Young Wolves fall to Port Townsend / Football

By Jim Waller • September 9, 2019 1:30 am

The first varsity game for an extremely young squad is often a struggle, and such was the case for the Coupeville High School football team Friday, Sept. 6, as the Wolves fell to Port Townsend 49-16 at Mickey Clark Field.

Half of Coupeville’s roster are freshmen, and five started and eight played for the Wolves against a veteran Port Townsend club.

This rebuilding season will be a complete overhaul, and coach Marcus Carr said, “We will continue to work hard in practice and get better every day.”

The next step of the learning curve is Friday, Sept. 16, at 6 p.m. at Vashon Island. The Pirates dropped their season opener 35-6 to Sultan.

The beginning of the Port Townsend game foretold how it would unfold. Coupeville fumbled on its first play and the Redhawks scored on their first.

Port Townsend raced to a 20-0 lead despite having three touchdowns wiped away by penalties.

Sean Toomey-Stout’s long kickoff return after the Redhawks’ third score set up the Wolves’ first touchdown, an 18-yard run by Andrew Martin.

Coupeville quarterback Dawson Houston ran in for the two-point conversion.

Several nice runs by Martin and a 24-yard pass from Houston to Gavin Knoblich fueled Coupeville’s second scoring drive just before halftime. Houston capped the march with a short scoring run. Martin, who finished the game with nearly 100 yards rushing, rammed in for the extra points.

Toomey-Stout, one of the team’s senior leaders, paced the Coupeville defense with a whopping 25 tackles.

Overall, Carr was “happy with our performance” despite missing some starters.

“The boys played hard,” he added, and “our freshman got some very valuable game experience.”

He liked that his club ran the ball “really well at times,” but noted “our passing game has to be better next week.”