Coupeville lineman Ryan Labrador recovered a fumble Friday as he and his defensive mates put up a strong fight in a loss to Friday Harbor. (Photo by JohnsPhotos.net)
For one play Friday night, everything was perfect.
Freshman kicker Xavier Murdy lofted a beautiful ball, dropping an onside kick exactly where he wanted it to be.
And that landing spot was right on the fingertips of teammate Gavin Straub, who bounded off the ground as he hurtled down the right sideline, neatly plucking the ball from the skies.
It was a single football play run to perfection.
One which sent the student section into an explosion of cheers, as chants of “G-3! G-3! G-3!” rained down on Straub as he clutched the ball to his chest with an iron grip.
If the rest of Friday night had gone in the same direction, we’d be talking about the first Coupeville High School football team to go 3-0 in a very, very long time.
But, unfortunately, we are not.
Unable to get their offense into gear, and beset by rain, (distant) lightning and a very strong Friday Harbor defense, the Wolves fell 17-0 on their home turf.
The non-league loss drops Coupeville to 2-1, with a road game at La Conner next week the final warm-up before North Sound Conference play begins Sept. 28.
Friday’s rumble pitted two running backs — Wolf junior Sean Toomey-Stout and Friday Harbor senior Emeron Geiser — who had each racked up 500+ rushing yards across their first two games.
But this game was a tale of two defenses, as neither runner was able to really break free.
While Geiser scored a pair of late touchdowns, he only ripped off a 20+ yard run once Friday night.
Toomey-Stout was bottled up even more, attacked from all sides by an aggressive Wolverine D which kept him from getting to the corners.
His biggest play came not on a run, but a pass play, as he hooked up with Dawson Houston on a 32-yard catch-and-run, in which the run part covered most of the yardage.
The two squads spent the first half exchanging body blows, playing smash-mouth football, moving the chains a bit, but suffering from slippery fingers.
A torrential downpour which hit for the first 5-10 minutes of the game, before greatly abating, helped to put a sheen on the ball, even when it was toweled down. Cue players jumping on loose balls every third play or so.
Coupeville came up with two big turnovers in the early going, with Jake Pease and Ryan Labrador recovering fumbles, but the Wolves also gave the ball back twice.
A fumble at the 17-yard line brought an abrupt end to the one and only time Coupeville got inside Friday Harbor’s 20-yard line, while a picked off pass set up the only score of the first half.
Handed the ball at Coupeville’s 16-yard line with under a minute to play in the half, the Wolverines tried to ram the ball into the end zone, only to be thwarted by a fired-up CHS defense.
Still, Friday Harbor walked away with something, netting a 25-yard field goal off the toe of sophomore Milo Geiser to carry a 3-0 lead into the half.
Coupeville, which was tied 6-6 and 0-0 headed into the third quarter of its first two games, respectively, has been a second-half team in 2018.
The magic never showed up this time, however, as the Wolves gave Murdy plenty of chances to work on his punting after the break.
While the freshman booter took advantage, nailing one for a solid 50 yards with no return, it’s hard to win a game when your punter is operating as your biggest weapon.
Coupeville’s defense kept its offense in the game for a long time, holding the score at 3-0 until Emeron Gleiser slipped away on his only semi-long run of the night, a 27-yard TD bolt up the middle.
The PAT kick sailed wide, and hope hung in the air for at least a few more ticks … then things got weird.
The game came to a screeching halt at the 3:57 mark of the third quarter when a lightning strike somewhere up around Albuquerque (or Everett, I’m bad at geography…) sent the game into a half-hour delay.
Wolf fans filled the time with a dance-off, with the song selections cued up by Ema Smith delivering one sweet bonus.
That was the reappearance of 2008 rap hit turned dance sensation “The Wobble” by V.I.C., which used to play after every Wolf football game until it was unfairly banned by an uptight former administration.
For one night, as rain drops splattered down on Mickey Clark Field and lightning sparked somewhere up around San Jose (still bad at geography…), the forbidden dance was back.
Somewhere, in a different part of the world, former Head of Mischief Brian Norris snapped to attention, pulled his vuvuzela horn from its hiding place and screamed, “I’m on my way!!!”
If only, if only…
Anyway, back in the slightly misty reality of Coupeville, circa 2018, the players were finally let back on the field, as the lightning had seemingly moved on to Caracas.
What do you mean I’m in the wrong country, now? Geography, kicking my butt since 1971…
Anyway, the Wolf defense filled the remainder of the game with inspired plays, even as the offense continued to spin its wheels.
Chris Battaglia blew up a dude five steps behind the line, Isaiah Bittner knocked the very soul out of a rival, and Alex Turner, after shedding multiple blockers, administered one tackle known simply as “The Back Breaker.”
Meanwhile, Shane Losey, while stretched out and airborne, snagged a runner by his shoelaces and promptly untied the laces before both he and the runner met the Earth together.
But Emeron Geiser added a six-yard bolt to the end zone to stretch the lead to 15-0, and a late safety on a muffed Wolf kickoff return set the final margin in amber.
While the end result wasn’t what he wanted, Coupeville coach Marcus Carr handled his first loss in red and black with a calmness which filtered out to his players.
Already looking ahead at La Conner, the Wolf boss realizes a little rain must fall into everyone’s lives.
“They kept fighting, and I’m happy with that,” Carr said. “The guys never gave up.
“We’ll get back to basics, work on a few things and get back at it. When we execute well, good things happen. We just need to execute.”
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