Gig Harbor, Peninsula begin abbreviated season with Fish Bowl Rivalry
Peninsula and Gig Harbor High School’s football players are, for the most part, friends.
In the close-knit community of Gig Harbor, it’s commonplace for athletes from both schools to see each other around town and grab lunch. And in some cases, they’ve known each other for the better part of a decade, participating in youth football together as early as fifth grade.
But for one day a year, when the annual Fish Bowl game takes place between the Seahawks and Tides, that sense of friendship and camaraderie disappears.
“It’s seeing your friends and your family out there … lining up across from you,” Peninsula senior Landon Sims said. “Off the field, you can go hang out with them and grab lunch, but on the field, you want to kill them. It’s a totally different mindset. … You act like you don’t even know them. It’s a battle out there.”
Returning for its 42nd installment is the Fish Bowl game this Friday. Gig Harbor leads the overall series, 21-20. That could be evened on Feb. 19 with a Peninsula win. In a normal world, it’s an event that unites all of Gig Harbor; pregame tailgates scatter the parking lot, and come gametime, there isn’t an empty seat in the house. Hundreds of fans pack the track all the way around the field.
For Peninsula senior Bryce Cleave, the Fish Bowl is an inspiration.
“It brings our community together,” Cleave said. “We’re separated by the two schools, of course, but we all know each other from across town. I’m friends with a lot of guys from over there, personally. It means a lot for me, because growing up, I’ve been going to the Fish Bowl games. It’s definitely huge for some of the younger kids that want to get motivated to play football. They look at (the game), and they look at all of the people in the stands… of course, it’s going to be different this year, but it means a lot to the community.”
And to call this year’s Fish Bowl “different” would be a massive understatement. For a game that typically embodies a college football-like setting, this year’s clashing of the Seahawks and Tides will prohibit spectators, due to safety concerns related to the coronavirus.
The empty stands create a change of atmosphere, but expect the same intensity you’d see in a normal game. Peninsula coach Ross Filkins says that the game will be available online through a NFHS broadcast, a paid streaming service.
“The kids on the field are going to be dialed in and focused … but we’re only focused on what we can do on the field during the game,” Gig Harbor coach George Fairhart said. “All of that other stuff is going to be gone. We’ll miss it, and I know there’s a lot of parents… (that) can’t watch (their) kid play. That’s a totally different world, especially in a big game. But we’re all following the protocols just for the benefit to get these kids out there to play. Outside the game, it’s going to be different. On the field, it’s going to be very intense, as usual. As expected.”
This year’s Fish Bowl sets up to be one of revenge for the Tides, after Peninsula routed Gig Harbor, 42-3 in 2019.
“I think they really underestimated us last year,” Sims said. Shortly after Gig Harbor stomped Timberline in a 35-point win last season, Peninsula scraped past the Blazers with an overtime-winning field goal. Peninsula’s inability to dominate Timberline in a similar fashion to Gig Harbor could have made a difference in the Fish Bowl, Sims believes.
“I think we played a horrible game,” Gig Harbor senior Griffin Sparrow said. “We had the skill and basically everything we needed to win that game, and so obviously after a loss like that, it hurts. This year, we have another great team and I definitely think we can win this game. Just play smart football … execute, and not make nearly as many mistakes, and I think we’ll have a good shot.”
It’s officially crunch time for seniors on the Tides: either win their first Fish Bowl, or allow Peninsula to win their fifth straight, and complete a career-sweep throughout their four years of high-school football.
“We want to get one in before we graduate,” Sparrow said. “It would be huge. I haven’t won one… as a personal goal, it’d be a lot. But as a team, it’s always our goal. It’s one of our biggest games, and we always want to win it. And this year particularly, it’s our first game, and a huge start to our season to get the ball rolling for us. It’s a giant game. I’m pretty excited for it.”
For Gig Harbor, Fairhart says his team needs to limit their mistakes to come out of Roy Anderson Field with a win.
What does Peninsula need to do to stretch their win streak and even the all-time record?
“Forget about last year,” Filkins said. “Forget about last week. Forget about yesterday. Forget about the play before. I just think you’ve really got to focus on one play at a time in a rivalry game.”
This story was originally published February 18, 2021 at 5:45 AM.
