Coupeville Sports

There are games where it’s hard to root for anyone.

If you’re a Coupeville High School fan, Thursday night’s epic clash between Cascade Conference rivals King’s (ranked number one in 1A) and Archbishop Thomas Murphy (tops in 2A) was the football version of Darth Vader and the Emperor wrestling in baked beans.

A novelty, yes. Something to catch the attention, certainly. But hardly the stuff of which you would find yourself openly rooting for one of the combatants.

Still, Wolf fans could take some solace in King’s 40-15 thrashing of ATM (aka The Evil Empire), because, if nothing else, it means there are certainly big, salty tears being shed across Everett today by cry-baby fans of Coupeville’s least-liked opponent. A team which the Wolves don’t face this season, too, which means nothing I say here can be turned into bulletin board material.

Coupeville will have to face King’s — and big-time quarterback Billy Green, who torched ATM for 312 yards and five touchdowns through the air, and then ran for a sixth score just to mix things up — when the Knights come to Whidbey Friday, Oct. 19.

Chin straps are going to need to be tightened down and prayers said before taking the field that night, because right now Green, a Brigham Young University recruit, is playing like a beast and King’s is rolling.

Of course, that’s five weeks from now, and Coupeville could be on its own winning streak at that point. Correct their mistakes from the early weeks, let the fleet-footed Jake Tumblin, Brett Arnold and Danny Savalza get rolling on a consistent basis behind big ‘n bad offensive lineman like Anthony Maggio, Nick Streubel and Caleb Valko and you could have another epic battle on your hands — this time between what could be a 5-2 Wolf squad and a 7-0 Knights team.

At the very least, there would be someone to root for in that game.