Peninsula gears up for rematch of last year’s league title game against Timberline

So far, the South Sound Conference has been a breeze for the Peninsula High School football team.

That’s about to change.

Peninsula, winners of two straight games, hosts Timberline Thursday at Roy Anderson Field in a rematch of last year’s SSC title game.

The scouting report on Timberline (3-1 overall, 2-0 SSC 3A) looks similar to years past: A tough, true dual-threat quarterback in Hunter Campau, strong line play and a physical, imposing attitude.

And in case you don’t remember, Timberline beat Peninsula in ugly fashion last year: A 51-14 romp that the players and coaches surely haven’t forgotten. But it’s also a new year, and last year’s game is firmly in the rearview mirror, Seahawks coach Ross Filkins said.

“It was disappointing, but that being said, last year was last year,” Filkins said. “For us, we just have to do everything we can to prepare and be ready to go. We’re all focused in on this week.”

Peninsula (3-1, 2-0) has the benefit this year of having played two high-level opponents to open the season in O’Dea and Skyline. If nothing else, those games should have established a baseline for Peninsula, as far as what level they’ll have to play at to knock off some of the league’s top teams.

A game against Timberline shouldn’t prove overwhelming for the players after opening at O’Dea.

“I think it helped a lot,” Filkins said. “We had two really good looks in week one and two with very different kinds of teams. Teams that put a lot of strain on us. Everything we experience should make us a stronger team.”

Then came conference play.

Peninsula faced North Thurston and Shelton the past two weeks on the road, winning the games by a combined 98-0 — putting up 41 points against North Thurston and 57 against Shelton. While it can sometimes be difficult to glean anything meaningful from blowouts against the league’s lesser competition, Filkins insisted that he was pleased with the team’s energy, execution and focus the past two weeks.

“We’re working on stuff and getting the most out of every single day,” Filkins said. “We’ve been able to play a lot of people. We got everyone in the game. Everyone got in and played well, so we were excited about that. I feel like we went on two road trips, our kids got off the bus focused and ready to go out and execute.”

One definitive positive: Two games, zero points allowed. Even against lesser competition, that’s a positive sign of a team not taking plays off.

“As a program, we do believe in subbing a lot, playing a lot of people and developing them,” Filkins said. “So to get two shutouts with young kids playing, that’s a really good sign for the program. That was really cool. It can be challenging for third and fourth string kids to get in. They were very well prepared and played hard.”

Timberline exploded last week in a 41-13 win over Central Kitsap, a team that some thought could be a dark horse contender this year, after winning a close matchup over Gig Harbor in week three, 14-7.

“I’m really impressed with their film,” Filkins said. “They’re big, fast, aggressive. I’m super impressed with their QB.”

That would be Campau, who, despite his 5-foot-8 frame, earned praise from coach Nick Mullen, who called him the “toughest player on the team” after Timberline’s win over Gig Harbor.

“He’s elusive,” Filkins said. “He’s just an absolute rabbit back there. He’s tough to catch. Our work is going to cut out for us. He’s savvy in the passing game. He’s elusive. He takes kind of a salty approach to running their offense.”

This story was originally published September 26, 2018 at 9:12 AM.