Shane Losey, one of 10 Coupeville football seniors, played strongly at QB Thursday in a season-closing loss. (Photo by JohnsPhotos.net)
Very few football players get to end their season, or career, with a win.
For the rest, it comes down to being able to hold your head high as you walk off the field, knowing you fought until the final play, the final seconds ticking off the scoreboard.
Coupeville High School’s gridiron squad didn’t get the Hollywood ending Thursday, falling 35-0 to visiting Granite Falls.
But the Wolves, and their 10 seniors — six in uniform, four out with injuries — have nothing to hang their heads about.
They finished 3-6 overall, 0-5 in a very-competitive North Sound Conference, but the record doesn’t tell the entire tale.
Coupeville started with a thin roster, was depleted by injuries, and was playing for its third head coach in four years.
Yet the Wolves beat arch-nemesis Port Townsend, thumped Vashon Island and La Conner, and came within a play or two of upending King’s.
The new coaching staff, led by Marcus Carr, made inroads and seems in it for the long haul, potentially providing the stability the CHS gridiron program has lacked in recent years.
“This is a good group of guys; I’ll miss the seniors, but we’ll continue to build on what we have,” Carr said. “It hurts when you have a good group and they don’t get to have the success you hope for, but we showed outstanding fight a lot of times this season.
“We got off to a little bit of a late start this year, but we’ll be ready to go right away next season, from spring ball all the way,” he added. “I’m already looking forward to next season.”
Coupeville’s main offensive weapon, Sean Toomey-Stout, who scored 10 of his team’s 17 touchdowns, is just a junior, the same as starting QB Dawson Houston, and two-way terrors like Andrew Martin and Gavin Knoblich.
Toss in lineman Gavin St Onge, urban legend Gavin Straub, and Derek Leyva, who started as a kicker with a booming leg, then morphed into a dangerous receiver and rusher, and next year’s seniors will form a solid core.
Facing off with Granite Falls, which clinched the fourth and final NSC playoff berth with the win, the young guns and their senior teammates hung tough even while missing multiple two-way starters.
Coupeville stuffed the Tigers on their opening possession, using big defensive plays from seniors Ryan Labrador and Shane Losey, to bend but not break on a 14-play drive.
A string of penalties on that drive, called on both teams, set the tone for a game in which the refs took great delight in tossing little yellow flags with wild abandon.
While the Wolf defense was firing hot, the CHS offense came out a bit cold, however, failing to get a first down until early in the second quarter.
Coupeville got stung when an interception on its own nine-yard line set up Granite’s first score, a pass over the middle from freshman QB Ryan Gese to Mason McBride with two minutes left in the opening quarter.
The Tigers added a four-yard TD dash and another aerial scoring hookup, this one covering 17 yards, to stretch the lead out to 21-0 at the half, while CHS had trouble responding.
Leyva finally cracked the first-down barrier for Coupeville, plunging over the left side on a second-and-one to move the chains, but the Wolves lost Houston, who went to the sideline with a possible concussion.
Without their starting signal caller working under center, Coupeville swapped out Losey, and he hooked up with Toomey-Stout on the most thrilling play of the night.
Facing third-and-eight and pinned at their own 20, the Wolves went to the air, with Losey zipping a pass over a defender’s head.
That allowed “The Torpedo” to stretch out, yank the rapidly falling ball out of the air, then tumble end over end, eventually coming to a rest with a pretty, pretty 32-yard gain.
Racing the halftime clock, Coupeville put together its best drive of the game, using Toomey-Stout’s snag and two Granite penalties to get all the way to the Tiger 15-yard line.
But it wasn’t to be, as the potential TD pass to the right side narrowly fell short on the final play of the half.
The Wolves moved the ball well in the second half, getting bull runs from Martin, quick scampers by Leyva, smooth scrambles from Losey and Toomey-Stout doing his usual “it’ll take five guys to bring me down” act every time he had the ball.
Proving to be a multi-faceted weapon, “The Torpedo” also took a direct snap, then slid a left-handed pass through a thicket of trees, hitting Dane Lucero for an 18-yard pickup.
Through it all, the Wolf line, powered by vets like Labrador, Matt Stevens and Alex Turner, cleared space for the skills players.
But getting in the end zone proved elusive for CHS, with a pick ending one drive, and failures to convert on fourth-down ending everything else.
Even with Granite tacking on a pair of third-quarter touchdowns, the Wolves refused to take a knee.
Cam Dahl blew up a Tiger runner on one play, while Toomey-Stout and Martin went for 10+ yards on their final carries of the season, which came on back-to-back plays.
Afterwards, as Granite exited, Carr and his coaches brought their players together in the middle of the field.
What they said is their own thing, but it was obvious the Wolf coaches were still doing what their title implies – coaching – and you can’t ask for anything more.
Some of the departing Wolves will never play a competitive football game again. One or two seniors have expressed interest in making a bid to play college ball.
The underclassmen face a moment when they can, and should, embrace the opportunity in front of them.
Commit to work as hard as Toomey-Stout, their low-key but passionate leader, in and out of the weight room, and future seasons could have a different finish.
The end comes for all football players, yes, but how that end comes, and how you handle it, rests with each guy who pulls on a uniform.
By the end Thursday, the numbers were small, but the hearts were large.
