Wolves' playoff drought over

South Kitsap’s drive to the Narrows League Bridge Division championship rested on the legs of Stephen Tucker.

But the Wolves’ route to state came from a different set of backs.

While Tucker sat out most of the game, Ryan Williams and Sean Allison filled in as the Wolves claimed a 28-20 win Saturday night against Kamiak at Roy Anderson Field in the Class 4A state preliminary round.

“We all knew that Tuck was out for the game, so we just had to run hard and the line had to block and execute,” Williams said. “We did that and came up with a big win.”

South (7-3), which advances to state for the first time since 2002, plays Graham-Kapowsin (7-3) next week.

The Wolves got there behind the 64 yards and two touchdowns from Williams and Allison, who had 132 yards and a touchdown.

“Hard work pays off at the end,” Williams said. “At practice, (the backups get a lot of work) and it just shows how well-balanced this team is.”

Tucker, who rushed for 70 yards on 11 carries, left early in the second quarter when he landed hard on his shoulder.

“I’m just happy we won,” said Tucker, who rushed for 1,255 yards and 14 touchdowns entering the game.

South coach D.J. Sigurdson said he didn’t expect the running game to suffer after Tucker left.

“Both of those guys are good players,” he said. “Obviously, you want to have Stephen out there — he’s done such a good job with everything — but those guys are good players. It says something about the offensive line.”

It also showed in the passing game with Tester, who had 91 passing yards, including a 24-yard touchdown pass to Leon La Deaux that gave the Wolves a 13-7 lead at halftime.

“This is not the time to be (conservative),” said Sigurdson, whose team lost 33-14 last week against Olympia in the Narrows League title game. “These guys really responded well.”

Kamiak (7-3) gained the lead for the final time when quarterback Jacob Jansen found Tommy Benz for a 6-yard touchdown with 4 minutes, 40 seconds left in the third quarter. The score capped a 15-play, 70-yard drive.

Williams then scored on an 11-yard run late in the third quarter — and finished the series with a successful two-point conversion run — and added the Wolves’ final touchdown with 8:16 left in the game on a 9-yard run.

“The line did a great job of blocking once again,” Williams said. “I just saw a hole and went for it.”

The Knights scored with 1:04 left when Jansen again found Benz for a 12-yard score, but the extra point failed and an onside kick attempt went out of bounds.

It was the only drive where the Knights were able to move the ball after Justin Glenn, a University of Washington commit, left the game with 5:27 remaining in the third quarter.

Glenn, who had 134 yards on nine carries, gave the Knights the lead when he broke a tackle and had the game's longest play — a 91-yard scoring run. But Allison responded with a 46-yard run that set up his own 1-yard touchdown run in the first quarter as the Wolves began to establish momentum as they outscored the Knights in each of the last three quarters.

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