Spectators at the Coupeville/Chimacum football game at Port Townsend Saturday, Nov. 3, were treated to a track meet as the Cowboys won a wild one, 56-39.

The game featured a handful of big-yardage plays, many courtesy of the Wolves’ Jake Tumblin. The junior wingback piled up 407 all-purpose yards and four touchdowns. The game also featured a Coupeville rally that included three touchdowns in less than three minutes in the final period.

Tumblin, who began his big day with a 97-yard kickoff return in the first period, finished it with an 81-yard scoring reception in the fourth quarter. He had TD catches of 67 and 47 yards in between.

The final touchdown (with three recovered on-side kicks along the way), trimmed what was a 23-point Chimacum lead with 7:07 left in the fourth quarter to 10 with 4:18 remaining in the game.

The Cowboys, however, tacked on another score with 2:24 left to secure the non-conference win in the season finale for both schools.

Chimacum (5-5) scored the game’s first touchdown less than three minutes into the contest. It took Coupeville just seconds to tie it up when Tumblin returned the following kickoff nearly the length of the field to make it 7-7 after Josh Bayne’s PAT kick.

Early in the second period, the Cowboys scored. Once again Coupeville (2-8) quickly countered, this time on a 17-yard pass from Bayne to Bryce Fleming to make it 13-13.

The tie didn’t last long as the Cowboys matched Tumblin’s earlier kickoff return with their own.

That began a string of three consecutive Chimacum scores. The second came just before the half, then the Cowboys went up 35-13 four minutes into the the third quarter.

Gunnar Langvold took over at quarterback for the Wolves after the break and was 8-for-15 for 239 yards and three TDs; he also ran for a score.

His first touchdown pass was a 67-yarder to Tumblin that cut the lead to 35-19.

The Cowboys scored again with 11:08 left in the game, then the Wolves started a run that made things interesting. A Coupeville touchdown with 7:07 left pushed the score to 42-25. After recovering an onside kick, the Wolves scored again in 21 seconds to make it 42-31.

It took Chimacum only 66 seconds to score to add a little cushion.

Then came Tumblin’s 81-yard reception from Langvold, and the two-point conversion made it 49-39. That was it for the Wolves, but the Cowboys added another TD to finish the wild day.

Coupeville coach Tony Maggio said Chimacum used a strong ground game to control the ball and then stung the Wolves with a few long passes. The Cowboys completed only four throws but averaged over 30 yards per reception.

Coupeville, generally a ground-based team, rushed for only 111 yards, led by Danny Savalza with 49 on 12 carries.

Tumblin, Coupeville’s leading rusher for the season, ironically piled up his 407 all-purpose yards while rushing for only 22. He had four returns for 158 yards and seven catches for 228.

Bayne connected on five of 10 passes for 87 yards, and he and Langvold combined to throw for 326 yards.

Fleming had 75 yards on four catches.

Tumblin also led the defense with 10 tackles, one more than Caleb Valco. Fleming had seven tackles and Nick Streubel and Wiley Hesselgrave five each.

Maggio liked the development of his team over the season, saying, “I felt we were competitive.”

He added that the growth would have been greater but injuries, illness and suspensions made it more difficult: “It was tough because we never had them all together.”

Maggio said things should improve next year with the loss of only four starters and the strength of the current junior class.