The host La Conner High School football team took advantage of Coupeville mistakes to roll to a 53-6 win over the Wolves Friday, Sept. 9.

Coupeville (1-1)  will try to rebound when it plays Nooksack Valley (1-1) at 7 p.m. Friday, Sept. 16, at Mickey Clark Field in the final non-league game.

The Wolves entered the La Conner game on a high note after drubbing rival South Whidbey 41-10 a week earlier. The one negative in the win was five turnovers. The Coupeville defense, however, minimized the damage by shutting down the Falcon attack.

Coupeville again committed five turnovers at La Conner; this time the miscues were turned into points.

Three of the mistakes came as the Wolves were about the score and two gave La Conner a short field.

One of the turnovers was a 90-yard pick-six by Budda Luna.  Luna stopped another threat with another interception, returning this one 74 yards to set up La Conner’s final score.

La Conner led 13-0, 33-6 and 39-6 after the first three quarters.

Regardless of the turnovers, the Braves were the stronger team, especially running the ball. La Conner rushed for 291 yards on 32 carries, averaging just over 9 yards per run.

Despite two more carries than the Braves, the Wolves managed only 48 yards on the ground. Hunter Smith led the team with 30 yards on seven runs.

In regard to La Conner’s line, Coupeville coach Jon Atkins said, “Their front five will probably be the best we face all season. This will probably be the toughest team we face all season.”

Smith also grabbed three passes from Hunter Downes for 111 yards; one was a 47-yard TD toss. Downes finished with five completions for 154 yards.

Luna had a game-high 87 yards rushing on six carries, including a 33-yard touchdown.

James Hulbert rushed for 85 yards and passed for 158.

In all, La Conner out gained Coupeville 449-202.

“We’ve got to bounce back,” Atkins said. “Our goal now is to learn how to get back on track after a loss. We also need to clean up the turnovers.”

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Coupeville’s Teo Keilwitz tackles Kolbe Rasler at La Conner. Photo by John Fisken.