Coupeville Sports

   Wolf defender Axel Partida sports a shiner Tuesday after CHS boys soccer beat Port Townsend in a rough-and-tumble affair. (Photo courtesy Partida)

They broke through, but not without a fight.

Riding a hat trick from sophomore Derek Leyva, the Coupeville High School boys soccer squad knocked off host Port Townsend 3-1 Tuesday, the first time the Wolf booters have beaten the RedHawks in the four-year run of the Olympic League.

The hard-fought victory, which lifts the Wolves to 2-1 in conference action, slides CHS into sole possession of second-place behind Klahowya (3-0).

Port Townsend (1-2) and Chimacum (0-3) bring up the rear at the moment.

Coupeville, which sits at 3-2-1 overall, hadn’t beaten Port Townsend in a boys soccer game since 2012.

The schools were in different conferences back then, and since uniting in the Olympic League in 2014, the RedHawks had won all seven meetings, outscoring the Wolves 23-7.

That includes shutting out Coupeville in three meetings last season.

This time around, the Wolves have added Leyva, who transferred to Coupeville for his sophomore year.

With his three goals Tuesday, two of which came in the first half, he has 13 scores in six games.

That pulls him within seven of cousin Abraham Leyva’s single-season Wolf boys scoring record of 20 goals.

None of his goals came easy Tuesday, as Port Townsend brought the heat, with frequent back-and-forth action erupting between the two teams.

“It was a lil’ tussle fest,” said Wolf senior defender Hunter Downes, as he described a game that came close at times to breaking into a full-on brawl.

Teammate Axel Partida finished the game with an impressive shiner after taking one nasty shot, but also emerged with the win, which makes even a black eye a little easier to deal with.

His coach, Kyle Nelson, generally remains the very picture of calm and cool while patrolling the sidelines. But just because the outer surface is placid doesn’t mean his insides aren’t roiling.

“It became quite a battle,” he said. “They missed a penalty kick opportunity and we put it away with five minutes left.

“It was an exciting game, and gave me a few more grey hairs.”