Khanor Jump and Coupeville’s defense played with wild abandon. (Jackie Saia photo)
Lock up the trophy case, cause The Bucket stays in Cow Town for another year.
Sparked by second-half touchdowns from hard-running Liam Blas and Nathan Coxsey, and an aggressive, hard-hitting defense, the Coupeville High School football squad blanked visiting South Whidbey 12-0 Friday night to claim Island rivalry honors.
Off the win, the 2B Wolves, now 1-4 on the season, send the 1A Falcons to 0-6, while winning back-to-back clashes with their next-door neighbors for the first time since 2016 and 2017.
With last year’s 35-6 triumph in Langley and this year’s shutout — the first in the series since Coupeville won 18-0 in 2017 — CHS head coach Bennett Richter joins former Wolf gridiron gurus Tony Maggio and Jon Atkins as two-time winners in The Battle for the Bucket.
Retaining ownership of the dented, but still beautiful trophy, which came as Coupeville also celebrated Homecoming and Senior Night, left Richter flying high as he hugged his way through a group of current and former players.
“Nothing better than beating South Whidbey, except blanking them!” he said as the celebration swirled around him.
“We got a little something from everyone tonight. We asked the guys to lock in and play their best ball, and they continued to be physical all game and overcame some penalties that could have derailed us.
“I’m just proud of them!”
On the field the action was intense. Off the gridiron, the two town’s cheerleaders came together for a friendly photo op. (Jennifer Morrell photo)
After a scoreless first half, the game shifted on one explosive play to start the third quarter.
Coupeville was kicking off to the Falcons, and drilled the ball off a would-be receiver’s hands, the ball popping free and being jumped on by a pile of Wolves flying down field.
It was the night’s only turnover, and it proved to be fatal to the South Enders.
With the ball in their hands, the Wolves, guided by freshman quarterback Kamden Ratcliff, drove 60 yards in 17 plays, chewing up clock and yardage in equal measure.
Ten of the plays came on rushes, with Richmond Bandong being the workhorse, while Blas and Davin Houston provided support.
With the Wolf ball carriers softening up the defense, Ratcliff found some openings, pegging passes to Coxsey, Carson Grove, and Blas, with the latter busting loose on a 13-yard scoring strike to score the game’s first points with a little under four minutes left in the quarter.
Coupeville failed to convert on the two-point conversion, but its defense was more than up to the job of making the 6-0 lead stand up.
Blas and Khanor Jump blew up Falcon runners behind the line for key losses, with Jump slicing between blockers to haul down the ballcarrier on fourth down, forcing South Whidbey to turn the ball over on downs.
Bennett Richter gets his Wolves fired up. (Jackie Saia photo)
The Wolves, flying high on emotion and backed by a loud ‘n proud sellout crowd, promptly drove for a follow-up touchdown, effectively icing the game.
Houston delivered the big blow, bursting through the defense and plowing down the right side of the field on a 33-yard run before being finally hauled down by a collection of Falcons.
That set up Coxsey, who muscled his way in for a two-yard scoring run with eight-and-a-half minutes left in the game to provide the final scoring.
South Whidbey, which got strong up-the-gut running from sophomore Carter Ruggenberg all night, tried to break through in the final minutes, but found frustration instead.
Riley Lawless, who was crowned Homecoming King at halftime, destroyed a runner in the backfield, while Houston came zinging in to blow up a pass play on the sideline in front of the Wolf bench.
The third and final of Daniel and Alia’s three sons to make an impact for CHS football, Davin’s Senior Night performance surely thrilled big brothers Dawson and Daylon, as well as the rest of the pro-Wolf crowd.
Davin Houston leads the Wolves to the field. (Jacob Lujan photo)
Coupeville’s explosive second-half play broke open a game which proved to be a stalemate in the first.
Both teams proved capable of picking up yardage in the opening quarters but couldn’t bust through for a score.
Houston opened the game by taking the opening kickoff back 25+ yards, and Bandong punched through for an 11-yard run, but an incomplete pass on fourth down gave the ball to the Falcons.
Not that South Whidbey was able to do anything with the gift, as Ayden Warren crushed the dude with the pigskin on fourth-and-seven on the ensuing drive to flip the field.
Coupeville’s second drive had big plays, with Ratcliff hitting Warren for a 25-yard pass, and Bandong and Houston tearing off 15 and 12-yard runs, respectively.
But again, the South Whidbey defense stiffened and held on fourth down, with CHS knocking on the door in the red zone.
Ball back to the Falcons, and same result.
The visitors made it down to Coupeville’s 21-yard line, but Bandong yanked down a runner on fourth down to preserve the first half shutout.
The extra-long Homecoming halftime break gave Richter and his supporting cast time to draw up some game-busting plays and possibly deliver a Knute Rockne-style speech or two.
Or just catch a few minutes of extra rest.
Those of us living outside the locker room will probably never know, but whatever happened, it worked.
Cow Town owns all the bragging rights for another year, and there are few things sweeter than trash-talking the Falcon faithful for another 365 days or so.
It’s true. (Jennifer Morrell photo)
