Any hopes of erasing the memories of a sluggish regular season for the Coupeville High School football team by making a run in the playoffs was dashed quickly by Nooksack Valley as the Pioneers won 45-14 at Sid Lambert Field in Everson Friday, Oct. 29.
Nooksack Valley (6-3) moves on to the district playoffs while Coupeville (1-8) will be paired up with another non-playoff team for a nonleague game next week. The opponent, site and date are yet to be determined.
For Coupeville, the loss to Nooksack Valley was reminiscent of earlier losses as the same problems that plagued the Wolves during regular season were repeated in the play-in game.
At halftime, the scoreboard read “blowout” but the stat sheet read “close.” The Pioneers held a 35-7 lead at the break but only a 257-235 edge in total yards. Time and again Coupeville had promising drives halted by mistakes: a dropped pass (or three), a penalty, a missed field. Nooksack Valley, clearly the superior team, overcame its problems to find the end zone, something the young Wolves couldn’t.
That superiority was most evident in the front line. The Pioneers averaged a 50-pound advantage per man over their Coupeville counterparts. And, as Coupeville defensive coordinator Willie Smith pointed out, the Pioneers “weren’t soft.” Meaning the bulk was as much a result of conditioning as Big Macs.
While the Coupeville offense was hindered by a variety of self-inflicted wounds, the defense had its own problem: missed tackles. The Wolves were often in position to make the stop but the Pioneers were able to run through the grasp of Coupeville defenders.
Part of that can be attributed to Coupeville’s youth and physical immaturity, but as both Smith and head coach Jay Silver said, the Wolves need to get stronger – and that problem won’t be solved by the players being one year older next fall. Smith said Coupeville athletes have an aversion to the weight room, but the coaching staff is working on a culture change.
Silver said they are implementing an off-season weight lifting program and the players will be encouraged to take advantage of a speed and agility program already in place. He added that a core group of players has pledged to use these opportunities and hopes others will join the fold.
Nooksack Valley used trickery to get its first touchdown. On Nooksack’s second offensive play, Tyler Perry, the Pioneers’ starting quarterback who was injured several weeks ago, was inserted at wide receiver. Replacement quarterback Trev Myhre threw a backward pass to the split-out Perry. Perry dropped the ball, but since it was a lateral pass, the muff was a fumble and live ball and not an incompletion. Coupeville froze momentarily on the drop which allowed Kyle Handy to get behind the Wolves’ defense. Perry picked up the ball and fired a 41-yard touchdown to the wide open Handy.
Other than handling the holding chores on place kicks, that was it for the still-gimpy Perry.
Coupeville responded with a big play of its own. Several plays after recovering an onside kick, Ian Smith connected with Brandt Bodamer for a 44-yard gain to the 1. Smith ran it in from there and Kole Kellison booted the PAT to knot the score at 7.
The tie lasted 21 seconds. Myhre bolted 61 yards on the Pioneers’ next play to give Nooksack a lead it would never relinquish.
Twice in the first half Coupeville failed to convert on fourth down. The first time a dropped pass was the culprit, then on fourth-and-three a pass netted 2.95 yards. Nooksack turned those two failures into touchdown drives.
The Pioneers only outscored Coupeville 10-7 after the break.
The Wolves’ second touchdown came on its last possession as they drove 92 yards primarily against the Pioneer reserves. Smith threw to Mitch Pelroy for the 13-yard TD.
Smith, with a big assist from Bodamer, was the Coupeville offense. The senior QB completed 23 of 41 passes for 244 yards, a touchdown and two interceptions. He also ran 27 times for 137 yards, accounting for 381 of the Wolves’ 385 total yards.
Bodamer grabbed 10 passes for 118 yards; Pelroy finished with five catches for 88.
Myhre completed 10 of 17 passes for 67 yards and rushed 11 times for 132 yards (125 of those in the first half). Nick Torres rushed for 96 yards on nine carries and Caleb Cragle added 78 yards on 12 rushes.
Nooksack Valley finished with 451 total yards and looks to make some noise in the playoffs. The Pioneers’ losses this year have been to the state’s top-ranked 1A team, Cascade Christian, and No. 2 ranked and fellow Northwest Conference member Meridian (twice).
