Lathom Kelley ran for 189 yards and 3 TD’s Friday to spark CHS to a huge 29-21 victory. (John Fisken photo)
Wolf cheerleaders enjoy the night. (Cheridan Eck photos)
With the only remaining home game being Homecoming, Senior Night festivities were held early this year.
The experts were wrong. Every single freakin’ one of them.
Every newspaper reporter who picks winners and losers for football games. Every computer.
Wrong. Wrong. Wrong.
The Port Townsend High School football team arrived on Whidbey Friday night already anointed as the champion in waiting of the 1A Olympic League.
Then, Lathom Kelley and Josh Bayne punched the Redhawks in the face and claimed first place for Cow Town.
By the time the Coupeville duo were done, rolling up a combined 333 yards on the ground, the Wolves had captured a thrilling 29-21 victory and staked a claim to sole possession of first place in the league.
With the win, CHS improved to 3-1 overall, 2-0 in league play. Port Townsend (2-2, 1-1) dropped into a tie with Klahowya (1-3, 1-1) which nipped Chimacum (0-4, 0-2) 36-26 Friday.
The Wolves, who opened with four straight home games, will now take their show on the road.
They play four of their final five games away from Whidbey, starting with a first-ever meeting with Klahowya next Friday, Oct. 3.
Facing a Redhawk squad that had won two straight, Coupeville came out on fire.
Using a pounding ground game (and a few trick plays), the Wolves rolled to a 29-7 lead midway through the second quarter, then withstood a late Port Townsend rally to nail down the win.
Kelley crashed in from six yards out to open the scoring less than five minutes into the game.
Port Townsend responded quickly, tying things up on their own 14-yard scoring run three minutes later, but the Wolves never flinched.
Wolf quarterback Joel Walstad, who left the game in the third quarter with a hip pointer (he’s expected to be OK), plunged in from the two-yard line on a sneak, before Coupeville blew the game open with a bit of treachery.
Clinging to a 14-7 lead, CHS coach Tony Maggio called for a fake punt and Kelley broke through the defense on a 46-yard scoring jaunt, leaving the Redhawks with their jaws scraping the turf.
Not done there, the Wolves tacked on a safety by Matt Shank and a third TD run from Kelley — this one went eight yards.
About the only miscue Coupeville had was a failure to tack on a two-point conversion after the final TD run.
Port Townsend rallied the troops in the second half, scoring twice to get within a touchdown and two-point conversion of forcing overtime.
But the Redhawks hopes died a sudden death when Bayne stepped in front of a pass and picked it off with under two minutes on the game clock.
In the biggest performance of his stellar high school career, Kelley, a junior, rambled for 189 yards on 14 carries.
Bayne, who entered the game as the leading rusher in 1A, tacked on 144 more on 18 carries, while Wiley Hesselgrave (25), CJ Smith (9), Jacob Martin (7) and Walstad (2) all chipped in to a 376-yard team effort.
Walstad (82) and his backup, Smith (12), accounted for 94 passing yards, with junior Ryan Griggs hauling in six passes for a team-high 60 yards.
Smith (2-18), Bayne (2-12) and Hesselgrave (1-4) also made sweet targets.
The Wolf defense stepped up multiple times, picking off four passes. Bayne hauled in two, while both Smith brothers (CJ and Hunter) snared one as well.
Shank was a rampaging beast, knocking down a pass and collecting the safety on a QB sack, while Walstad recovered a fumble on a kickoff.
Bayne paced the ‘d’ with eight tackles, followed by Hesselgrave (6), Oscar Liquidano (4), Kelley (3), Shank (2), Brenden Gilbert (1), Aaron Wright (1) and Isaac Vargas (1).
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