Coupeville Sports

Raymond Beiriger (23) comes off the field after scoring against Chimacum. (John Fisken photos)

Beiriger with Wolf coach Tony Maggio.

It was Coupeville’s version of “Rudy.”

Last fall, the Wolves capped off a 54-0 rout of visiting Chimacum by giving the ball to one of its hardest workers, an unheralded senior who hadn’t had much of a chance at the spotlight.

Raymond Beiriger, who celebrates a birthday today, was the guy who showed up for every practice, put in work and then stayed around afterwards to help put the equipment away before even thinking about leaving.

Every high school program needs a kid who plays his heart out, regardless of whether he’s a sandwich (or a few hundred sandwiches) away from being an imposing figure on the gridiron.

So it was nice to see CHS coach Tony Maggio call Beiriger’s number, and then watch his teammates celebrate and jump Beiriger after he plunged in for a touchdown run.

In typical fashion, after the game had ended and the local media waited to interview him, everyone had to wait.

Why? Raymond was busy putting equipment away, same as he did after every game, win or loss, big moment or not.

Now, he’s a Coupeville grad and off to other things. But he will always have that moment, when he took the ball and found the promised land.

I hope it meant as much to him as it obviously seemed to mean to his coaches and teammates.

And I hope he has an excellent birthday just days before CHS kicks off a new fall football season.

He was one of the best to wear the red and black, and that was true even before he scored.