Aram Leyva scored twice Tuesday as Coupeville soccer drilled Port Townsend 3-1, all but clinching a playoff berth for the Wolves. (Photo by JohnsPhotos.net)
“If you strike me down, I shall become more powerful than you can possibly imagine.”
Channeling Obi-Wan in Star Wars, the Coupeville High School boys soccer team showed remarkable resiliency Tuesday, and the rewards will be huge.
Four days after absorbing a rough loss at Port Townsend, the Wolf booters rebounded to drill the visiting RedHawks 3-1 Tuesday, capturing their biggest win in the four-year history of the 1A Olympic League.
The victory, which snapped a five-game winless streak, lifts CHS to 4-3 in conference action, 5-6-2 overall.
It also gives the Wolves two wins in three games against Port Townsend this season, and all but clinches second-place in the Olympic League, and the playoff berth that comes with that finish.
After three teams made the postseason annually between 2015-2017, this year only two squads will make the cut, and it would take an epic collapse for Coupeville to not join league champ Klahowya.
Port Townsend (3-4, 3-8) and the Wolves both finish with games against Klahowya (6-0, 9-2-1) and Chimacum (0-6, 0-10).
One CHS win or one PT loss clinches second-place for the Wolves, who finished third in each of the previous three seasons.
It would take two Moses-parting-the-Red-Sea-style miracles for the RedHawks to slide past Coupeville and make the postseason.
First, Chimacum, which has been outscored 101-2 this season (not a typo) would have to beat the Wolves.
Then, Port Townsend would have to break Klahowya’s perfect 27-0 run in Olympic League games.
If BOTH those things happen Friday, I’ll retire on the spot.
So, while the Wolves can’t fully celebrate yet, they took care of most of the dirty work Tuesday, controlling the game from start to finish.
The first half was a scoreless battle for 39+ minutes, with CHS defenders Uriah Kastner and Hunter Downes coming up huge, scrambling to snuff out RedHawk opportunities with quick feet work (and the occasional hip check into the stands).
Coupeville actually had more chances to score, but was thwarted repeatedly by a ref who knew one call – “off-sides” – and used it frequently.
His calls erased one Wolf goal, when Aram Leyva beat the Port Townsend goalie high only to have the score waved off.
Aram’s cousin, laser-shot-firing Derek Leyva, made up for it, though, rifling home the game’s first score late in stoppage time.
After muscling his way through two defenders, the slender assassin rattled the ball home, netting his 21st goal of the season.
That broke the CHS boys single-season scoring mark set in 2016 by Derek’s other cousin, Abraham Leyva, and leaves him just shy of Mia Littlejohn’s school record of 27 goals in one campaign.
Having broken the record, Derek Leyva turned into an assist machine in the second half, setting Aram Leyva up twice.
The first score came on a throw-in by Sam Wynn that Derek corraled, then skipped across the field right onto Aram’s toe.
One quick swing of his powerful leg later, it was 2-0 Wolves and the game looked to be in the bag.
But Port Townsend was plucky, and finally broke through with a little over 14 minutes left in the game.
A ferocious scrum broke out in front of the net, and, in the melee, a RedHawk managed to poke the ball past an otherwise-occupied Wolf goalie Dewitt Cole.
With the lead cut to 2-1, Cole and his defensive crew went into lock-down mode.
Axel Partida, Teo Keilwitz and Co. were impenetrable the rest of the game, blunting Port Townsend’s best efforts, while Cole made a couple of nimble late saves.
Just to make sure things would stay the way they were supposed to, the Leyva boys broke out another beauty with 10 minutes to play.
Derek crushed another crossing pass, though this time Aram came cartwheeling in, using his head to bank the ball past the flailing RedHawk net-minder.
With two scores on the afternoon, Aram ran his season total to nine goals, as the cousins have combined for 30 of the team’s 47 goals.
That leaves Coupeville just one score shy of the 2016 team, which scored 48 times, the most by any Wolf boys team in the last decade.
While he’s not looking past Chimacum, no matter what their troubles might be, Coupeville coach Kyle Nelson was quite happy to marinate (for a moment, at least) in finally exorcising the RedHawks.
The Wolves came up empty all seven times they played Port Townsend between 2015-2017 before taking two of three this time around.
“That’s huge. Nice to finally turn it around and take down our nemesis,” he said. “The games have been close with them, always, but today we brought the energy we didn’t have for some reason Friday.
“We talked about that before the game,” Nelson added. “And they really responded!”
