Certain things just go well together: cookies and milk, peanut butter and chocolate, toast and butter.
The Coupeville football team learned Friday night, however, its offense and 30 mph wind gusts are not one of those natural fits.
As a team who likes to throw the football at least 50 percent of the time, the Wolves were unable to get their offense moving, falling at home, 12-0, to Granite Falls.
“With this weather we lost half of our offense — almost three-quarters of our offense,” CHS head coach Ron Bagby said. “We like to mix it up, but we couldn’t even get them off balance.”
Junior quarterback Mike Bagby struggled throwing into the heavy wind and rain, completing 7-of-26 passes (26 percent) for 64 yards.
Although they had difficulties through the air, Coupeville did find success on the ground. As a team the Wolves rushed for 158 yards, led by junior J.J. Marti with 102 on 25 carries. Marti had a productive day despite suffering leg cramps the majority of the contest.
“J.J. always plays so hard,” coach Bagby said.” He just gives you everything he’s got.”
Unfortunately for the Wolves, the Tigers also had success rushing the ball behind their large offensive line. Granite Falls had only two passing yards, but ran for 172 and two touchdowns.
Senior Kyle Nelson, who carried the ball 18 times for 98 yards, was the deciding factor in the second half.
With 4:20 remaining in the third quarter Nelson broke a scoreless tie, running free for 12 yards off right tackle.
“He played that whole second half with a hip-pointer,” Granite Falls coach Eric Dinwiddie said. “He just gutted it out.”
Nelson, who is also the kicker, sealed the game with 6:32 to go in the fourth quarter. On what was supposed to be a 28-yard field goal attempt, the ball slipped through the hands of the holder, directly into Nelson’s hands. The senior knew exactly what to do, taking it 15 yards around the right side of the Coupeville defense into the end zone.
“It’s something that we practice — performing in bad weather conditions,” Dinwiddie said. “The kid’s an athlete and a heck of a player, so he just turned it golden.”
Down, 12-0, with roughly six minutes to go, Coupeville received two more offensive possessions, but was unable to make anything happen.
“We improved from the last game to this game,” coach Bagby said. “Even though we didn’t score we still improved.
The first game we couldn’t run it, so it was nice to see that we could run it against a big physical team.”
Defensively, the Wolves did a solid job, holding the Tigers to 1-for-8 passing with two interceptions. Mike Bagby and sophomore Tony Prosser each picked off a pass. Senior linebacker Andrew Moon led the team in tackles with 13, followed by Marti with 12 and Prosser with 10.
Coupeville, now 0-2 in non-league play, prepares for Tacoma Baptist this Friday, Sept. 17. Kickoff is set for 6 p.m. at Mickey Clark Field.
A win would break an 11-game losing streak, dating back to September 2003.
The Wolves begin league play the following week at 7 p.m., Friday, Sept. 25 at home against Concrete.
“We told our guys that we have a goal that conference play is what is important and we are getting better each game,” coach Bagby said.
Granite Falls 12, Coupeville 0
Granite Falls 0 0 6 6—12
Coupeville 0 0 0 0— 0
Scoring—Granite Falls: Nelson 12 yard run (kick failed). Granite Falls: Nelson 19 yard run (kick failed).
