Fife’s offense stalls in season-ending loss to North Kitsap in 2A state tournament

North Kitsap junior Logan Sloman entered the 2022 high school football season as the most accomplished wide receiver in West Sound.

On Friday, Sloman showed how important he can be on the defensive side of the ball, too.

Sloman caught five passes for 95 yards and two touchdowns and accounted for a pair of interceptions as the third-seeded Vikings won its Class 2A state opener 31-7 against No. 14 Fife in Poulsbo.

North Kitsap (10-1) will host sixth-seeded Anacortes (9-1) in a quarterfinal game next week. Fife finished its season with a 7-4 record.

Heading into the season, North Kitsap coaches planned to use Sloman sparingly on defense, but they had a tough time convincing him to come off the field once he started getting snaps at cornerback.

“I love playing both sides,” said Sloman, who led all West Sound pass-catchers with 819 yards and 14 touchdowns in 2021. “When I’m on the sidelines, I’m struggling because I can’t do anything.”

Sloman entered Friday’s game with 683 yards and 11 scores and added to both totals on North Kitsap’s opening drive against Fife. He caught a 14-yard touchdown pass from junior quarterback Cole Edwards to put the Vikings up 7-0 just 1 minute, 23 seconds into the game.

Fife, which committed five turnovers, fumbled on its first offensive play to help North Kitsap double its advantage, 14-0, on a 2-yard scoring run by sophomore Carter Dungy at 8:47 of the first quarter.

On Fife’s next possession, the Trojans used a 82-yard kickoff return to set up their first and only score of the game, a 3-yard touchdown run by senior running back Beau Fualaau, who led his team offensively with 112 rushing yard against a defense that posted six shutouts in its first 10 games.

The score remained 14-7 late into the second quarter and it appeared Fife might head into halftime only trailing by seven points. That’s when Edwards and Sloman connected for a 30-yard touchdown pass with four seconds left before half, putting the Vikings up 21-7.

On the play, North Kitsap senior running back Benen Lawler went in motion to the left and ran a seam route, while junior receiver Owen Wilkenson ran a curl to the left. Sloman found himself all alone on a corner route to the left.

“The play call is either to get it deep or get it short and get out of bounds,” Sloman said. “I thought I’d have somebody there.”

“It was a great throw and a great catch,” Weible said. “I think that was huge.”

On the defensive end, Sloman recorded both of his interceptions in the first half, including one in the end zone midway through the second quarter. Fife appeared on the verge of possibly tying the game at 14-all on a 3rd-and-goal play for North Kitsap’s 6-yard line when Trojans junior quarterback Dylan Goldstrom heaved a pass toward the right corner of the end zone.

“I just drifted back and he pretty much threw it right to me,” Sloman said.

North Kitsap put the game away in the second half, adding 10 points on a 26-yard field goal by senior kicker Diego De Luna and a 31-yard touchdown run by Lawler, who finished the contest with 186 rushing yards.

Three victories away from capturing the first state title in program history, North Kitsap didn’t celebrate too wildly after Friday’s win. The Vikings were already turning their attention to Anacortes.

“We won and that’s awesome,” Sloman said. “But now that we’ve won, we’ve got to look ahead. We’ve got to take that next step. Our main goal is the finals at state. This is just our first step.”

This story was originally published November 11, 2022 at 11:44 PM.