Coupeville Sports

Josh Bayne

There was magic in the air, but no fairytale ending to be found.

Playing before a packed house on Senior Night, with 113 cheerleaders on the field at halftime (seriously) for the swan song to legendary cheer coach Sylvia Arnold’s 20th and final season, Coupeville High School put on a show Friday night.

It was star-studded, with junior Josh Bayne busting out a career-defining performance. It was tear-stained at times, as 12 Wolf players and 11 cheerleaders bid farewell — even though they’ll be back next Friday for one more game.

And, at times it was plain frustrating.

Unable to control Sultan’s Antonio Rivas, who scored five times, and unable to counter him with their own nuclear option, with Jake Tumblin watching in street clothes as he recovers from a concussion, the Wolves fell 54-21.

The loss, its third in a row, dropped Coupeville to 3-5.

There is hope to find that elusive happy ending, however, as the Wolves will host Chimacum next Friday, Nov. 8.

A battle between teams that failed to make the playoffs, that game, which should feature the return of Tumblin, who has twice rushed for 200+ yards this season, will kick off at a yet-to-be-determined time.

Friday night, it was Bayne who rolled up big numbers, taking Tumblin’s place with a bang.

By the time he was done bouncing off of tacklers, and sometimes just running right over them, he had collected 204 yards on 24 carries, scoring all three of Coupeville’s touchdowns.

Toss in another 57 yards on four pass receptions and four tackles and four assists while patrolling the backfield on defense, and it was a game to behold.

He actually out-gained Rivas, who went for 185 yards but continually found holes at just the right moment and then slammed the pedal through the floor.

With running mate James MacKenzie adding another 98 yards and two touchdowns, the Turks jumped out to a 41-13 halftime lead, then coasted in.

Coupeville, which was led by the hard-hitting defense of Nick Streubel (10 tackles while fighting through big-time resistance), Wade Schaef (six tackles) and Wiley Hesselgrave (five tackles) made one final, valiant stand at the end, playing for pride in the waning seconds.

Wolf quarterback Gunnar Langvold threw a bomb into the corner that Anthony Bergeron snagged for an electrifying 34-yard catch, setting up Bayne for a four-yard scoring plunge with one second left in the game.

Brett Arnold then capped things with a bull run up the middle for a two-point conversion.

Langvold completed eight passes on the night, with two standing out.

Before Bergeron made his gem, Tyree Booker made a sparkling nab running down the sideline earlier in a game in which he was playing to honor three Oak Harbor girls involved in a deadly car crash Thursday.

Booker, a former Wildcat who transferred to CHS late last year, wears #3 and used that to pay tribute to OHHS students Janeah Goheen and Janesah Goheen and CHS grad Alysha Pickler.