Seattle’s Ford Fitterer returned the favor with a critical tackle of his own, halting the Seahawks’ progress toward the end zone. Despite the Wildcats’ defensive efforts, Seahawk MJ Filitaula broke through with a 10-yard touchdown, extending Chief Sealth’s lead to 17-7.
The Seahawks’ momentum continued as Harris blocked a pass intended for a Wildcat receiver. Fitterer later added a sack, but by the end of the third quarter, the score remained 17-7, with the Wildcats still trailing.
Early in the fourth quarter, the Seahawks came within 10 yards of another touchdown but missed a field goal attempt. West Seattle’s attempt to gain ground was hindered by a false start penalty, stalling their offense. Compared to the earlier quarters, the fourth quarter saw little action, as West Seattle’s energy seemed to wane.
With just 3:14 left in the game, the Wildcats were 20 yards from the end zone when Ngonevolalath intercepted a pass intended for Turner, giving the Seahawks possession. In the final minute and a half, Tovia-Ford sealed the game with a 25-yard interception return for a touchdown, followed by a successful extra point, pushing the score to 24-7. As the clock wound down, it was clear the Wildcats had checked out, and Chief Sealth Seahawks claimed victory with a 24-7 win.
“We played as a team. I think the goal was to run the ball, and we did just that. We had a couple of skilled players make some big plays in the passing game, so that was definitely helpful,” said Chief Sealth Head Football Coach Daron Camacho after the game.
Pictorial Highlights Chief Sealth vs West Seattle
Photos/Tyler Artis
