GIG HARBOR, WA - After making the jump to Division I in the offseason, the Peninsula Seahawks (2-0) are off on the right foot in 2016, capturing their first win over Sumner, 13-11 on Tuesday. Following the victory, the Seahawks returned to the Olympic Peninsula on Friday night for their home opener, hosting the Tahoma Bears (1-2) under the lights. Now coached by North Carolina transplant, Courtney Mauzy, the team is starting new this season with regime and the future seems bright. The Bears started their season last Saturday, losing by two goals at Bainbridge and were focused to get back on track.

From the first whistle on, Peninsula’s face-off group was on top of their game, winning a significant amount of possessions for the offense. Captain attackman Cameron Lewis capitalized on the time, leading total production for Seahawks, putting up 5 crafty goals and 1 assist. Bryce Wilder also put up a hat trick aided by solo strikes by Dawson Meerdink, Evan Johnson. The visitors came out firing, but Seahawks goaltender Luca Mira stood tall for all 48 minutes, making an impressive 14 saves for his second win as the starter.

Tahoma came up on the short end of a late exchange of goals by each team as the Peninsula man-down unit staved off the Bears’ attack, maintaining composure through a late 3-min non-releasable penalty. Despite the loss, Matty Taylor was a star on Friday, tallying 5 goals, 1 assist and 10 ground balls. Taylor had a stick on 6 of the team’s 9 goals, the other 4 scored by Trevor Larsen, Lucas McCabe, Eli Prychodzen and Keegan Sullivan. In the crease, Tim Hogan and Tyler Powell shared the role for the Bears, the pair combined for 7 saves on the 16 shots they faced.

At the final buzzer, the Seahawks would storm their goalie, celebrating an incredibly hard fought victory. Every athlete that took the field on Friday night put it all on the line for their schools and their teammates. The 10 to 9 Peninsula win was the result of one of the toughest battles the 2016 season has seen yet.

Wednesday night, Peninsula will look to maintain the perfect records when they head to Auburn Riverside at 7 pm. The following afternoon the Bears home opener produced their first win of the season over Sherwood, 16-4. Tahoma will now look to even up their record when they host Emerald Ridge (1-1) Wednesday at 8 pm. By Mark Donahue.