In 2012, The Bucket came back home with the Wolves. In 2013, it stays home. (Drew Chan photo)
This. This is (potentially) epic.
In one of those rare times when multiple story-lines come together all at once, tonight has the potential to be talked about for generations.
And sure, maybe we’re blowing it a wee bit out of proportion, but simply putting Coupeville and South Whidbey on a field together for a high school football game ensures at least a little drama.
The stakes?
It’s Homecoming for the Wolves (kickoff 7 PM at Mickey Clark Field). So, everyone is in town, the stands will be rockin’ and the floats will be boppin’.
Festivities start at 3:45, when the annual parade winds its way through town, going from CHS down Main Street to Front Street and back.
Both teams have winning records, with the Falcons at 4-2 and coming off a thriller of a win against fading power Archbishop Thomas Murphy and Coupeville 3-2 and coming off a victory over Granite Falls in which Jake Tumblin ran for 201 yards and Nick Streubel knocked the Cascade Conference’s top rusher out of his cleats (and the game).
The game will have a huge impact on both teams playoff hopes, as only two of the three 1A schools in the league advance on.
South Whidbey has already lost to King’s (Coupeville’s next opponent — Oct. 25 on the road), and, while there is much confusion as to how the berths will be decided, a victory is only a good thing.
Then, there’s the side story of Streubel. The Big Hurt, who leads 1A linemen in tackles and sacks, injured his ankle during the school’s Top Gun volleyball event Wednesday and will be on the sideline, instead of chasing Falcon quarterback Nick French.
Unless they put him out there in a wheelchair and let him wage war on the line that way…
And, of course, the game is for The Bucket, that hunk of metal with a Wolf logo on one side and a Falcon logo on the other.
Created several years ago by then CHS athletic director Willie Smith to smooth ruffled feathers after an incident between Wolf and Falcon fans at a volleyball match, The Bucket goes to the winner of the rivalry game and stays in that team’s town the next year.
Last year, a Coupeville squad led by Caleb Valko, Streubel and Danny Savalza shocked the world in Langley and reclaimed possession of the hallowed artifact. It looks quite nice in the CHS trophy case and no one is ready to let it go any time soon.
Like I said. This could be epic.
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