The Coupeville Wolves faced off with the visiting Concrete Lions for their league opener on a cool Friday evening that wasn’t warmed up by much offense from the home team.
The Wolves managed only one touchdown in the battle of defenses and fell by the final score of 20-10.
The Wolves and Lions traded possession of the ball for most of the first quarter with not much offense being generated by either team. Coupeville received the opening kickoff and on the first play from scrimmage, quarterback Brad Sherman’s pass was intercepted by the Lions. Concrete’s first possession ended when Coupeville’s Scott Fisher intercepted a Lions’ pass.
The Wolves’ defense came through late in the first quarter and recovered a Lions fumble on Concrete’s 20-yard line and after three plays had a first-and-goal on the nine-yard line. The Lions held and Coupeville had to settle for a 24-yard field goal by Scott Fisher with 19 seconds left in the first quarter. The Lions’ possession after the field goal was cut short with an interception by Coupeville’s Sean O’Neil.
The Wolves’ ground game was not meeting with much success and after a 15-yard screen pass to J.D. Myers for a first down, they were forced to punt the ball away. The Lions made one first down before turning the ball over to the Wolves on downs.
On a third-and-11 play, Coupeville signal caller Brad Sherman was forced to scramble away from the defenders and connected with Brian Fakkema for a 67-yard touchdown pass. Scott Fisher’s extra point made the score 10-0 in the Wolves’ favor, with just over three minutes left in the first half. The Wolves held the Lions the rest of the half and the 10-0 score stood at intermission.
Concrete received the second half kickoff and marched down the field, scoring a touchdown on a nine-yard pass from Kevin McAdam to Nick Aldridge. The point after attempt failed.
The Wolves marched right back up the field with a 19-yard Sherman to Fakkema pass, but they fumbled the ball to the Lions, ending this drive.
The third quarter ended with the Wolves on top 10-6. The Lions retained possession of the ball and on a fourth-and-10 play on the Wolves’ 33-yard line, a Wolf defender slipped, falling in the end zone and leaving Concrete’s Teddie Nick wide open for a TD pass from their quarter back Kevin McAdam. The point after was good, giving Concrete a 13-10 lead with 7:49 left in the game.
The Wolves were not able to sustain a drive and were forced to punt. The punt was blocked, giving the Lions a first-and-goal on the Coupeville three yard line.
The Lions scored three plays later and the point after kick was good, giving the visitors a 20-10 lead over the Wolves. Even with only two minutes left in the game the Wolves did not give up. Brian Fakkema returned the kick off for 40-yards but their hopes were thwarted a few plays later when the Lions intercepted a Wolves pass.
Concrete ran out the last minutes and claimed a 20-10 win.
Coach Ron Bagby told the players after the game, “You didn’t play your game, we will start Monday to get things right.”
Having a little time to reflect, Bagby said Monday, “We didn’t pick up their stunts well we need to work on our blocking up front. Two or three plays in a game make the difference and they didn’t go our way this week.”
Concrete accumulated 187 yards of total offense, with 61 coming through the air. Coupeville totalled 156 yards, 111 by air.
The Wolves will be practicing hard this week, preparing to face the LaConner Braves at LaConner. The game starts at 7:30 p.m. Friday.
Look for the Wolves to give their all to put a cloud over LaConner’s homecoming hopes.
