Friday night there was no liquid sunshine as in earlier games, just Ezra Boilek raining down goals. (Jackie Saia photo)
Does Ezra Boilek know who Jim Croce was?
Maybe, maybe not, but Friday night the former lived up to the words sung by the latter during pregame warmups.
And he’s bad, bad Leroy Brown.
The baddest man in the whole damn town.
Badder than old King Kong.
And meaner than a junkyard dog.
Now, Ezra Boilek actually seems like a pretty mellow dude in real life, but on the pitch, he was Grace Academy’s worst nightmare.
Raining down not one, not two, but FIVE goals in one half of play, the sharpshooter with the golden leg spurred the Wolves to a resounding 5-2 win under Friday Night Lights.
The victory lifts Coupeville to 2-1 in Northwest 2B/1B League play, 5-2 overall, and sets up a royal rumble next Tuesday, Oct. 10.
The Wolves, currently ranked #5 in Washington Interscholastic Activities Association RPI, travel to Friday Harbor to face the defending state champs, who sit at 3-0, 6-1 and #2.
The two schools played in the season opener, with Coupeville falling in a game considered a non-conference affair.
This time around, the game counts in the league standings and has huge playoff implications.
Friday night was all about not getting caught looking too far ahead, and Coupeville took care of business.
Squaring off with a scrappy Grace Academy squad, the Wolves launched an attack on the goal, and Boilek, who spent his freshman season as a kicker for the CHS football team, finished things off with a bang.
His first score came from the right side a few minutes into play, then he cranked goal #2 with a little extra mustard on it.
Score #3 came from the middle of the field, Boilek slapping the ball into the left corner of the net, then wham-bam-thank-you-ma’am he rattled home two more goals before the game’s first 40 minutes were up.
Is his five-goal nuclear explosion a school single-game record for Wolf boys?
It appears so, since CHS career scoring leaders Abraham Leyva and Derek Leyva, who tallied 45 and 38 goals respectively, both topped out at four goals in one game.
So, raise one finger, then two, three, four, and finally, the full hand for Boilek, who was repeatedly mobbed by excited teammates.
In one half Boilek went from one career goal to six, pushing him to a tie for #19 on the all-time Wolf boys’ list, along with Xavier Murdy, Zack Nall, and James Wood.
Wolf sharpshooters (l to r) Preston Epp, Boilek, and Nick Guay live to terrorize goaltenders. (Carly Burt photo)
Grace Academy did manage one goal of its own midway through the first half, then scraped out a second one late in the game after Coupeville had gone to a JV-heavy lineup.
When Boilek wasn’t crushing the life out of the ball, teammates Preston Epp, Ayden Wyman, and Cael Wilson had strong looks at the net, but came up just short of scoring.
Coupeville’s defense was on point all night, especially in the first half, with Hank Milnes, Andrew Williams, Quinten Simpson-Pilgrim and Co. clamping down hard on any potential shooters.
Ezra Boilek’s new theme song:
