The Coupeville Wolves knew what they had to do entering last Friday night’s league battle with the Archbishop Thomas Murphy Wildcats. Stop the run and score every time they could.

The top-10 ranked Wildcats feature a very impressive ground attack led by junior standout Jevon Butler. Butler was suited up last Friday night for the Wolves’ homecoming game but a shoulder injury kept him sidelined.

In his place freshman Stan Smith scored three touchdowns, including a pair of long runs in the first quarter and the Wildcats ran away with a 55-21 win over the Wolves.

Coupeville got busy in a hurry. Following Daniel McDonald’s long return of the opening kickoff Coupeville was in business inside the Wildcat 10 yard line. Brad Sherman threw to Scott Fisher for the touchdown. Fisher’s kick gave the Wolves a 7-0 lead in the opening minute.

Smith tied it less than a minute later as he broke free up the middle and raced 59 yards to the end zone. ATM grabbed a 14-7 lead on the next possession before Sherman rifled a strike to Brian Fakkema who finished off a 40-yard scoring play. On the point after Sherman hit Mark Whitaker for a two-point conversion and a 15-14 Coupeville lead.

The Wildcats wasted little time as Smith again went up the middle, broke a tackle and hit passing gear, racing 70 yards to put ATM back on top. The try for two was no good and Murphy led 20-15.

The Wolves regained the lead as Sherman hooked up with Joe Rojas for a 24-yard touchdown, giving Coupeville a 21-20 advantage with 11:54 remaining in the half.

The homecoming party ended there as Murphy ran off 35 unanswered points with Smith adding his third touchdown and Ben Waiss running for a pair of scores. The Wildcats had scoring runs of 59, 70, 67 and 75 yards.

Coupeville finished the night with only 7 yards on the ground. The potent passing attack gave the Wolves 370 yards in total offense.

The Murphs disdained the pass, throwing only one time for 23 yards. They hardly needed the air as they totalled 421 yards and 8 touchdowns on the ground.

Coupeville fell to 0-3 in league play and 2-5 overall while Archbishop Murphy improved to 3-0, 5-1. This Friday the Wolves play their final home game of the year against Orcas. The game starts early, at 5 p.m., due to the ferry trip back to the San Juans.