La Conner can’t catch Edmund Wilson. (Julie Wheat photos)
The game was played mostly on one half of the field.
Controlling things from start to finish Tuesday, while spending most of the day on the attack, the Coupeville High School boys’ soccer squad throttled host La Conner 7-1 in the conference opener for both teams.
The win, in which five different Wolves found the back of the net, lifts CHS to 1-0 in Northwest 2B/1B League play, 4-2 overall.
And now, after playing three straight away from Whidbey, Coupeville gets to kick off October by playing four of its next five at Mickey Clark Field.
First up is Evangel Classical, which comes to Cow Town Thursday with a 6:00 PM kickoff and free admission.
That’s a rematch, after the Raggants won the first meeting 1-0 in a game classified as a non-league tilt. The second time out, however, counts in the chase for playoff positioning.
Those who show up in person will get a chance to see a Wolf squad which has already had nine booters combine to rattle the nets for 24 goals.
Leading the way is Edmund Wilson, who has tallied seven on the campaign after adding two more to his total against La Conner.
The junior striker got things started Tuesday when he outran a defender on the right side of the field before cutting back in and banking the ball past a flailing goalie in the game’s 8th minute.
The tally was the 14th of Edmund’s prep career, breaking a three-way tie for family scoring supremacy, as he entered the day deadlocked with older brothers Aiden and Cael, who both recorded 13 goals during their stellar runs in the black and red.
The new Wilson family scoring champ wasn’t done, but he waited his turn, with senior running mate Sage Arends punching in a pair of goals to bust things wide open.
The first came in the 30th minute, off of a penalty shot, then barely a minute later Arends pulled in a long pass over the top and used his head to beat the netminder.
La Conner got one back, after the ref gave the Braves a penalty shot for a phantom foul, but Wolf freshman Sawyer Rudat answered in stoppage time, redirecting a rebound off a Wilson smash.
Shiloh Sandlin battles for control of the ball.
Coupeville kept peppering its hosts after halftime, knocking in three more scores and coming close on another 10,002 shots.
Wilson got his second goal to open the second-half scoring, before Chayse Van Velkinburgh mashed a laser shot from way outside which caught major air and curved over the goalie’s shoulder and into the waiting net.
Rudat and Van Velkinburgh have three goals each this season, with Arends sitting with five.
Putting a cap on things, hard-working Shiloh Sandlin broke through with his first high school goal, before the teams played a scoreless final 22 minutes.
La Conner came hard in the late going, trying to slice the lead, but the Wolf defense, anchored by Brian Thompson and Wyatt Fitch-Marron, rarely let the ball get close enough to the net that goalie Sam Richards had to make a move.
With a lopsided lead, CHS coach Jim Kunz was able to give quality playing time to his full active roster, with players such as Gracen Joiner, Rodrigo Rosas, and Will Tierney getting key in-game experience.
While Edmund Wilson has family bragging rights now, he and Arends remain in a tie with 15 career goals apiece, and the duo move past Nick Guay (14) and into sixth place all-time on the CHS boys scoring chart.
Next up is Ethan Spark (17) and William Nelson (20), with the Leyva clan — Abraham (45), Derek (38), and Aram (29) — still the undisputed goal kings.
