New coaching staff, no problem.
Coupeville, under new coach Marcus Carr and paced by Sean Toomey-Stout, won its season opener 28-18 at Port Townsend Friday, Aug. 31.
Next up for the Wolves is their home opener against Vashon Island at 6 p.m. Friday, Sept. 7. The Pirates lost their opener 55-0 to Sultan Friday.
Coupeville 28, Port Townsend 18
Carr is the Wolves fifth coach in the past 10 years, but the Wolves handled the new schemes and the Redhawks.
“I thought that we played really well,” Carr said. “Port Townsend had a really good team, and it was a hard-fought victory. The kids are buying into the new system, and it’s starting to show.”
The win over Port Townsend broke a five-game skid (and most were one-sided losses) to the Redhawks.
Plenty of the Wolves played key roles in the win, but none more than Toomey-Stout, who led the assault by slicing through the Redhawk defense for 321 yards on 22 carries.
Dawson Houston tossed pair of TD passes to Shane Losey and Jake Pease.
On defense, the Wolves “were really strong against the run,” according to Carr.
Alex Turner, Dane Lucero and Andrew Martin combined for 33 tackles; Lucero had two sacks.
Gavin Knoblich added five stops and a sack, and Toomey-Stout had an interception.
Houston and Coupeville opened the scoring with a 12-yard pass to Losey. The score was set up by a fourth-and-long completion between the pair that went for 27 yards.
Port Townsend countered just before halftime and the teams were tied at 6 at the break.
Toomey-Stout returned the second-half kickoff to the Redhawk 10-yard line, then scored on the next play. Houston hit Knoblich on the two-point conversion to put the Wolves in the lead 14-6.
The Redhawks responded with a TD, but their extra-point attempt failed.
Toomey-Stout’s 56-yard run set up another Houston TD pass. Pease made the grab on a 10-yarder to extent the Wolves’ lead.
Toomey-Stout put the finishing touches on his extraordinary night with a 42-yard scoring run.
“It was good to get the win last Friday; now we have to continue to get better everyday and be ready for our home opener against Vashon Island,” Carr said.
