Zane Oldenstadt, #66 in your program, #1 in their hearts. (Photo courtesy Michelle Glass)
Be mad, then glad, but not sad.
As a Coupeville High School football fan, you have every right to be riled up by the refs preventing the Wolves from having a chance to pull off a last-second miracle Thursday, then running away like they were auditioning for the Kenyan marathon team.
I know the powers that be preach kindness and sportsmanship, and they don’t want us to boo.
But if the zebras can’t endure 15 seconds of being vocally reminded they sometimes botch things, we might as well call it a wrap on the last 100 years and start playing Ultimate Frisbee and not tackle football.
OK now, before I get bumped from the comfort of the press box, where a wall heater and complimentary cookies and candy mostly make up for an imperfect window and a giant steel support beam reflecting the afternoon sunshine in my eyes, let’s return to facts and not opinion.
The facts are this:
Friday Harbor made the plays it had to make under Thursday Afternoon Lights, scoring the winning touchdown with 36 seconds to play, and forcing and recovering a Coupeville fumble with 16 ticks on the clock.
That gave the visiting Wolverines a nailbiter 33-29 win, a sweep of the season series, and sole possession of the Northwest 2B/1B League crown.
Friday Harbor, which finishes 4-0 in conference action, sits at 5-3 overall and is off to the state tourney, holding the lone ticket available to NWL teams.
Coupeville, which was attempting to win a share of the league title and force a tiebreaker for that trip to the big dance, falls to 2-2, 2-7.
Which is highly deceptive, as the 2B Wolves spent their non-conference schedule playing 1A and 2A schools and lost twice this year on the other team’s final offensive play.
Call him “The Show Pony” or “Big Sexy,” William Davidson is a two-way warrior. (Photo courtesy Charlotte Young)
There is a chance CHS picks up a week 10 game against another school which missed the playoffs, and if so, Wolf coaches are aiming for it to be a home clash.
Whether or not that works out, Coupeville’s players can, and should look at their Senior Night loss, which was bumped from Friday to Thursday by a lack of refs, in a positive light.
The Wolves fell behind three times, and rallied back to reclaim the lead, with the final surge coming with under three minutes to play.
Overcoming a turnover-heavy second half, Coupeville put the ball in the hands of its running backs and they responded.
Aiden O’Neill slashed through the defense, Mikey Robinett ran right over the top of would-be tacklers, and then Johnny Porter capped things with a three-yard bull run to turn a 26-21 deficit into a 27-26 lead.
Chase Anderson pulled down a two-point conversion pass from Wolf QB Logan Downes to push the margin out to 29-26, and then Coupeville asked its defense to hold on for the win.
And it almost did, even with human battering ram Chris Gustafson, a big ol’ bowling ball of aggression, and fleet footed Whiley McCutcheon slamming into the line time and again.
McCutcheon got loose for the back breaker, hauling tail 41 yards before having his jersey nearly ripped in half, then the Wolverines turned the ball over to his imposing teammate.
Friday Harbor had first-and-goal from the five-yard line, and Coupeville held three times, before finally being unable to stop Gustafson on a one-yard plunge on fourth-down.
Trailing 33-29, the Wolves had 36 seconds to make magic.
Downes pulled the ball back down and scrambled for five yards on first down, then broke free again, racing towards the right sideline.
It looked, at least to nearly everyone in the stands, biased or not, that the Wolf signal caller was down on the ground well before the ball popped free and a Friday Harbor defender fell on top of it.
A lone ref didn’t agree, however, handing the ball and game to the Wolverines, who know a gift when they see it, and promptly went into victory formation as fans tried to wail.
It was a gut-punch in the moment and won’t feel any better in the morning.
Not being allowed to fully vent their frustration for a few seconds merely, in my opinion, allows that hurt to fester for those assembled.
Sometimes a good, quick boo is cathartic.
Jaje Drake was one of 11 Wolf seniors honored. (Jackie Saia photo)
But, as we move on, as the pain of the moment fades, turn your thoughts to everything which went right.
A 2-7 record isn’t as fun as last year’s 7-2 mark, which came with the program’s first league title and trip to state in three decades-plus.
But don’t diss this year’s squad.
They fought as hard as last year’s team did, getting 33 touchdowns from 11 players, and eight of those Wolves are eligible to return next season.
You build, you learn, you remember, and you work, so next time one ref’s botched call isn’t the focal point.
Thursday’s tilt opened with a 14-yard scoring run from Gustafson, but the extra point sailed wide, limiting the damage.
Trailing 6-0, Coupeville finally broke through late in the first quarter.
Downes pegged a ball to Anderson, then watched in satisfaction as the sophomore receiver shed tacklers on a 71-yard ramble in which he zigged and zagged his way down the field.
A late tackle brought him down just shy of the end zone, but two plays later Downes plunged in from a yard out for Coupeville’s first touchdown.
Since that play came with just four seconds left in the opening quarter, a lot of people expected that to be the score heading into the second frame.
They were wrong, however.
Pierce Kleine took the kickoff to the house, outrunning the Wolf defense and giving the visitors a surprise 14-7 lead.
Showing no slow in their roll, the Wolves shook it off like Taylor Swift preaches, covering 73 yards on a 13-play drive to open the second quarter.
Two passes to Jack Porter, one for 12 yards, another for 17, set the stage, with Downes connecting with Anderson from 10 yards out to tie the game.
It was the 19th TD pass of the season for the senior QB, breaking a tie with Joel Walstad for the school’s single-season record.
Downes wasn’t done, however, coming back to loft a 33-yard scoring strike to freshman Davin Houston to stake Coupeville to a 21-14 halftime lead.
Your record setter. (Photo courtesy Angie Downes)
Barring a 10th game, it was the final touchdown lob for Angie’s youngest son, and he is currently primed to exit with all three CHS individual records, holding game (5), season (20), and career (40) marks.
Add in a TD pass thrown by Anderson during a game Downes missed while ill, and Coupeville has 21 passing touchdowns this season.
That breaks the team record of 20 set in 2014, when Walstad (18) and Josh Bayne (2) were flinging passes.
Turnovers hurt the Wolves in the second half Thursday, with two picks and two lost fumbles limiting their trips to the end zone.
Friday Harbor scored the only third-quarter points, on a 14-yard run by McCutcheon, but a chop block penalty pushed the Wolverine PAT attempt back, and the ball failed to clear the uprights.
Coupeville’s defense had several shining moments in the fourth quarter, with Houston, a relatively slim 9th grader, upending Gustafson to stop one drive, while Zane Oldenstadt and Robinett stood tall on the line.
The Wolverines surged ahead at 26-21 on the second of Gustafson’s three scoring runs, but a blown conversion play kept things close and set up the frantic finale described above.
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