Sean Toomey-Stout (far left) was a rampaging force of nature on both sides of the ball Wednesday afternoon. (Deb Smith photos)
CMS coach Bob Martin (red hat) and his staff meet with their players after the game.
There is a wild beast stalking the sidelines.
Coupeville Middle School eighth grader Sean Toomey-Stout isn’t the biggest football player on the field, but he never stops attacking.
Quick, nimble, explosive and fearless, prone to pulling off highlight reel moves just like older brother Cameron, he was the main attraction Wednesday afternoon.
While Toomey-Stout’s heroics weren’t enough to lift the Wolves to a win — CMS fell 27-0 to visiting Stevens, a school that boasts 600+ students — his play, especially in the second half, gave Coupeville fans something to holler about.
After surrendering all 27 points in the first half, the Wolves clamped down on defense after the break, hitting with more aggression the further into the game they got.
Toomey-Stout single-handedly changed Stevens flow, forcing the visitors to go four and out on a series in which the rampaging Wolf made four consecutive tackles in the back field.
The most bone-crunching of the smack-downs came on an aborted pitch, as Toomey-Stout arrived at the exact moment the startled Stevens rusher felt the ball start to graze his fingertips.
A millisecond later, he was flat on his back, and asking if anyone saw the bus that had just flattened him.
Not content to star on just one side of the ball, Toomey-Stout followed up his defensive stand with Coupeville’s best offensive play of the game.
Taking a pitch from Wolf quarterback Dawson Houston, Sean the Shifty went on a twisty rampage, bolting through and around almost all 11 would-be tacklers before finally being hauled down 42 yards from where he started.
Unfortunately, Coupeville’s lack of a battering ram in the red zone prevented them from scoring on the drive, as the Wolves stalled out at the five-yard line after Toomey-Stout’s rampage.
Stevens, however, had a battering ram. Well, more than just one.
Their running backs and a chunk of their line looked like they were already in high school, and they spent the early stages of the game just running straight at, and straight through, Coupeville’s undersized defenders.
With several players already dinged up, and others forced to play out of position, the Wolves opened the game tentative, before getting their second wind and an injection of steel into their collective spines.
The first jolt came from Toomey-Stout (who else?), but then Gavin Knoblich, Trystan Ford, Trevor Bell and Jean Lund-Olsen all stepped up with strong defensive plays of their own.
Houston, when he had time to set up and throw, looked sharp on several heaves, with his best target being Toomey-Stout.
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