Tim Ursu had an eye-popping interception Thursday. (Photo courtesy Kathy Ursu)
At the end, the field was savaged.
Chunks of grass were torn up, gashed by spikes digging in for dear life, mud oozed everywhere, and things were soaked from non-stop rain mixing with some hard-earned tears.
This one will hurt, possibly for a very-long time, and it would be wrong to tell the young men involved any differently.
But, and this is also true, for each guy in a Coupeville High School football uniform Thursday night, for their coaches, and for their fans, there will be a moment when it will sink in and they will truly realize they were part of one of the most gripping games in program history.
This is one they will talk about at reunions, and the one they will tell their own kids about one day, probably turning the pouring rain into a typhoon or a hurricane during the retelling.
The mission was simple.
Coupeville needed to beat Friday Harbor on Senior Night to claim a share of the Northwest 2B/1B League title and keep its playoff hopes alive.
And that didn’t happen.
The Wolverines escaped, by the very-thinnest of margins, with a 13-6 win, a victory which came when workhorse running back Connar Haines plunged into the end zone from two yards out in the THIRD OVERTIME.
With the win, Friday Harbor, which sat out last season during the height of the pandemic, finishes 4-0 in league play, while Coupeville ends at 2-2.
The Wolverines advance to play a yet-to-be-named team from District #4 in a loser-out, winner-to-state game next Saturday, Nov. 6 at Oak Harbor’s Memorial Stadium.
Meanwhile, CHS, which is 2-5 overall, waits to hear if it will get a crossover game against another non-playoff team.
Whether that happens or not, Marcus Carr’s gridiron squad made damn sure Thursday night would be remembered.
The first time these teams played, Friday Harbor’s running game ground the Wolves down, and CHS had both a coach and player ejected during a 32-6 loss.
This time out, the Wolves flew to the ball on defense, swooping up fumble after fumble, and getting a truly-amazing interception from Tim Ursu in which he climbed to the sky — while hurdling the receiver — to rip the ball away.
No matter how many times the refs tried to wipe balls down, it was tough for either team to hold onto the pigskin in the non-stop rain, something which showed up on the very first series.
Facing fourth down on its own 37, Friday Harbor tried to go with a running play, only to have Dominic Coffman punch the ball free and recover it for Coupeville.
That put the Wolves in good field position, and strong runs by Scott Hilborn (25 yards) and Coffman (8 yards) put the ball on the two-yard line.
But it wasn’t to be, as Friday Harbor stuffed the Wolves on third down, and a pass fell short on fourth.
OK, so we have to start closer, said Coupeville.
So Ursu and Daylon Houston combined to rip a runner in half on Friday Harbor’s ensuing drive, giving CHS the ball back on its opponent’s 15-yard line.
This time, things paid off, though not right at first.
A bad snap of a wet ball promptly lost Coupeville 22 yards, before Logan Downes got electric.
The sophomore Wolf quarterback nailed Jonathan Valenzuela with a pass over the middle, then picked up another fumbled snap and zipped eight yards to pay-dirt for his third touchdown of the season.
A failed PAT left the lead at 6-0, but Coupeville’s defense held strong, with Coffman and Houston both recovering fumbles and the shutout almost lasting until the halftime buzzer.
Friday Harbor beat the clock, and the defense, however, dropping a 16-yard scoring pass into the far right corner with just 29 ticks on the clock.
With half a minute to go, many might have thought the teams would coast in to the break.
Not likely.
First, Coupeville stuffed Friday Harbor’s two-point conversion attempt, keeping the game knotted at 6-6, then the Wolves moved quickly down field.
Downes connected with Houston on a 33-yard bomb through the drizzle, before lobbing a three-yarder into the sticky mitts of Hilborn, giving CHS just enough time to get the field goal unit on the field.
But, slick ball, iffy snap, and a mad Wolverine rush resulted in a blocked kick, and the stalemate lived on.
For a very long time.
Neither team scored in the second half, with both kickers missing field goal attempts on tries where it was likely neither booter could clearly see the uprights through the sludge falling from the heavens.
Ursu had his phenomenal pick, where he came flying in, climbed up and over the receiver (while staying fully legal), and made PA announcer Willie Smith almost drop his ice cream.
Almost.
Kai Wong and the Coupeville defense played their hearts out in a driving rain storm. (Photo courtesy Becky Terry)
Toss in Coen Killian batting down a pass on fourth down, and Kai Wong, Brian Casey, Kevin Partida, and Co. throwing bodies every which way, and Coupeville’s defense was as good Thursday as it has been at any point this season.
That was never more evident than when a likely bone-tired Wolf defensive unit stayed on the field to begin overtime.
Playing “Kansas City tiebreaker” rules, where both teams take turns starting from their opponent’s 25-yard line, Friday Harbor rammed the ball down to the three-yard line in a matter of seconds.
First and goal, a few steps from snatching the lead, and the Wolverines … got a collective wedgie.
Coupeville’s defense, operating on fumes and sheer grit, stuffed the visitors four straight times, including from one yard out on fourth down.
It was an old-school, punch-the-guy-in-front-of-you-in-the-face defensive stand the likes of which hasn’t been seen from a Coupeville gridiron team in a very long time.
But the Wolves still needed to score, and they couldn’t, as penalties drove them back on their first overtime series, before they sputtered out at the 16-yard line in the second OT.
Getting the ball second in the second extra frame, Friday Harbor put the ball on the toe of their kicker another time, only to see his attempt drift wide right.
At which point, players from both teams stood and stared at each other, covered in mud, and grit, and a lot of water, and some blood, and the rules of the game tightened things up.
The third OT shortened the field, with both teams starting on the 10-yard line instead of the 25, and this time things cracked.
Connar Haines, his once-white uniform now a heaving blob of brown, lowered his shoulder for the 2,402nd time and drove into the heart of the Coupeville defense, the knight finally slaying the dragon.
Coupeville had the ball last, but there were no more miracles left to find, with the slick ball squirting away from the Wolves one last time on fourth down, setting off a celebration on Friday Harbor’s side of the field.
For the home town team, there was anger, and sadness, tired faces etched with frustration.
Hopefully, underneath that, there was also pride.
Pride in how they played. How they fought. How they represented their school and town, and how they stood together, as teammates.
You don’t always get the win you deserve, but you get the respect you earn.
And this Wolf football team earned our respect.
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