Coupeville Sports

   Ethan Spark and Coupeville will play Saturday for sole possession of first-place in the 1A Olympic League. (Photo by JohnsPhotos.net)

Derek Leyva enjoys scoring goals so much, he can’t stop with just one.

The Coupeville High School sophomore has played in four soccer games during his time as a Wolf, and has recorded at least two goals each time out.

Thursday night Leyva punched in his ninth and tenth goals of the season to help fuel a second-half comeback, as Coupeville bounced back from a two-goal deficit on the road to tie North Mason 3-3.

Since it was a non-conference game, the two schools didn’t play overtime or go to a shoot-out, but instead accepted the tie, cause … soccer.

While it wasn’t a win, the result was still satisfying, as it showed the resilience of the Wolves, while coming against a much-larger school.

CHS, a very small 1A school, has played three of its first four matches against 2A schools, beating Olympic, tying North Mason and narrowly losing to Sequim.

All of this sets the Wolves up for the first huge test of the season Saturday, when they host Klahowya in a 10:45 AM bout which will decide sole possession of first-place in the 1A Olympic League.

Both teams enter play at 2-1-1, but the Eagles are 2-0 in league play, while Coupeville is 1-0.

There’s also the little matter of Klahowya’s 23-game conference winning streak, as KSS has never lost to its three division foes, having gone 6-0, 6-0, and 9-0 the past three seasons.

This time around, however, the Wolves have a new stadium, and a goal scorer who is hitting the back of the net like no other CHS boy before him.

The program single-season record is 20 goals, scored by Abraham Leyva.

His younger cousin is already halfway to that and hasn’t played a third of the regular season schedule yet.

With Coupeville trailing 2-0 at the break (with one score off of an “own goal”), the Wolves either got a fiery halftime speech from eternally laid-back coach Kyle Nelson, or just found a different gear.

Three minutes into the second half, senior captain William Nelson scooped up a loose ball and calmly zipped it into the net for this second goal of the season.

With the Wolves getting the ball forward quickly, Derek Leyva then went to work, rattling home back-to-back scores to stake his squad to a 3-2 lead.

The second goal came on a long, scorching shot, as Leyva fooled the goalie, pulling him wide before ripping the ball into the left side of the net from about the 40-yard line.

North Mason got a tying goal late in the game, but a potential go-ahead one was waved off for a player being off-sides.