Big crosstown football game on tap tonight when Black Hills travels to Lacey’s South Sound Stadium to take on North Thurston at 7:00 PM.  In 2011, as members of the 2A EvCo, the Rams knocked off the Wolves 35-14 but both teams are coming off of big opening week victories that they hope will set the tone for this game and the rest of their season.

North Thurston traveled to Steilacoom and rushed their way to a 36-21 win that wasn’t as close as the final score. Maurice Manning scored three short touchdowns and Brandon Belisario scored on an 18 yard run and Ryan Mets, who has the unenviable task of replacing Ben Broeker at quarterback, threw his first touchdown, a 24 yarder to Josh Cahill.

Meanwhile, in Tumwater, Black Hills was busy putting a hurting on Clover Park. A relatively close game got out of control in the third quarter when the Wolves put 21 points on the board behind two touchdown passes from Miles Smiley and a 40 yard run by Jesse Perkinson. Smiley finished with 174 yards and three touchdowns while Perkinson had 95 yards rushing and a touchdown and 49 yards receiving and a TD.

So two teams with some question marks coming into the season that performed well in the opener. I expect North Thurston’s running game to dominate again but Black Hills will also put some points on the board.

My pick: North Thurston 35, Black Hills 24

If football doesn’t really float your boat, head on out to Evergreen where the Geoducks are hosting the Red Lion Evergreen Invitational volleyball tournament starting today at 3:00 PM when Columbia Bible faces Northwest University in the opening game. At 5:00 PM, the host Geoducks take on NCAA Division II Simon Fraser and in the nightcap, Camosun takes on Lewis & Clark at 7:00 PM.

The tournament continues tomorrow with a whole day of action starting at 9:00 AM and wraps up on Saturday.  All games are at the CRC Gymnasium. Live stats can be found by clicking here.

And if that isn’t enough for you, North Thurston hosts Shelton and Olympia hosts Central Kitsap in girl’s volleyball. The North Thurston game starts at 6:30 PM while the game at Oly starts at 7:00.

And finally, in girl’s soccer action, Capital heads to Tumwater to take on the T-Birds at 7:00 PM.