Coupeville Sports

Ramon Booker made a strong debut Monday, throwing for two touchdowns.

There are 11 men on a football field at one time. Which didn’t leave a lot of extra bodies on the sideline Monday.

Playing with just 13 players — five of whom were playing their first game at any level — the Coupeville High School JV football team came dangerously close to upending visiting Bellevue Christian.

In the end, however, a crucial turnover deep in the red zone snuffed out the chances of the Wolves, and they fell 19-12 in their season opener.

Freshman quarterback Ramon Booker came out flingin’, throwing for two touchdown passes and the game was knotted at 12 deep into the fourth quarter.

Anthony Bergeron and Joel Walstad hauled in Booker’s scoring throws, while Cole Payne was a key target for the freshman signal-caller all night.

While he might have liked a few more bodies at his disposal, JV coach Dustin Van Velkinburgh exited the game pleased with the effort put out by the players who did make it on the field.

“We threw the ball well, ran alright,” Van Velkinburgh said. “Had trouble stopping their run, but only because we couldn’t tackle.

“Lots of good things to build on,” he added. “Super excited to see where we go from here.”