Wolf QB Gunnar Langvold was all smiles after returning from a knee injury to help lead his team to an impressive victory Friday.
Jake Tumblin is making up for lost time.
The Coupeville High School senior, who missed a chunk of time with a leg injury, has exploded since coming back. He saved his biggest boom for Friday night, however, rushing for 201 yards to lead the Wolves to a resounding 23-7 win at Granite Falls.
Just as big was a ferocious defense keyed by The Big Hurt.
With Nick Streubel rampaging through the backfield — he knocked Matthew Hamilton, the Cascade Conference’s top rusher, completely out of the game with one Earth-rumbling hit — the Wolves made short work of a league foe in what technically was a non-league game.
Now 3-2 with a two-game winning streak, Coupeville heads straight towards its biggest test.
The Wolves host Island rival South Whidbey (4-2 after a 22-21 win over Archbishop Thomas Murphy) 7 PM Friday, Oct. 18 in a game that will combine Homecoming, the battle for ownership of The Bucket and both teams playoff hopes.
Coupeville, which is in the second year of a two-year plan in which the smallest 1A school in the eight-team 1A/2A league skips the three biggest schools (Lakewood, Cedarcrest, ATM), has to reach two goals to make the postseason.
First, they need a .500 or better record, which is just one win away with three games to play.
Second, they need to finish in the top two in the round-robin between the three 1A schools. King’s has already beaten South Whidbey (the Wolves play the Knights Oct. 25), and a Wolf Homecoming victory would eliminate the Falcons.
“If we beat South Whidbey, we should be good for a playoff spot,” said Coupeville coach Tony Maggio. “But we want to and think we can do more than that!”
The win Friday gave Coupeville one more win than it had in Maggio’s first season last year, when the highlight was an upset of South Whidbey at Langley.
Going up against a winless, but dangerous Granite Falls team, the Wolves dominated in every facet.
Coupeville opened the scoring with a five-yard bull run from senior Brett Arnold, followed by a two-point conversion from Josh Bayne. Then, after Hamilton scored on his own short run, the Wolves blew things open with two big plays.
Quarterback Gunnar Langvold, who has also missed time with his own leg injury, connected with fleet-footed Wade Schaef on a 55-yard scoring pass, before Tumblin ripped off a 48-yard rumble to the end zone in the third quarter.
Joel Walstad tacked on the extra point after Schaef’s score, while Bayne — who also had an interception and a 46-yard punt return in the game — scored another two-point conversion following Tumblin’s rumble.
While Coupeville benefited from a balanced offense (Langvold completed six of 11 passes for 104 yards and said “I was iffy in the knee at first, but after the first sack I didn’t feel it,” while Tumblin’s big night came on just 16 carries), the stifling defense was locked and loaded.
And don’t think the coaches didn’t notice.
“Our boys were laying the wood to them,” said stat man Chris Tumblin.
“As always, our D led the way,” Maggio added. “Nick had absolutely the biggest hit I think I’ve ever seen as a coach, and, unfortunately, took out #7, Matt Hamilton, in doing so.”
Streubel and Tumblin led the way, with seven tackles apiece. They also combined for 15 assists, while Streubel recovered a fumble.
Bayne, who might be the hardest hitter on the squad even though he gives up several inches and many pounds to the big boys, highlighted a four-tackle night with a “buckling shot to the solar plexus that reduced their active roster by one,” according to Chris Tumblin.
Everyone across the CHS roster came up with big hits and key tackles, whether it was Arnold (five tackles, two assists), Ben Haight (five/one), Lathom Kelley (four/three) or Jared Dickson (three/three).
Schaef, Matthew Hampton and Aaron Wright each chipped in with two tackles apiece, with Wright coming up with a key fourth-down, fourth-quarter stop that snuffed a Tiger drive.
After shredding the local boys, the Wolves capped the big win with a small, but very important, gesture.
“The other thing our boys did, was at the end of the game the entire team came up to the stands and picked up all the garbage that was left by the Coupeville crowd,” Chris Tumblin said. “Which I will say was not much, but it was pretty cool to see.”
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