The Bucket stays down south

September 10, 2021 by David Svien

Mikey Robinett had a huge blocked kick Friday, but Coupeville fell 33-7 to arch-rival South Whidbey. (Photo by JohnsPhotos.net)

When things changed, they changed fast.

And not in a good way.

For nearly 21 minutes Friday, the Coupeville High School football team battled host South Whidbey to a 7-7 stalemate.

Then the Falcons erupted for 26 unanswered points in a little over two minutes — including scoring touchdowns on three consecutive plays — and possession of The Bucket was ceded to the guys in blue and white.

Winning the battle of next-door neighbors 33-7, South Whidbey improves to 2-0 on the young season, while sending Coupeville to an 0-2 start.

The victory is the third-straight in the series for the Falcons, after the Wolves won four of the previous six clashes.

In the Coupeville Sports era (2012-2021), South Whidbey leads 5-4, with no game played in 2020 due to Covid.

The Wolves last gridiron win over the Falcons came 1,471 days ago, way back on September 1, 2017.

Though, at least for a bit Friday, it looked like that might change.

Coupeville got on the board first, and did so impressively, burning seven-and-a-half minutes off the clock on the game’s opening drive.

After losing yardage on each of the game’s first three plays, the Wolves struck paydirt when quarterback Cole Hutchinson hit running back Tim Ursu with a pass over the middle.

Ursu, shedding would-be tacklers with each step, picked up most of the 26 yards CHS gained on the play after the catch.

That triggered the Wolf offense, which mixed in runs from Hutchinson, Jonathan Valenzuela, and Scott Hilborn to keep the chains moving.

Hilborn broke free coming around the left side, rumbling like a freight train moving downhill, and bolted in from 15 yards out to get the first points on the board.

Tack on a majestic PAT from Wolf kicker Daylon Houston, and Coupeville was up 7-0 at the 4:30 mark of the first quarter, with a well-rested defense yet to see the field.

While the visitors milked the clock, South Whidbey chose to strike fast on its own opening drive, however.

Holding on to the ball on a quarterback keeper, Falcon senior Ryan Morgan sliced through the CHS defense on his team’s third play, taking off on a 57-yard romp to the end zone.

Boom, and just like that, the battle for Island supremacy looked like it might go a lot like Coupeville’s season opener, when the Wolves combined with Klahowya to put up 81 points.

Except, both offenses stalled out for the next 12 minutes and change, and the game was still knotted at 7-7 late in the second quarter.

At which point everything which could go wrong for Coupeville did.

First, Morgan slipped a touchdown pass into a receiver’s arms with 3:11 left in the half, after having way too much time to scramble.

Then, after South Whidbey whiffed on the extra point, it made up for the miscue by recovering an onside kick to get the ball right back.

While Coupeville fans righteously screamed about a Falcon who was blatantly offsides on the play — which should have denied the turnover — South Whidbey marched 46 yards down the field.

Morgan’s second touchdown pass, launched at the 1:31 mark, punctured Coupeville’s dreams, then the next two plays thoroughly deflated any lingering hopes.

South Whidbey scored touchdowns on Coupeville’s next two offensive plays, courtesy a pick-six interception and a fumble recovery, and Wolf fans were left with little to cheer for except the possibility of rain to wash away the suddenly-ugly scene.

Trailing 33-7, after surrendering 26 points in two minutes and 13 seconds of on-field action, CHS was left to scrape together what highlights it could.

Wolf junior Dominic Coffman ripped a pass out of the air, collecting his third interception of the season on the final play of the first half.

Jump forward to the second half, and you could praise Logan Downes, who busted off a big run on a quarterback scramble.

As well as hail the duo of Mikey Robinett and Kevin Partida, who teamed up for a late defensive gem.

With South Whidbey punting, Robinett crashed hard and blocked the kick with his body.

The Falcons recovered the ball, but Partida, coming in like a heat-seeking missile, made the tackle to complete the beat-down and hand the ball back to the Wolves.

Coupeville hits the road again next week, traveling to Port Townsend Sept. 17 to face East Jefferson — the new Chimacum/Port Townsend hybrid — in another non-conference game.

The first of four Northwest 2B/1B League games for the Wolves is the following Friday, when La Conner comes to Whidbey.

With an already-thin roster — Coupeville had 21 players to South Whidbey’s 31 — the Wolves took a major hit Friday when two-way lineman Zane Oldenstadt broke his left arm.