Gig Harbor QB Thompson too much for South Kitsap

The Tides just had too much Thompson.

Chet Thompson, the Gig Harbor’s senior quarterback, ran the spread offense to perfection, rushing for 122 yards on 28 carries and scoring both of the Tides’ touchdowns, as they knocked off South Kitsap 23-13 at Joe Knowles Field in Narrows League football action Friday night.

Thompson also threw for another 174 yards in 30 attempts.

“That’s the best I’ve ever seen (Thompson) throw,” said South Coach D.J. Sigurdson. “He’s a good player to begin with, but he was even better than we expected tonight.”

And Thompson managed to save most of his heroics for moments calculated to inflict the most damage on the Wolves.

With the score tied 10-10 and less than a minute remaining in the first half, Thompson scrambled for 16 yards on third and 17 and completed a 4-yard pass to running back Jim Dahl on fourth down to keep the drive alive.

The Tides’ Jay Ubben booted the second of his three field goals — this one a 37-yarder — with 10 seconds left in the half to put Gig Harbor ahead at intermission.

Thompson was just getting warmed up.

Trailing 16-13 with six minutes left in the game, South was facing a fourth-and-three from the Tides’ 43 and decided to go for it.

But an illegal procedure penalty nixed that idea, and the Wolves’ Leon LaDeaux punted — naturally to Thompson — who made a fair catch on his own 15.

Then on first down, Thompson rumbled for 40 yards to the SK 45-yard line.

Four plays later, following a 15-yard penalty by Gig Harbor, Thompson struck again — this time with a 53-yard strike to wideout Louis Lanza on a second-and-20 play.

Three plays after that, Thompson called his own number and scored on a two-yard plunge to put the game out of reach.

“How many times did we let them off the hook?” Sigurdson wondered. “How many fourth downs did they convert? How many times did (Thompson) come up with a big play on third and a mile?”

The Wolves got a pair of field goals from senior Drew Klopfstein, plus a 44-yard first half touchdown bomb lofted by SK quarterback Bryan Dorsey to the 6-foot-3 Leon LaDeaux, who won a jump ball with a Gig Harbor defender and scampered the remaining 20 yards to the end zone to give the home team its only lead of the evening at 10-3 with 8:24 left in the half.

But the Tides responded with a 12-play, 67-yard drive of their own that consumed just over four minutes, capped by the first of Thompson’s two TD plunges, to tie the score at 10.

In the Wolves’ second possession of the second half, trailing 13-10, they got good production out of running backs Robert Issa and Zach Cruz in relief of starters Sean Allison and Ryan Williams, and mounted a 12-play drive of their own that stalled on the Gig Harbor 8-yard line.

Klopfstein’s 25-yard field goal knotted the score at 13 with 3:18 left in the third quarter.

“We were in the game until the very end,” Sigurdson said. “We were in a position to take the lead there in the fourth quarter, but one of our kids got excited and committed a costly penalty. We put the ball back in their hands and they made us pay for it.”

The Wolves generated a respectable 223 total yards of total offense, but for the most part the SK running game was bottled up.

Allison had 15 carries for 39 yards, Williams managed 34 yards on five carries and Issa added 28 yards on five carries.

In stark contrast to Thompson’s aerial assault, however, SK completed just four passes all night, with LaDeaux catching half of the total with two for 65 yards and a score.

The Tides finished with 317 total yards.

South, now 2-2, travels to Shelton on Friday.

Gig Harbor 23,

South Kitsap 13

Gig Harbor 3 10 0 10 — 23

South Kitsap 0 10 3 0 — 13

First quarter

GH — Jay Ubben 31 field goal

Second quarter

SK — Drew Klopfstein 25 field goal

SK — Leon LaDeaux 44 pass from Bryan Dorsey (Klopfstein kick)

GH — Chet Thompson 1 run (Ubben kick)

GH — Ubben 35 field goal

Third quarter

SK — Klopfstein 25 field goal

Fourth quarter

GH — Ubben 32 field goal

GH — Thompson 2 run (Ubben kick)

Comment on this story.

COMMENTING RULES: We encourage an open exchange of ideas in our online community, but we ask you to follow our guidelines for respecting community standards. In a nutshell, don't say anything you wouldn't want your mother to read. Please see our FAQ if you have questions or concerns about using Facebook to comment.