Coupeville Sports

Sage Downes prepares to kick some fanny. (Olivia Kelley photo)

Unblow the whistle and things might have gone differently.

On the same day game three of the World Series was decided on a highly controversial call by the umps, a ref who thought they saw something they really didn’t helped derail the Anacortes Midget Sea Hawks football team in its playoff opener.

The Sea Hawks, who feature three Coupeville Elementary students (Matthew Kelley, Jake Mitten, Sage Downes), fell 16-12 to Oak Harbor in a battle of 6-2 teams, ending their season.

The call in question happened early, when the Anacortes quarterback was smacked, hard, right after handing the ball off to the speedy Kelley. He had a wide open path down the sidelines to a game-opening touchdown, but the play was whistled dead when a ref on the far side thought the man down still had the ball.

Anacortes, playing on coach Pat Kelley’s birthday, rallied from the setback and held the lead late into the game before giving up what turned out to be the game-winning touchdown.

“The kids played wonderful. We got them to stop stacking the box by throwing the ball well and it opened up runs for other kids,” Kelley said. “Very tough one to accept, but we will have a great team next year. I keep down a really strong group of eight and send 17 up to Juniors.”