North Kitsap’s latest quest to climb the 2A ladder took an early hit from a familiar postseason foe.

The Vikings had hoped to provide a spark to the start of its 2024 season after last year’s semifinals loss to Tumwater and the tragic offseason death of assistant coach Dave Snyder, who was honored with a moment of silence in the Sept. 6 pregame ceremonies.

Their previous clash with the W.F. West Bearcats had gone down as an instant classic, a come-from-behind semifinal victory in 2022 that put the Vikings on the verge of hoisting a 2A state championship trophy.

Instead, the Bearcats would make the most of their Week 1 trip to Poulsbo, shutting down the Vikings in a crushing 40-7 loss.

“We have a lot of work to do,” coach Jeff Weible said after the game. “We’re woefully out of shape and relied on what we’ve done in the past thinking that we can be a good program. I think this game showed what happens when you don’t commit to being in shape and getting stronger during the summertime.”

Neither team made a dent in the opposition’s defense through most of the game’s first few drives before the Vikings began to cover ground starting from their own 39-yard line. Junior quarterback Dawsyn Anderson began to develop a rhythm, as a 30-yard gain through the air to senior wideout Tate Stearns but the Bearcats held to set up a 24-yard field goal try.

It all went downhill from there. Junior placekicker Andrew Knott’s attempt met the hand of a W.F. West defender, he and company sprinting backward after the ball before finally covering it up around midfield. Weible wanted an offsides call on the play, but that didn’t happen. “I don’t know how (the refs) missed something like that, but you know. We have to be able to respond better than we did,” Weible complained.

The Bearcats capitalized scoring on a 10-yard pass. The Vikings lost more ground on back-to-back drives that ended with an Anderson turnover, giving W.F. West’s offense lengths of just 34 and 28 yards to the endzone. They punched it in both times on 1-yard quarterback sneaks.

Weible said Anderson did well given the circumstances and breakdowns in pass protection. “I don’t think he had a lot of time to throw, which I thought he was doing very well,” Weible said. “He ran well a few times. We just have to do a better job of giving him protection to run our offense.”

The Bearcats continued to extend their lead in their first drive of the second half. The drive took roughly 5 1/2 minutes off the clock, ending with a flash of trickery—a flea-flicker-style play for the TD.

NK finally scored later that quarter, Anderson finding Stearns for a 41-yard pickup before sophomore Josiah Walker caught a 6-yard touchdown pass.

But W.F. West would add two more scores to complete the rout.

“We have to go back to the drawing board, go to work,” Weible said. “We’ll see what we’re made of, how resilient we are and how we respond.”

The Vikings next shot will be Sept. 13 when they host 1A Lynden Christian.

Viking quarterback Dawsyn Anderson finds his target just as the blitz reaches him.