Freshman Chris Battaglia, dubbed “The Italian Stallion” by Coupeville PA announcer Willie Smith, recorded seven tackles Friday night. (John Fisken photo)
When your most exciting play of the night is a punt, pretty good bet you’re not going to win the game.
But, that said, the Coupeville High School football squad did capture a string of small, but important, moral victories Friday night while facing off with the best team they will see all season.
And it was a dang good punt. But more about that later.
A look at the scoreboard told the big story — that Port Townsend rolled to a 44-0 win to all but put a choke-hold on the 1A Olympic League title.
Now 4-0 in league play, 6-0 overall, the Redhawks hold a one-game lead over Klahowya (3-1, 4-2), while Coupeville (1-3, 1-5) and Chimacum (0-4, 0-6) bring up the rear.
Port Townsend will host Klahowya next Friday, and, having outscored opponents 299-6 this season (beating those Eagles 52-6 earlier), would seem a slam-dunk to repeat as league champs.
But there’s intrigue beyond that certainty, as the Wolves actually have a better chance at earning a playoff berth than originally thought.
While the Olympic League only sent two teams to the postseason last year, it was revealed Friday the top three teams will be playoff-bound in 2015.
For Coupeville, that means a Homecoming win over Chimacum next Friday would allow it to clinch a trip to the postseason.
Plus, a Wolf win combined with the inevitable Klahowya defeat at Port Townsend would pull CHS within a game of second place heading into the conference finale, when Coupeville hits the road to face the Eagles on their home turf Oct. 23.
So, what that all means is a loss against Port Townsend, while rough, is not the end of the world.
The Wolves hit the Redhawks hard, and often, holding Port Townsend to its fewest points of the season.
Along the way, Coupeville recovered a fumble — the third picked up this season by Wolf junior Jacob Martin — and forced the Redhawks first-string offense into a rare four-and-out at one point early in the second quarter.
What they could not do, and what no team has been able to do so far, was fully control an impressive ground attack led by a 5-foot-9, 235-pound, surprisingly nimble battering ram named Wesley Wheeler.
The Redhawk senior slammed in to the end zone three times, with a pair of one-yard scores sandwiched around a 14-yard touchdown.
When the Wolves did bring Wheeler down, the Redhawks mixed things up with Ezra Easley, who is 80 pounds lighter but three times as quick.
Easley bolted in to score on back-to-back possessions, as Port Townsend built a 21-0 lead after one quarter.
Coupeville’s best play of the night came midway through the second quarter.
After finally breaking through for a first down, on a pass from Gabe Eck to Jordan Ford, the Wolves hit a brick wall and eventually had to punt.
That was when junior Clay Reilly unloaded a cannon shot off of his toe.
Zooming across the black sky, what would turn into a 70-yard punt traveled most of that distance in the air, then bit the turf and skipped through the end zone, preventing Port Townsend from getting any return on the ball.
It was an impressive moment and drew a startled gasp from an out-of-town guy broadcasting the game across the internet and an enthusiastic “ooh” and “ah” from the guys in the CHS press box, silver-tongued announcer Willie “Balls… Balls…” Smith and clock wizard Joel Norris.
After that, it was all Port Townsend, largely, as Redhawk QB David Sua connected with Carson Marx on a 14-yard scoring strike in which Marx made a circus catch while tumbling backward.
Gerry Coker tacked on a 33-yard field goal to close out the scoring, but Coupeville escaped without being the team to give up Port Townsend’s 300th point of the season.
Good luck on stopping that next week, Klahowya.
With little to play for except pride, Coupeville came within an inch or two of busting Port Townsend’s string of shutouts.
With Eck hitting Hunter Smith on an 11-yard pass, the Wolves were down to the 25, forcing the Redhawks to put their first-string defenders back in with two minutes to play.
On fourth down, Eck rolled out and heaved a bomb to Smith, who reached over his shoulder and hauled in the pass as he crossed into the end zone.
Unfortunately, carried to the side by the pass, he couldn’t keep his feet in bounds and it went down as a beautiful catch that ultimately didn’t count.
Forced to scramble for his life much of the time, Eck compiled 40 yards through the air, with Ford hauling in two passes for 22 yards.
Wiley Hesselgrave led the ground game with a very-hard-earned 30 yards.
Freshmen Ty Eck (nine tackles) and Chris Battaglia (seven) paced the defense, while Hesselgrave had six and Lathom Kelley added five.
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