Goal-line stand lifts Sedgwick to big win

The commitment to Sean Allison was in full bloom Wednesday night at Joe Knowles Field. On both sides of the ball.

The Cedar Heights running back once again put on an offensive show, but the John Sedgwick defense rose up when it had to and stopped Allison from getting the most important yard of the evening, holding on fourth and goal from the 1-yard line to preserve a 20-18 victory.

“He has been our workhorse all season,” Raindevil coach Carey Krumsick said of Allison. “He is our powerhouse. And again, he wants it, and that’s the character of Sean – he wants that load and his teammates have that faith in him.”

So much faith, in fact, that when the game was on the line, everyone in the stands at South Kitsap High School knew who would determine the outcome of a well-played battle between two of South’s feeder schools.

And with just over 30 seconds remaining and a single yard separating Cedar from a big win over Sedgwick, there was little doubt who get the call.

“We pretty much committed to (Allison) running off tackle,” Sedgwick coach Kevin Darcey said. “If they had done anything else, we would have been hung out to dry. We lucked out that they called the same thing that we had defensed.”

The win pushed Sedgwick to 4-2 on the year with one game remaining on the junior high schedule. The Generals close out the year on Wednesday back at South Kitsap against Marcus Whitman, while Cedar, which fell to 3-3, travels to Bremerton.

Even though he was stopped short of the goal line, the night pretty much belonged to Allison. The ninth grader drew everyone’s attention by rushing for 261 yards on 35 carries and scored on runs of 1 and 23 yards and hauled in a 35-yard TD pass to boot.

“I’m proud of him,” Krumsick said. “I just wish we could have got (that last one) in.”

Allison has been the workhorse who has helped Cedar overcome back-to-back 0-7 seasons, despite being keyed on much of the time.

“Coming off two 0-7 seasons, it’s been nice to win. It’s been nice to be competitive,” Krumsick said. “The players have that faith in themselves, the coaching staff has the faith in the team. Coming in, we were confident that we were going to win – we were going to get wins this year. So, we’re very pleased, we’re proud.”

While Allison has been a big part of getting the Raindevils back on track, Darcey, in his second year at Sedgwick, has the Generals on a line of consistency that has brought two consecutive winning seasons.

And the Generals have done it on the ground and through the air offensively while its defense has come through in the clutch.

Freshman Brady Zurn paced the Generals with 92 yards on 17 carries Wednesday, scoring on runs of 4 and 25 yards in bringing Sedgwick back from an 18-8 deficit.

QB Casey Coulon completed three of 7 passes for 102 yards, the big one coming on a first-quarter 69-yard scoring strike to Leaon La Deaux.

The Sedgwick junior varsity completed its undefeated season with a 32-20 victory over Oakland Bay of Shelton this week. 

The Generals got touchdowns from T.J. Pulkerbeck, Chris Nenninger, Greg Pickard and Josh Hart.

Sedgwick finished the year at 6-0.

John Sedgwick 20,

Cedar Heights 18

Score by quarters

John Sedgwick 8 6 6 0 – 20

Cedar Heights 12 6 0 0 – 18

Scoring Summary

CH – Sean Allison 1 run (kick failed)

JS – Leon La Deaux 69 pass from Casey Coulon (La Deaux kick)

CH – Allison 35 pass from Robert Palmer (kick blocked)

CH – Allison 23 run (kick failed)

JS – Brady Zurn 4 run (kick failed)

JS – Zurn 25 run (kick failed)

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