Plagued by player injuries, questionable calls and an early deficit on the scoreboard, the Bainbridge High varsity football team was unable to defeat the visitors from Olympic High at the first home game of the season.
The Spartans were bested 19-7, a defeat which left the island squad with an overall season record of 0-2.
Those numbers may be misleading, however, given the realities behind them.
Bainbridge is a team on the build, and that takes time. Though the Spartan bench does indeed boast greater depth this year, not many of those players have much experience. Even some of the older athletes are new to football. Add to that the temporary loss of several starters due to injuries and also the well-deserved reputation of the North Kitsap High team (those responsible for the Spartans’ first loss), and maybe it’s not yet time to worry.
There’s a lot of season left to go, and the second game was already much better than the first, team officials said following the home opener Friday, Sept. 9.
“They made a hell of an effort,” said Spartan Head Coach Jeff Rouser. “We changed offenses. We changed defenses. We’ve got new coaches.
“We’re going to be a good football team,” he added. “I feel really good about it.”
At least three spurious rulings by game officials threw up separate momentum-stopping obstacles, one of which was eventually determined to be inadvertent whistle.
Even so, what does the coach say to the team after such a dispiriting development?
“I tell them that they freaking should have won this football game, that’s what I tell them,” Rouser said. “We’re playing good defense. If you watch, the refs gave [Olympic] about 60 or 70 yards on [one] drive and we still stopped them.”
Keeping hold of the ball better was also an area of gain for the Spartans Friday.
“One thing we wanted to improve was ball security,” the coach said. “We had zero turnovers today. We had eight last week.”
Bainbridge took their time getting on the board though.
Olympic put up seven in the first quarter and six in the third (the second quarter was scoreless) before the island team got any back and forth on the board going on in the fourth. Then, Olympic managed another touchdown, the kick was no good, and BHS put up seven to avoid a shutout.
The Spartans were led by sophomore quarterback Gannon Winker, who managed 137 passing yards.
Senior Eric Jung led the rushing efforts with nine yards, and fellow senior Lyle Terry, a basketball star new to the gridiron game, managed 130 receiving yards.
Terry scored the touchdown off of a 54-yard pass from Winker, with sophomore kicker Tanner Shattuck coming through for the conversion.
Overall, Rouser said the team needs to tighten up the specifics and get everyone well enough to play if they are to reverse the dismal early season tide that’s threatening to damped the excitement born out of fresh coaches, a bigger roster and the inaugural community tailgate party which preceded the game.
“We got to shore up some of our blocking schemes — but again we lost a lot of the guys inside too and we got to work with what we got,” Rouser said. “We’ll keep going.”
