By Michael Carman

The Spartans spotted the third-ranked, unbeaten Grizzlies three first-half touchdowns to trail 21-0, but worked their way back to have a shot to pull within one score at the halftime break.

Unfortunately for Forks, Hoquiam picked off a pass near the goal line to squelch that drive.

And the Grizzlies (4-0, 9-0) intercepted another Spartans’ pass in the third quarter that was returned for a touchdown. Tristen Pisani connected with Tony Hernandez-Flores on a 40-yard TD pass to make it 28-13 heading to the final quarter, but a comeback wasn’t in the cards.

“I was really proud of the kids they played so tough and brought a lot of intensity Friday night,” Forks coach Emil West said. “We were always a little bit behind, but as you can tell Hoquiam’s a pretty good ball club and you can’t make too many mistakes against them and expect to come out on top.”

The Spartans (1-3, 5-4) honored their senior class Friday night.

“They mean everything to me,” West said. “This is my first head coaching job, I was with them when they won one game as a defensive coordinator when they were freshmen. They put in the work, nothing was ever given to them. It seems like there is no luck involved with their success. It’s all earned. They turned the program around and I can’t wait to see how these guys are going to do in college.

West said he thinks multiple Forks players have a shot to continue playing the game:.

Luke Dahlgren was getting talked to by the Central Washington coaches at football camp; he’ll be playing somewhere. Eden Cisneros and Iziah Morton are looking at some Division III schools. Brett Moody will have his choice of playing football or baseball. What a tough kid to go through the season with a dislocated shoulder, West said.

They all have potential to go play college football and be successful. And not just get there, but to stay there.

“They made it their mission to work hard enough in high school football to be able to have those kind of opportunities,” West said.