HS Football: Battle of 1st year Head Coaches goes to South Kitsap over Rogers

9/7/2023

South Kitsap 34, Rogers 14

(Puyallup, WA) Thursday night both the South Kitsap Wolves and Rogers Rams came in 0-1 after falling in their season openers and both head coaches were looking for their 1st win as head coach of their respective teams. Sean Banks had been assisting at Lincoln for the past several years when he got the call to take over South Kitsap’s program. Banks is a graduate of the Wolves and welcomed the chance to go home and turn around the program to its past glory days.

Shawn Yohn now is the head coach of the Rams and just recently took over the duties after the former coach stepped down due to some serious family health issues. Yohn is also a grad of the program he took over and had been coaching in Kentucky at the 6A level when the pandemic hit and he has retired from teaching. He came back to just be part of the staff when he was asked to step in and was happy to do so.

Both coaches are looking at their jobs with the long game in focus and the need to establish the right culture and buy in. An early win for either team would certainly help towards that cause and both had high expectations coming into the game.

In the 1st half South Kitsap began with the ball and looked like a 3 and out and Banks sent in Kieran Snider to punt but the snap was low and skidded across the turf. Snider thought pressure was coming and scooped up the ball and headed around the right end picking up 11 yards and a huge 1st down to extend the series. The opening drive would go nearly 8 minutes and ended with a 18-yard TD pass from Jordan Lee to Braden Skovald, Snider added the PAT for a 7-0 lead.

South Kitsap would score again on their 2nd possession a 16 scramble by Lee in for the score and the Wolves led 14-0 with 9:01 to play in the half. After a couple of possession changes Rogers would get back in the game with a 4-play 62 yard drive capped off with a 23-yard strike from Rashaard Boone to Kaleb Albinana-Lee, Junior Dreeson hit the extra point and it was 14-7 which would stay to the half.

Rogers would get the ball back to begin the 3rd and a nice kick return by Silas Robinson to the Rams 42 but then they went 3 and out turning the ball back over to South Kitsap. The Wolves began on their own 23 and worked it to near mid-field when Lee busted off a 55-yard scoring run to make it 21-7. The wolves then added a 1 yard smash-mouht dive with Brycen Clay for a 27-7 lead and cvapped it all off with a stunning 59-yard punt return for a touchdown by Boden Harvey for a 34-7 lead with 1:04 to play in the 3rd.

Rogers would get their 2nd touchdown in the 4th quarter on a pretty 36-yard pass from Boone to Martyn Hernandez for the final 34-14 score.

Our Education as a Career MVP went to South Kitsap’s Jordan Lee. The win was the 1st for new Head Coach Sean Banks as the Wolves improve to 1-1. Rogers drops to 0-2. The Wolves will host Puyallup next Friday and the Rams are at Bellarmine.

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