Liam Blas (right) came up big on both sides of the ball for CHS Friday night. (Photo courtesy Stephanie Blas)
Flags, so many flags.
The refs worked overtime Friday to extend the football season opener to nearly three hours, decorating the turf time and again during an otherwise very-competitive tilt between Coupeville High School and visiting Klahowya.
And, while the game slipped away from the young Wolves in the second half, with a 7-0 deficit turning into a 34-12 loss against their former Olympic League mates, CHS coach Bennett Richter and his squad walked away heads held high.
Refusing to go down easy against a 1A school which had almost double Coupeville’s 20-man roster, Cow Town’s finest made several goal-line stands, with Riley Lawless and Ayden Warren coming up big in the trenches and freshman Maverick Walling picking off a pass four days before attending his first high school class.
“At the end of the game, our guys didn’t stop playing, and the team continued to work hard every play,” Richter said. “I’m proud of the guys.
“There’s no quit there, and it’s been that way since day one this summer. Their future is bright.”
Having graduated several key contributors, Coupeville rolled out a new-look roster, with freshman Kamden Ratcliff starting at quarterback and showing no fear in the more-intense spotlight.
Unofficially, he completed eight passes for 112 yards in his debut, spreading the love between four receivers and showing off an often-dynamic throwing style.
He was helped on one play by wily senior Davin Houston, who made a catch while fully planted, butt to turf, the ball slipping between two defenders and dropping right onto the sticky fingers of Alia’s youngest son as he plucked the ball out of the air while sitting down.
The game was a low-scoring affair in the first half, with Klahowya notching a touchdown on a 23-yard pass play from Dalton Watson to Zack Pentz on its opening drive.
Other than that, neither team could find the end zone, especially once the refs started a snowstorm of flags in the second quarter.
Klahowya drew more penalties than Coupeville, but the ones that were called on the Wolves stung at the wrong time.
CHS hung tough on defense, with Khanor Jump, Richmond Bandong, and Houston chasing down Klahowya runners for losses, before Richter’s squad ran nearly eight minutes off the clock on an epic drive to open the second quarter.
Mixing power runs from Liam Blas, who carved up the Eagles defense one lowered shoulder at a time, with a whole bunch of penalty flags on the visitors, Coupeville was churnin’ and burnin’, but couldn’t quite finish off the charge.
A 15-yard penalty set the Wolves back just as they were getting within range of the end zone, then a ball popped loose on a run, with the fumble recovered by an opportunistic Klahowya defense.
The Eagles couldn’t capitalize however, with a touchdown three plays later erased by … wait for it … a penalty, before Walling ended the first half by stepping in front of a wobbly pass and snatching it away from the would-be receiver.
The visitors did finally break through in the third quarter, though, using two big plays to push the lead from 7-0 to 19-0.
First Ayden Hartman busted off a 33-yard scoring run, before Watson connected with Cohen Woodell on a 55-yard touchdown strike, though Klahowya failed to tack on the PAT on either score.
After coming close before, Coupeville scored its first points of the new season in the fourth quarter, with Houston twice plunging in on five-yard touchdown runs.
The first pulled the Wolves to within 19-6, with the PAT being blocked, but Klahowya’s Zane Trask answered with back-to-back touchdown runs of his own to stretch the deficit back to 34-6.
With time running down, Ratcliff hit on three straight pass plays to push Coupeville down the field.
The first went to Carson Grove, who pulled in a swing pass to the left side, then scooted 38 yards before being dragged down as the Wolf student section hits its loudest notes of the evening.
After that Ratcliff hooked up with Houston on a 12-yard pass, then went back to Grove for another 10 yards, setting Houston up for his second scoring run as he scooted around the right side, too quick for any Eagle to catch.
Ayden Warren provided the final highlights for Coupeville, crushing the Klahowya quarterback on a sack, then coming back around on offense to haul in a 17-yard pass.
Wolf cheerleaders are ready to go. (Photo courtesy Jennifer Morrell)
And while Coupeville dropped its opener, props to the Wolf cheerleaders, who were on point from opening kickoff to closing whistle, and to the CHS fans, who were nicely loud.
The mightiest roar from Wolf Nation?
It likely came moments after sophomore defensive back Aiden Tingley made a note-perfect recovery on an onside kick.
When he got his credit from PA announcer Ryan Jones, Team Tingley in the stands lost their freakin’ minds (in a good way), showing every other family in attendance how you do it.
You love to hear it.
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