By Neil Pierson

Danny Welstad and the Peninsula Seahawks got throttled in last year’s Fish Bowl football rivalry with the Gig Harbor Tides, and they weren’t about to let it happen again.

Welstad rumbled for well over 200 yards on the ground and scored six touchdowns, leading Peninsula to a season-opening 48-9 win over the Tides on Friday at Roy Anderson Field in Purdy.

It was the 33rd meeting for the cross-town rivals, with Peninsula winning for the 15th time.

“We’ve got some great linemen, and I knew (Gig Harbor) would be going low on me,” Welstad said. “I’ve just got to get my knees high, broke some tackles and I was off to the races.”

After the teams exchanged punts to open the game, Welstad got things rolling. He burst through the middle, hurdled a tackler and outran several more for a 74-yard touchdown.

Just two minutes later, Welstad was back in the end zone on a similar play, rolling 63 yards to make it 14-0 for Peninsula.

Tides kicker Korey Durkee, who has orally committed to Washington, hit field goals of 25, 27 and 38 yards for his team.

Welstad punctuated the first half with his fourth score, a 5-yarder up the gut, the final salvo in a 14-play, 61-yard march that consumed almost 6 minutes.

“The goal that we set for ourselves offensively, we wanted to be physical in our two-back (set) and establish the run,” Seahawks head coach Ross Filkins said.

Gig Harbor wasn’t able to use its team speed and hurry-up offense effectively, head coach Darren McKay said.

“We got steamrolled,” McKay said. “I told Ross, that was just a good, old-fashioned butt kicking.”