Wolves win league title

The conference title is the third in program history and the first since 1990.

October 25, 2022 1:30 am
Photo be John Fisken Coupeville High School senior running back Dominic Coffman rips through La Conner tacklers on his way to a big gain in Friday’s 78-0 win. Coffman leads the Wolves in rushing yards this season, and is third on the team with nine touchdowns.
Photo be John Fisken Coupeville High School senior running back Dominic Coffman rips through La Conner tacklers on his way to a big gain in Friday’s 78-0 win. Coffman leads the Wolves in rushing yards this season, and is third on the team with nine touchdowns.

By DAVID SVIEN

Special to the News-Times

Friday night, having led his Wolf gridiron squad to a 78-0 shellacking of visiting La Conner at Mickey Clark Field, Coupeville High School head football coach Bennett Richter accomplished something Coupeville’s previous five football coaches were unable to do — win a league title.

With the victory, the Wolves roar to 3-0 in Northwest 2B/1B League play, 6-1 overall, and clinch at least a tie for the NWL crown.

The six wins are the most for a Coupeville High School football team in one season since 2005, while the conference title is the third in program history, and first since 1990.

The Wolves travel to Friday Harbor Oct. 28 for the regular-season finale, where a win over the Wolverines (2-1, 3-4) gives CHS outright possession of the crown and punches their ticket to the 12-team 2B state tourney.

According to Washington Interscholastic Activities Association records, it would be the fifth time Coupeville football qualified for the big dance, following one-and-done trips in 1974, 1986, 1987, and the aforementioned 1990.

If the Wolves fall at Friday Harbor, the schools share the league title and meet in a tiebreaker game the following weekend to decide which team advances to state.

Before moving on to the Wolverines, though, Coupeville needed to take care of business against a La Conner squad which has improved since the Wolves routed them earlier this season.

The Braves snapped an eight-game losing streak — a period when the Braves failed to score a single point — beating Charles Wright Academy 30-6, then scored 18 points in a loss to Friday Harbor.

That offensive success came to a screeching halt against Coupeville, however.

Arriving in town with a very-thin roster, La Conner never came close to scoring against the Wolf defense, while Richter’s squad got touchdowns from nine different players – including five who hadn’t scored before.

Senior Tim Ursu led the way, hitting paydirt three different ways, via a touchdown catch, a pick-six, and a punt return which he took to the house.

That leaves him tied with Scott Hilborn atop the team scoring chart, as both game-busters have recorded 11 touchdowns.

Having outscored their foes 306-87 this season, Coupeville also got a school single-game record five touchdown passes from quarterback Logan Downes.

Connecting with five different teammates on scoring strikes, the Wolf junior surpassed the previous record of four, jointly held by Corey Cross (1971), Brad Sherman (2001), and big bro Hunter Downes (2016).

With 16 TD passes through seven games, Logan Downes is two off of Coupeville’s single season record of 18, set by Joel Walstad in 2014.