(WSB photos by Patrick Sand)

The 2024 Huling Bowl crosstown-competition football game is in the books, and this year at Nino Cantu Southwest Athletic Complex, Chief Sealth International High School is going home with the trophy. On Friday night, the Seahawks won the annual faceoff with West Seattle High School, 24-7. Often the pageantry and energy is more fun than the football; tonight, the stands were packed:

Chief Sealth, Friday night’s home team at NCSWAC – where both teams play their home games – ran onto the field through a “Best in the West” banner:

Both schools’ bands played, including a drumline battle:

As for the football, things were kind of slow in the first half. On Sealth’s first major drive, they had to settle for a field goal, kicked by #34, junior Ogi Petronijevic, with 5:49 left in the first quarter:

Wildcats’ #13, junior LJ Moody, had an impressive series of runs after that, but West Seattle’s move down the field ended with Sealth’s #21, junior Marshawn Tovia-Ford, sacking West Seattle’s #12, sophomore Desmond Parkinson. The Seahawks carried their momentum into the second quarter, with #23, junior Xander Gomez, scoring a touchdown at 9:00.

The kick was good and Sealth was up 10-0. Less than three minutes later, the Wildcats nabbed their only TD of the gae, by #23, senior Myles Mutchler.

#34, junior Scott Bremen, got the extra point, and that was the end of West Seattle’s scoring for the game. Their next drive was thwarted by a penalty – announced as offensive pass interference – that set them back to 1st and 25. After Sealth took over the ball a few minutes later, defensive pass interference was called. 10-7 was still the score at halftime. The Seahawks added two touchdowns in the faster-moving second half, #12, junior MJ Filitaula, at 5:13 in the third quarter:

In the fourth quarter, WSHS made some progress with 6-plus minutes to go, when a comeback from a 10-point deficit wouldn’t have been implausible, but then Sealth’s #21 intercepted a pass and ran in the last TD, late in the game:

Big change from last year’s down-to-the-wire WSHS victory. The victory brings Sealth this year’s bragging rights and custody of the trophy, walked out by athletic directors Ernest Policarpio of CSIHS and Corey Sorenson of WSHS:

The celebration afterward brought parents and fans to the sidelines for photo ops:

Winning coach Daron Camacho was all smiles:

Sightings earlier:

Above is a group of Sealth alums including members of the Huling family, for which the annual game is named (see our 2012 report for the backstory). Below, the schools’ principals, Ray Morales and Brian Vance:

NEXT GAMES: Both teams play at NCSWAC again next Friday night (September 27), but not against each other. West Seattle (0-3) plays Lincoln at 4:30 pm Friday; Chief Sealth (3-0) plays Ingraham at 7:30 pm.