Senior Sage Downes (24), seen here in an earlier game, was one of the few Wolves to have a strong game Saturday in Forks. (Deb Smith photo)
Nowhere to run, nowhere to throw.
Bottled up and baffled Saturday by Neah Bay’s defense, the Coupeville High School football team struggled through a game which won’t be going on anyone’s Instagram feed.
The Red Devils rep a gridiron program which has won four 1B state titles, and they were quicker, more-disciplined, and much-more efficient.
Which is how you roll to a 44-0 non-conference victory and improve to 3-0 on the pandemic-shortened season.
Coupeville, which did get a strong game on defense and special teams from senior Sage Downes, falls to 2-2 after absorbing the beatdown on a neutral field in Forks.
With one game left on the schedule — Senior Night next Saturday, May 8 against Northwest 2B/1B League rival Concrete — the Wolves can still end their run on a high point.
Beat the Lions and Coupeville clinches a second-straight winning season, after enduring a 13-year span which included 12 losing seasons and one .500 campaign.
The good news is that Neah Bay is now in the rearview mirror, most likely to never reappear.
The Red Devils, who were a fill-in for Coupeville after NWL rival Friday Harbor shut down all fall sports due to Covid, entered play Saturday having scored 116 points across two games.
The Wolves, by contrast, are struggling to score, racking up just 13 points total this season.
Yet, even with only two touchdowns, and one of those not coming until overtime, CHS had two wins before the Neah Bay beatdown, thanks in large part to its defense.
And that Wolf unit had its moments Saturday, with Downes picking off a pair of passes in the first half.
Coupeville also forced an early turnover, hitting the Neah Bay quarterback as he lunged towards pay dirt at the end of a 13-play drive, popping the ball free and sending it rolling through the end zone for a touchback.
But, too many times, Neah Bay’s runners sliced and diced, zig-zagged, and flat-out ran away from would-be tacklers.
The Red Devils attacked the corners with a vengeance, beating Wolf defenders to a mark, then often sliding back through oncoming rush hour traffic for big gains.
The game was still fairly close after one quarter, with Neah Bay just up 6-0 at the break.
Covering 53 yards in just three plays, with the touchdown run a 21-yard burst around the left corner, the Red Devils scored on their opening drive, then didn’t get back on any of their next three possessions.
But that stalemate eventually broke, with Neah Bay punching in a pair of second-quarter scores to bust things open.
A 19-yard run, capping a four-play, 62-yard drive, made it 12-0 (with Coupeville’s Kai Wong blowing up the ensuing two-point conversion), before a three-yard TD pass made it 20-0 at the half.
Neah Bay was methodical after the break, ramming three more touchdowns (and three conversions) across the line, eventually forcing a running clock for the game’s final eight minutes.
While the Red Devils found a very-effective offensive rhythm, Coupeville couldn’t say the same.
The Wolves had the ball 11 times Saturday, and finished those 11 drives with four punts, three interceptions, two lost fumbles, a missed field goal, and one failed fourth-down try which came up a few yards short.
Punting was actually Coupeville’s best offensive weapon, as Downes took advantage of some nice pro-Wolf bounces to pile up 143 yards off of his four kicks.
His boots went for 42, 35, 41, and 25 yards, pinning Neah Bay deep several times and giving the CHS defense a fighting chance.
Late in the game, Coupeville’s two quarterbacks had their best moments of the afternoon.
Sage’s brother, freshman Logan Downes, hooked up with Scott Hilborn on back-to-back quick-toss pass plays.
Then the young gunslinger came back to hit Dakota Eck in stride for an 18-yard catch-and-run, Coupeville’s longest offensive play of the day.
The other Wolf QB, junior Cole Hutchinson, had a nice scramble for a first down on Coupeville’s final drive of the day.
