Welcome to the haze, as Coupeville football pulls into Eastern Washington. (William Davidson photo)
Wildfires rage, air quality plummets, and high school football games get cancelled or postponed.
It’s the current reality across Washington state, though Friday night on Whidbey Island would have been just fine for gridiron action.
Unfortunately for Coupeville, it was way down the road in Leavenworth, having traveled 140+ miles, and a ferry trip, one way for a chance to clash with Cascade.
The matchup between 5-1 teams never happened, though, as the kickoff was bumped from 7:00 to 7:30, then 8:00, before the game was called off.
To play what was to be Cascade’s Homecoming game, the air quality index needed to be lower than 150.
Leavenworth, which peaked at 386 at 1:30 PM, as Coupeville was aboard the Clinton ferry, was still in the 170’s when the game was cancelled.
An hour later, with the Wolves on the second leg of what will be close to a 300-mile round-trip, AQI was back up to 179.
The Air Quality Index for Leavenworth made a run at 400 Friday, and never dropped below 168.
When the announcement came, with haze hanging over the field, and a few stragglers goofing off between the hash marks, the Cascade PA guy was in the midst of trying to push spaghetti and garlic bread dinners.
“We’ve got a lot here, folks!!”
While the guy behind the mic made a public show of saying they would try to reschedule the game, it is unlikely for multiple reasons.
Both Coupeville and Cascade have league games the next two weeks, with the playoffs looming on the horizon.
Friday’s clash would have been a non-conference affair, and league games are always given priority.
Also, with the fires and smoke going nowhere, who sends the Wolves on another 300-mile trip?
Meanwhile Cascade has no incentive to spend its own gas money on a trip to the balmy shores of The Rock after making the journey last year.
So, in the end it likely becomes a frustrating story in the never-ending tale of life bouncing across the backroads in pursuit of athletic competition.
Hey, maybe the Wolves got some bratwurst on the way out of town.
Or some of Cascade’s spaghetti.
At least the Wolf coaches had fun in town. (Photo courtesy Bennett Richter)
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