Freshman Aiden O’Neill scored his first high school touchdown Friday as Coupeville whacked La Conner. (Photo by JohnsPhotos.net)
La Conner football ain’t what it used to be.
The Braves, a longtime gridiron power in the region, have been in a rebuilding phase the past couple of seasons.
A program which has been to the state playoffs 14 times, most recently in 2016, has won just eight regular-season games since that last postseason trip.
But it gets worse. Much worse.
La Conner closed the 2020 season with a win over Darrington and has failed to score a single point across seven games since then.
The Braves were outscored 231-0 during an 0-5 season last fall, and 98-0 in the first two games this year.
The most recent chunk of points came courtesy Coupeville, which travelled to La Conner Friday and came away with a resounding 46-0 win.
The victory sets up a showdown for sole possession of first place in the Northwest 2B/1B League.
That’ll go down in Coupeville next Friday, Sept. 30, as the Wolves (1-0 in league, 3-1 overall) welcome Friday Harbor (1-0, 2-2) to town.
It’s Coupeville’s Homecoming game, with kickoff set for 6 PM at Mickey Clark Field.
The clash at La Conner was essentially over after one play, as Scott Hilborn yanked the ball from the sky and exploded down the right sideline.
Taking the kickoff all the way back, he staked the Wolves to a super-quick lead, then a few plays later tacked on a second score on a rushing play.
Coupeville’s defense, anchored by big hits from Josh Upchurch and Peyton Caveness, among others, shredded La Conner all night, and the Wolf offense was unstoppable with the ball in its own hands.
Dominic Coffman is coming to destroy you. All of you. (Brenn Sugatan photo)
Dominic Coffman rumbled in for the first of back-to-back touchdown runs to make it 20-0 at the end of the first quarter, and the only bright spot La Conner had was seeing one of Coupeville’s PAT attempts come up short.
It didn’t matter, though, as the Wolves slapped four more touchdowns (and two PAT’s) up on the scoreboard in the second quarter, forcing a running clock before the break.
Coffman punched in his second TD, before Wolf quarterback Logan Downes connected with freshman Aiden O’Neill on a long scoring play.
Hilborn found the end zone for a third time on a short plunge to paydirt, before freshman Chase Anderson, on in relief of Downes, tossed his first prep touchdown pass.
Anderson, who was a varsity starter and letter winner for CHS baseball as an 8th grader, connected with senior Tim Ursu, who dipped and dodged and made all the Braves miss.
Chase Anderson limbers up his touchdown-chucking arm. (Brenn Sugatan photo)
Friday’s three scores give Hilborn a team-leading seven touchdowns through four games, while Ursu (5) and Coffman (4) are hot on his heels.
In addition to getting extensive playing time behind center, Anderson also booted four PAT’s while filling the kicker role as Daylon Houston was in street clothes recovering from an injury.
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