Former Wolf QB Hunter Downes owns the Coupeville High School record for most touchdown passes in a career. (Photos by JohnsPhotos.net)
His bones sometimes betrayed him, but his heart never did.
Over the course of a four-year run at Coupeville High School, Hunter Downes fought through too many injuries, many of which might have derailed someone with less drive and grit.
But, each time he snapped or bent something new, the 2018 CHS grad bounced back, his body healing (at least for a moment).
The gleam in his eye? That never vanished.
Downes always seemed to me like one of those rare athletes who really, truly lived for every moment they got on the field, the court, or the pitch.
Even wracked by more injuries than the average Wolf, he suited up for a sport in all 12 seasons he was granted.
Football and basketball were his mainstays for all four years, while a brief foray into track and field soon gave way to life on the soccer pitch.
Through it all, he was always front and center, though he brought different skill sets to each sport, and filled often vastly-different roles for his teams.
As a soccer player Downes was a rough-and-ready enforcer who also had a nimble touch around the net when needed.
Celebrating a goal on the soccer pitch.
Playing with many of the highest-powered scorers in program history, he didn’t have to carry the offensive load.
That didn’t mean he couldn’t sting an opposing goalie when the moment was right, though.
On the basketball court, Downes filled a similar complementary role.
His four seasons of high school hoops were shared with Hunter Smith, who finished as one of the most-prolific scorers in school history.
While Downes often played a set-up role, it was one he seized with wild abandon.
A smooth passer who could make the nets sing when he shot, he largely made his name as a force in the paint.
Often giving up height and weight advantages to the rival burly brawlers he faced off with, Downes lived to snatch as many rebounds as humanly possible.
Using guile, positioning, and a nice stubborn streak which kept his butt anchored down low even while being roughed up, he never backed down.
Ever.
Rumbling in the paint.
His knack for cleaning the glass, on both ends of the court, was huge.
Whether taking the ball back up strongly, or dealing it to waiting shooters, Downes was a master at giving the Wolves second (and third, and fourth) chances.
But, of all his sports, football is the one where he may have shone most brightly.
A gun-slinging quarterback who enjoyed juking would-be tacklers out of their shoes before firing balls into triple coverage, Downes rarely played it safely on the gridiron.
Named the starter as a sophomore, he saw his first season in charge of the varsity offense end prematurely, derailed by an early-season injury.
Fighting his way back, Downes popped back behind center the next season and stayed there, through bruising sacks and awkward collisions, always flinging the ball skyward on a wing and a prayer.
More often than not, it worked out, as he hooked up with Smith, Cameron Toomey-Stout and Co., ripping off big chunks of yardage and crowd-pleasing touchdowns.
When he finally limped off the field at the end of his run, Downes, even having lost out on most of his sophomore campaign, landed among the most productive QB’s in CHS history.
His 35 career touchdown passes are the most in school history, while he also shares the single-game mark of four scoring bombs with Wolf legends Corey Cross and Brad Sherman.
Downes came dangerously close to catching Sherman for the school’s career mark in passing yards, and saved one of his best moments for the very end.
Tied with Sherman at 33 career passing TD’s, Downes had watched most of his key receivers KO’d by season-ending injuries.
He had very few reliable targets left as his senior season rolled to an end, and he was getting hit at a steady rate himself, as the starters on his line also suffered through a considerable wave of injuries.
But, weaving and bobbing, Downes connected on the record-setting heave, dropping the ball onto the hands of his close childhood friend, Jake Hoagland.
In a season of pain and misery for the Wolves, the fling and catch produced not just a record, but a thin sliver of pure joy.
For a moment, all the action around them came to a screeching halt and two friends etched their names into the record books while recreating some of the magic from their backyard days.
Downes was limping as the post-touchdown celebration played out, having been blasted once again.
But he was also grinning.
Like I said, Downes, more than many, really seemed to enjoy his time as a high school athlete.
He might not have gotten all the opportunities he deserved, but he took advantage of every single one he was given.
Today we honor Hunter for his stats, but also for the way he played — attacking every day, every game, always trying to get the most out of every play.
As the newest member of the Coupeville Sports Hall o’ Fame, he joins former teammates and the old-school giants whose records he chased.
After this, you’ll find him camped out under the Legends tab at the top of the blog.
It’s a fitting home for a guy who never let an injury slow his roll, a guy who lived to be a ballplayer, and a dude who made sure to play every game like it was the most important contest of his life.
Bring it on. (David Stern photo)
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