Matt Hilborn accounted for all of Coupeville’s points Monday in a loss at Oak Harbor. (John Fisken photo)
For one bright, shining moment, an upset seemed to be brewing.
Then reality reared its head.
In the time it took for one pass to head the wrong way, the chances the Coupeville High School JV football squad would upend host Oak Harbor Monday went from “hey now…” to “no, sir.”
One second, the Wolves were knocking on the door, the next Wildcat defensive back Ashton Prats had firmly slammed that door shut.
And while the Wildcat sophomore was hauled down two yards shy of a 76-yard pick six, the play changed the whole tone of the game, which eventually finished with Oak Harbor rolling to a 52-8 win.
Before Prats grabbed the spotlight, for the first, but not last time, Coupeville was holding its own with its big city neighbors.
The Halloween afternoon game was put together at the last second, after Marysville-Pilchuck bailed on Oak Harbor.
Lil’ 1A Coupeville, which had a gap in its schedule thanks to Chimacum not fielding a JV squad, stepped up to the challenge and headed up Island to play the 3A Wildcats in their 3,000-seat, turf-field-rockin’, covered stadium.
Half the Wolf JV roster is made up of freshmen, while Oak Harbor limited themselves to just 15 or so JV-level sophomores plucked from their 59-player roster.
The Wildcat freshmen didn’t see action, as they have a game scheduled for later in the week.
After a 45-yard punt from Matt Hilborn pinned Oak Harbor deep in its own territory, the Wolf defense played strongly on the ‘Cats opening drive.
Gavin Knoblich hauled one runner down from behind, snagging him by the back of his shoe, and Coupeville forced an incomplete pass on fourth down to get the ball back.
Sitting pretty with first-and-10 from the Wildcat 24, Wolf QB Dawson Houston went to the air and had a man open … until Prats jumped the play, snagged the ball and was off like a rocket down the left sideline.
CHS forced him out at the two-yard line, but Prats made up for it on the next play, slamming in for a touchdown run to open the scoring.
There was plenty more of that to come, as Oak Harbor tacked on four scores in the second half and another three in the third to trigger a running clock.
Prats and ultra-speedy Zion Gomez racked up three TD’s apiece, while Cody Fenton and Juan Luna-Elliot chipped in with a score each.
Two of the touchdowns came on passes from ‘Cat QB Taylor Rummel, while the Oak Harbor running game hummed along behind a stout line led by Joseph Orr.
Coupeville bent, but didn’t break, twice blocking PAT attempts.
On the first one Jake Hoagland came roaring around from the outside and took the ball in the middle of his back, while on the second stuff Andrew Martin came up the middle to get his hands on the ball.
Martin also teamed up with Luke Carlson to blow up a running play in the backfield in the fourth quarter, bringing the Wildcat runner down for a big loss and forcing a turnover on downs.
The Wolves finally cracked the end zone themselves in the final quarter.
Hilborn, giving Houston a breather, ripped off a 15-yard run, then hit Jonathan Thurston on a 27-yard bomb to set things up.
Camped on Oak Harbor’s 10-yard line, Coupeville turned a bad play into a brilliant one.
Snagging a high snap over his head, Hilborn started right, spun back to the left, then ran over three defenders as he scooted in for the touchdown.
He then tacked on a two-point conversion, accounting for all of the Wolf scoring himself.
Houston spent much of the game scrambling for his life, but he still completed seven passes, with Hoagland hauling in five of those.
Matthew Shreffner and Thurston also had snags on balls thrown their way.
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