Coupeville senior Jake Hoagland brought back a kickoff 70+ yards for a touchdown Friday at Port Townsend. (Photo by JohnsPhotos.net)
Everything was just a little bit off Friday.
A kickoff time shoved from 7 PM up to 3:30 because of issues with ferries, three star players on the sideline in street clothes and a fairly dispiriting, lopsided loss for a Coupeville High School football team which could not wrap up a runner to save its life.
Given third, fourth and even fifth chances to break free on many plays, Port Townsend’s sophomore QB, Noa Apker-Montoya, did just that.
And, by the time he was done slicing and dicing the Wolf defense, he had run for three touchdowns and thrown for another two, sparking the RedHawks to a 61-12 win on their home turf.
The loss to an Olympic League rival drops Coupeville to 1-2 in conference play, 3-3 overall.
If there is a silver lining, it’s this — after playing four of their first six on the road, the Wolves now get three straight home games, starting with a Homecoming tilt Oct. 13 against win-less Bellevue Christian.
More immediately, the biggest ray of hope for the depleted CHS squad was the momentary burst of adrenaline offered by senior Jake Hoagland pulling off a career-best moment.
The kind of quiet, hard-working, humble guy every program loves to have, Hoagie, helping return kicks with Hunter Smith out, brought his fervent fans to their feet on the final play of the third quarter.
The Wolves trailed 54-6 at the moment, having surrendered a 15-yard scoring strike with just three ticks left on the clock, and, if heads were hanging a bit, it would have been understandable.
Hoagland, however, had his head straight up, and he took the ensuing kickoff to the house, bolting up the middle of the field, shedding RedHawk tacklers with each step.
By the time he was done, he had covered 70+ yards, scored the first varsity touchdown of his high school career and sent a large group of his classmates into hysterics.
Coupeville might have been the road team, but the Wolf fans turned out in big numbers, filling up their side of the stands, something the locals can’t claim.
A sizable chunk of the CHS rooters were Hoagland’s fellow athletes — Wolf volleyball, soccer, tennis and cross country stars — and they stayed loud ‘n proud even when the score turned sour.
And it turned sour pretty quick.
The Wolves were missing their #1 rusher and tackler, Sean Toomey-Stout (ankle), their top receiver and defensive back, Hunter Smith (back), and #2 rusher and tackler, Chris Battaglia (ribs).
Without that trio, Coupeville’s offense had trouble clicking on all cylinders.
Add in a defense which, for one night at least, looked like a squad in need of a refresher course on wrapping up the runner, and Montoya and Co. had their way.
Three touchdowns in the first 10 minutes, off of runs by Montoya and Jacob Boucher, followed by a 12-yard scoring strike from the former to the latter, put Coupeville in a huge hole.
The Wolves seemed to find a brief reprieve near the end of the first quarter, when QB Hunter Downes faked a punt, then pegged a long shot down the left sideline to the ever-elusive Cameron Toomey-Stout.
Camtastic snatched the ball between two Port Townsend defenders, then spun and juked a third would-be tackler out of his shoes on his way to a 63-yard catch-and-run touchdown.
While the PAT was no good, Coupeville had brief life, especially with Toomey-Stout immediately picking off Montoya on the game’s next offensive play.
It wasn’t to be, though, as Montoya returned the favor, immediately intercepting Downes first pass, essentially making the exchange a moot point.
The RedHawks put the hammer down in the second quarter, battering away for three more touchdowns on the ground.
Throwing salt into the wound, Port Townsend got two of those scores in the final 59 seconds of the half, packaging TD runs around a fumble recovery.
While Coupeville’s three turnovers hurt, missed tackles on defense will be what burns the most on tape-reviewing day.
On numerous occasions, the Wolves had a RedHawk runner corralled after a short 2-3 yard gain, only to lose their grip and watch in horror as the play turned into 10-20 yards.
Missing most of his key weapons and trying to climb out of a hole, Downes did what he could, scrambling and firing on the run.
His prettiest pass of the night actually wasn’t the 63-yard scoring strike, but a super-smooth 17-yard laser right before halftime.
Threading the ball through the defense, Downes laid the ball right on Toomey-Stout’s fingertips, and the senior sensation pulled off a gorgeous snag under duress.
Without its tops runners, Coupeville split carries between Matt Hilborn, Andrew Martin and Teo Keilwitz, with Martin bull-rushing up the middle for his team’s longest ground gain of the night, a hard-earned 11 yards and a cloud of dust.
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