Josh Bayne and mom Kathy. (John Fisken photos)
Wiley Hesselgrave is third for the Wolves in rushing, fourth in receiving and third in total yards.
We’re making the wrong argument.
It’s not whether Coupeville High School senior Josh Bayne should follow in the footsteps of Nick Streubel and be the second Wolf in as many years to be picked as an All-State player.
That’s a given.
The argument we should be making is for Bayne to be the 1A Player of the Year.
Why not?
Bayne is a two-way terror who does everything.
He runs, he catches, he returns kickoffs and punts (when other teams will send it his way, which is rare), and the one time he threw a pass this season, it went for a 43-yard completion.
Put him on defense, patrolling the backfield, and Awesome Joshsome is a lethal tackling machine who picks off anything remotely hurled in his vicinity.
Eight games into the season, he is in the top five in six different categories for 1A players (four on offense, two on defense) and is in the top ten in three categories when you count all classifications together (1B to 4A).
Bayne is tied for the most touchdowns (16) and interceptions (5) in 1A.
Barring any schools who haven’t been keeping up to date with MaxPreps, the clearing house for football stats, only touchdown tornado Robert Terhune of Cascade Christian and interception magnet Charlie Patterson of South Whidbey can match him in those categories.
But Bayne destroys both of them in every other applicable category and there is no one else I can find in 1A who stands out as more of a two-way success this season.
The Wolves, at 4-4, may not be in the discussion for a state title. Bayne, however, should be the talk of the table when player awards are handed out.
Team stats through eight games:
Offense:
Passing:
Joel Walstad 89 completions for 1,235 yards (#3 in 1A) with 13 TDs and 10 INTs
CJ Smith 9-99 with 1/1
Wiley Hesselgrave 1-46 with 1/0
Josh Bayne 1-43
Receiving:
Bayne 29 receptions for 420 yards (#4 in 1A)
Ryan Griggs 23-340 (#9 in 1A)
C. Smith 20-299
Hesselgrave 14-226
Jacob Martin 9-66
Lathom Kelley 5-33
Mitchell Carroll 3-27
Cameron Toomey-Stout 1-12
Gabe Wynn 1-0
Rushing:
Bayne 112 carries for 1,081 yards (#3 in 1A, #8 in all classifications)
Kelley 44-404
Hesselgrave 43-343
Martin 42-227
Walstad 16-27
Mitchell Losey 8-27
Chance Kleinfelter 1-14
C. Smith 4-12
Kickoff/punt returns:
Bayne 8 returns for 174 yards
Hesselgrave 9-146
Kelley 5-83
Aaron Wright 2-34
Losey 1-10
Cameron Toomey-Stout 1-8
Wynn 1-0
Total yards:
Bayne 1544 (#3 in 1A)
Walstad 1262 (#5 in 1A)
Hesselgrave 615
Kelley 437
C. Smith 410
Griggs 340
Martin 293
Carroll 27
Losey 27
Kleinfelter 14
Toomey-Stout 12
Touchdowns:
Bayne 16 (tied for #1 in 1A, tied for #5 in all classifications)
Hesselgrave 6
Kelley 5
Walstad 4
Griggs 2
Kleinfelter 1
C. Smith 1
Defense:
Tackles:
Bayne (74) 62 solo, 12 assists (#4 in 1A for total tackles)
Hesselgrave (50) 41-9
Wright (42) 31-11
Shank (36) 32-4
Kelley (36) 20-16
Oscar Liquidano (29) 23-6
Martin (25) 17-8
Hunter Smith (16) 16-0
Wynn (14) 14-0
Griggs (12) 9-3
C. Smith (12) 9-3
Isaac Vargas (11) 8-3
Brenden Gilbert (7) 7-0
Losey (7) 5-2
Dominic Dausey (6) 6-0
Walstad (6) 5-1
Josh Lord (6) 4-2
Carroll (4) 3-1
Carson Risner (3) 3-0
Jake Lord (2) 2-0
James Vidoni (2) 1-1
Kleinfelter 1-0
Sacks:
Hesselgrave 3 (tied for #6 in 1A)
Bayne 2
JR Pendergrass 1
Shank 1
Wright 1
Interceptions:
Bayne 5 (tied for #1 in 1A, tied for #2 in all classifications)
C. Smith 2 (tied for #10 in 1A)
H. Smith 1
Fumble recoveries:
Bayne 3
Hesselgrave 3
Vargas 2
Dausey 1
Kelley 1
Jake Lord 1
Martin 1
Shank 1
H. Smith 1
Walstad 1
Wright 1
Wynn 1
Blocked kicks:
Shank 1
Coupeville Sports 