Coupeville Sports

Wolf QB Joel Walstad prepares to kick off while lineman Matt Shank silently sings “Welcome to the Jungle” to himself. (Photos courtesy Renee Walstad)

Brenden Gilbert (74) and the rest of the Wolf line listen intently to Walstad (5).

True story.

The computers have lost that lovin’ feeling for the Wolves, but the stat man still loves them.

A 40-18 loss to 2A Sequim Friday dropped the Coupeville High School football squad from #13 to #37 in the 1A rankings on http://www.scoreczar.org/.

Which manages to put a 1-1 Wolf squad that smacked Island rival South Whidbey on opening night two slots LOWER than next week’s opponent, Chimacum, which is 0-2 after losing 27-8 to Forks.

The Cowboys, who lost 47-21 to that same Sequim squad, have been outscored 74-29.

Computers…

Fellow Olympic League rivals Port Townsend (1-1) and Klahowya (0-2) are at #5 and #46, respectively, while Freeman has taken over the #1 ranking.

But, if we look at cold, hard stats, the Wolves are much more highly regarded.

In fact, Wolf QB Joel Walstad is flat-out #1.

The senior signal caller has thrown for 524 yards over his team’s two games (while also kicking and playing defense), the most of any quarterback among  Washington state schools who have reported stats to MaxPreps.com.

Not just in 1A. He’s #1 for ALL classifications, currently coming in ahead of quarterbacks from Lynnwood and Eastside Catholic.

At least for the moment.

Skyline’s Blake Gregory sits at #4 with 415 yards, but that was from one game. Once his second game stats come in, you would expect him to hurdle the guys ahead of him, including Walstad.

But right now, as I type this, the top passer in the state is a Wolf. So, there’s that.

Season stats:

Passing:

Joel Walstad 41-74 – 524 yards – 4 TD
CJ Smith 0-2

Receiving:

Smith 10-154
Ryan Griggs 10-128
Josh Bayne 10-112
Wiley Hesselgrave 4-77
Jacob Martin 5-32
Lathom Kelley 4-21
Gabe Wynn 1-0

Rushing:

Bayne 25-264
Martin 19-71
Hesselgrave 6-14
Walstad 8-11
Kelley 3-6

Touchdowns:

Bayne 3
Hesselgrave 2
Griggs 1
Kelley 1

Solo Tackles:

Bayne 10
Oscar Liquidano 7
Martin 7
Wynn 7
Kelley 4
Aaron Wright 4
Matt Shank 3
Griggs 2
Brenden Gilbert 1
Jake Lord 1
Hunter Smith 1
Walstad 1

Interceptions:

Bayne 1

Fumble Recoveries:

Bayne 1
Kelley 1
Wynn 1

Blocked Kicks:

Shank 1