Coupeville Sports

   Sophomore lineman Ryan Labrador recovered a fumble for his first varsity touchdown Friday night. (John Fisken photo)

They flipped the script.

A year ago, Vashon Island throttled Coupeville 70-31 on the gridiron as Bryce Hoisington ran for a state-record 573 yards and nine touchdowns on his home turf.

Friday night, back in Cow Town, it was time for the big pay-back.

Scoring five different ways (pass, run, punt return, interception and fumble recovery) the Wolves mashed the Pirates 63-32 in their biggest assault on the scoreboard in memory.

The win snapped a three-game skid for Coupeville and evened their Olympic/Nisqually League mark at 1-1 headed into a Homecoming showdown with Port Townsend and former Wolf assistant coach Alex Heilig.

Coupeville is 2-3 under first-year head coach Jon Atkins, which doubles its win total from a season ago.

“This was a quality win,” Atkins said. “We’ve been working really hard on executing the little things, and we did that really well tonight. It was a big difference.”

The Wolves came out on fire and never turned down the flame.

While Bryce Hoisington still got them for four touchdowns this time around, they all came after Vashon was already dead and buried.

Far more often, the Wolf defenders, led by Julian Welling, Clay Reilly, Dane Lucero and Co., swarmed him, rode him down hard, caught him from behind and, all in all, made dang sure they weren’t going to be on the wrong side of history again.

Coupeville scored early, late and often, hitting big less than two minutes into the game.

Having forced Vashon to punt — Jacob Martin hauled down Vashon QB Connor Hoisington for a loss on third down — the Wolves seized the moment.

Junior speed demon Hunter Smith pocketed the kick a step behind his 20-yard line, sauntered to the side for a half-step, then dropped the booster rockets and roared through 11 would-be tacklers like a hot knife slicing through sweet, defenseless butter.

Up 7-0, the Wolves were just getting warmed up, and they started hitting with a vengeance on defense.

While the Hoisington brothers are a slippery duo, CHS lost a few battles while winning the overall defensive war.

Chris Battaglia blew-up a pitch for a loss, then Uriel Liquidano and Ryan Labrador combined to plant Connor Hoisington 15 yards from where he started on a sack by committee.

Coupeville, which never punted on the evening, scored on every possession except one.

That was on a lost fumble, but they immediately responded by forcing yet another Vashon punt to even things out.

Martin plunged in from four yards out to push the game to 14-0, then Labrador fell on a fumble in the end zone with just 25 ticks on the clock in the first quarter to effectively end the game.

A second touchdown from Smith, this one on a 31-yard sprint to daylight on his only rushing attempt of the night, made the score 28-0 midway through the second quarter.

The play was set-up by a sensational block from Cameron Toomey-Stout. While it was the first time the junior’s name was intoned by PA announcer Randy King, it was far from the last.

While he waited to score until Coupeville’s fifth touchdown, Toomey-Stout actually led the Wolves, crossing the goal line three times.

First came a 43-yard catch and run in which Wolf QB (and birthday boy) Hunter Downes heaved a bomb, then a 14-yard dart of a scoring pass on which Toomey-Stout beat his man to the deepest part of the right corner of the end zone.

After a brief rest — while Battaglia and Martin each added 25-yard scoring runs — Toomey-Stout returned to put the cherry on the victory sundae.

With 3:40 to play on the clock, Connor Hoisington heaved a desperation pass into coverage, only to see #11 in the red and black go airborne, snag the wayward ball, then spin and take things to the house.

Covering 60+ yards on his final jaunt, Toomey-Stout brought the overflowing stands to their feet and came dangerously close to making Wolf camera woman BayLee Dunsmore cough up a lung as she screamed like a woman possessed.

That she didn’t knock best bud Madison Aylesworth off the top of the stands in her frenzy (she came close) was probably the most remarkable thing about the play.

With the game decided, the Wolf bench got playing time, with sophomore QB Shane Losey getting some snaps and Matt Hilborn ripping off a pretty 21-yard jaunt that almost turned into touchdown #10.

The win leaves Coupeville a game back of the league leaders, with five to play.

In other action Friday, Cascade Christian crunched Klahowya 40-6 and Port Townsend blasted Chimacum 55-7. Bellevue Christian and Charles Wright play Saturday.

Current Olympic/Nisqually League standings:

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