The Vashon Pirates football team played their closest game of the season last Friday at Chimacum High School on the Kitsap Peninsula. The final score was 13-20, with the Pirates denied a touchdown in the final seconds of the game.

“It was a good game,” Assistant Coach Manu Samanna-Spagnoli said. “The guys played really well. There were energy and momentum through the whole game.”

Samanna-Spagnoli said that games with Chimacum are always very competitive because both teams are similar in skill level.

In the first half, Hunter Denali and Richard Rivas-Gutierrez both had receiving touchdowns from quarterback Elijah Dougher. Bladimir Martinez-Arteaga kicked for the extra points and made the first one, bringing the score to 13 for Vashon by the end of the second quarter.

The Chimacum Cowboys came back with a series of touchdowns, despite what Samanna-Spagnoli said was a generally strong defense from the Pirates, including a sack by Jayce Aberthal.

As the fourth quarter wound down, the Cowboys scored on a long end zone touchdown, bringing their total score to 20. In the last minutes of the game, Vashon put freshman Will Weber in at quarterback and senior Dougher as a receiver.

“We managed to end zone stop and we were able to drive, drive, drive,” Samanna-Spagnoli said. “Will connected with Elijah on a tipoff the final seconds but wasn’t enough to score. We just didn’t have enough time to get down there before the clock ran out.”

The next game the Pirates play will be a non-league game at Raymond High School, southwest of Olympia, at 5 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 1. Samanna-Spagnoli said it should be a good game for the team, which is almost back up to full strength after struggling this season with injuries and illnesses.

“Raymond has a couple of wins under their belt, so it’s not going to be a pushover.”

— Anne Higuera is the mother of a Pirate football player.