Edmund Kunz scored his first high school goal Friday night. (Julie Wheat photos)
The spotlight suits them.
Playing under Friday Night Lights, the Coupeville High School boys’ soccer squad rolled to a 4-1 win over visiting Grace Academy, sending their fans into a tizzy.
The victory is the third in the last five games for the Wolves and lifts them to 2-2 in Northwest 2B/1B League play, 4-6 overall.
Playing on its home turf as the sun set over Mickey Clark Field on a fairly serene mid-October night, Coupeville’s pitch kings were in control of the game from start to finish.
Playing for the first time this season with a completely healthy roster, including the debut of Jacob Lujan after he battled back from a leg injury suffered during the first day of practice, Coupeville attacked in waves.
And the goals came, fast and furious, as Sage Arends put together a hat trick, in just one half of play.
His first score came on a charge up the middle barely three minutes into the game, as he dared the Grace goalie to stop him, then offered the netminder no chance.
The ball left Arends toe like a rocket, splashing into the back of the net, and the rout was on.
From there, the silky-smooth junior banged home shots while on the move at the 22-minute mark, then again at the 34-minute mark.
With those three goals, Arends has five on the season, moving him back to the top of the team scoring chart, and eight for his CHS career.
While spending most of the half on the retreat, Grace did manage to get a few shots of its own off, only to have Wolf goalie Sam Richards deny them.
His best move? A block where he went parallel to the ground to punch the incoming shot off to the side, where it rolled out of bounds harmlessly.
The visitors did break through in the second half, scoring their lone goal on a laser to the corner of the net with 18 minutes left to play.
But the Wolves, to the delight of a group of high school fans beating out a steady rhythm on the metal stands with their legs, had an almost immediate response.
A Coupeville player was sent sprawling to the turf during an ensuing scrum, earning a penalty kick for the Wolves, and CHS coach Jim Kunz sent his son, Edmund, to the line for the one-on-one play.
The move paid off, with Edmund Kunz hammering the crud out of the ball, spinning it past the flailing goalie, notching his first high school goal, and capping the night’s offensive performance.
Wyatt Fitch-Marron, man of many talents.
With the Wolves basking in the afterglow of a home victory, Jim Kunz praised his team’s play, while honoring Wyatt Fitch-Marron as his game MVP.
The sophomore helped anchor the team while playing as both a defender and midfielder and showed consistent bursts of speed and an ability to kick-start the Wolf attack.
Coupeville Sports 