By Kiara Doyal, The Seattle Medium
Last night, the Garfield Bulldogs and the Rainier Beach Vikings faced off at Memorial Stadium for the annual classic rivalry game. A highly anticipated game that many spectators come to watch, the game, regardless of the teams’ records, is for bragging rights between cross-town rivals.
Coming off of a two-game win streak, the energy was high for the Vikings (2-3). With the regular season shortly coming to an end, the Vikings, who have won the last two meetings with Garfield, looked to earn a victory against the Bulldogs for the third consecutive year. However, this year the Bulldogs would avenge those two losses and improve to 5-2 on the season with a 48-24 win.
A sloppy start by both teams led to some exciting and momentum-changing plays that kept fans on the edge of their seats, as the game was almost like a back-and-forth match between the players and the refs. Less than a minute into the start of the first quarter, the Vikings fumbled the ball on the 8-yard line. The Bulldogs would return the favor as they fumbled the ball at the Rainier Beach 19-yard line that was recovered by Rainier Beach’s SirJewel Glover.
Garfield would score the game’s first touchdown as Rahshawn Clark intercepted a pass by Vikings quarterback James Siva and returned it 50 yards for a touchdown to give the Bulldogs an early 7-0 lead.
The Vikings would strike back as running back Zavion Watkins would score a touchdown shortly after another Garfield fumble. The Vikings would fall short on the extra-point attempt, as they trailed the Bulldogs 7-6. Scrambling seemed to be the word to best describe the first quarter of the game. With a number of interceptions, fumbles, and penalty calls, the game was just getting started.
The Vikings, a team with only 9 seniors, entered the game knowing they had a young team this year. Freshman quarterback James Siva set the tone for the Vikings, as he was resilient and would keep throwing touchdowns to keep his team in the game. A freshman with heart that showed through the entirety of the game, Siva would make timely plays to help keep the game close.
After their slow start in the first quarter, Garfield picked up the pace with help from key players. Sophomore running back Reylen Witherspoon was a hard one to catch. On the first play of the second quarter, Witherspoon would score on a 40-yard touchdown run to give the Bulldogs a 14-6 lead.
The Bulldogs, who needed a win to keep their chance of winning a Metro League championship alive, worked hard to keep their lead against the Vikings.
A slow-moving game in the second quarter saw the Vikings looking to score with 7:45 left in the first half. Putting a lot of pressure on the Vikings’ Siva, the Bulldogs’ defense held as Garfield took possession of the ball. Inching closer to the endzone, Reylen Witherspoon scored on a four-yard touchdown run, giving the Bulldogs a 20-6 lead with 4:15 remaining on the clock.
The two teams would get some late touchdowns as they went into halftime with Garfield leading 28-18.
The Vikings kicked off to Garfield to start the second half, and Garfield would start on their own 47-yard line. The third quarter was full of penalty flags that seemed to hurt the Bulldogs. False start and encroachment calls resulted in a scoreless third quarter for both teams.
During the second half, Siva and the Vikings started to cut into the Bulldog lead. Siva threw a 29-yard touchdown pass, bringing the score to 24-35 with 8 minutes left in the fourth quarter. Throughout the game, the Vikings failed on multiple 2-point conversion attempts, which put them at a two-score deficit. With a little under half of the fourth quarter remaining, Garfield recovered a failed onside kick by Rainier Beach at the Vikings’ 48-yard line. Minutes later, Bulldog senior quarterback EJ Caminong scored on a two-yard touchdown run, setting the score to 42-24, after a successful extra point attempt to secure a hard-fought win.
Despite the tough loss, Vikings Head Coach Corey Sampson had nothing but encouraging words to say about his players. The Vikings showed a lot of heart competing with an older team like Garfield, up until the final whistle blew and the game was over.
“We’re young, but we’re good,” said Sampson, after the game. Having a younger team opens the door for freshmen players like Siva and his favorite target on the night, SirJewel Glover, who both had remarkable games. With players like these, the Vikings have the nucleus for a very good team for the next three years.
After losing the previous year to the Vikings, 21-15, the Bulldogs pulled off the win of the rivalry game this year. Head Coach Reggie Witherspoon, Jr. celebrated the victory with the Bulldogs and his two sons.
“We got athletes, they got athletes,” says Coach Witherspoon. Both teams have players who stand out each game. Despite the age difference between the two teams, at the end of the day, it comes down to who is ready to compete and win.
“We started off slow. I told them to dominate and execute as much as we can going into the second half, and focus on those runs and blocks,” added Witherspoon.
In the end, the Bulldogs beat their Viking rivals, with a final score of 48-24. Coach Witherspoon II shared that his Bulldogs were very sloppy, but they will take the win.
Next Friday, October 20, the Bulldogs will face the undefeated Fighting Irish of O’Dea (7-0), and the Vikings will take on Eastside Catholic (5-2) with hopes of working back towards a winning streak.
