The Coupeville High School football team found what it was looking for. Chimacum, not so much.

The two schools left their respective conferences and joined the Olympic League this fall in search of a more equitable situation; in other words, a chance to win more games.

In the first Olympic League contest for both teams, Coupeville walloped the Cowboys 48-24 at Mickey Clark Field Friday, Sept. 19.

From midway through the first quarter, it wasn’t if Coupeville would win, but by how much.

After punting after their first possession, the Wolves scored each time they received the ball in the first half except when they chose to take a knee in the final seconds of the second quarter.

Along the way, they recovered an onside kick and two fumbles and turned them into touchdowns, resulting in leads of 27-0 and 41-0 after the first two quarters.

With a 40-point lead, the mercy rule was triggered and the second half was played with a running clock.

Chimacum’s offense picked up in the second half as Coupeville sprinkled in a heavy dose of substitutes.

The two teams traded punts to start, then the rout began. The Wolves marched 50 yards and scored on a one-yard quarterback sneak by Joel Walstad with 5:37 left in the quarter. Walstad’s point-after kick was blocked.

Coupeville then recovered a Cowboy fumble, which began a sequence where the Wolves would score 21 points in two minutes and 14 seconds.

Set up by a 43-yard Wiley Hesselgrave run, Walstad scored again from the 1-yard line. The PAT pass failed, and it was 12-0.

The Wolves recovered an onside kick and began at the Chimacum 33. On the first play, Walstad passed to Bayne for a touchdown, and Walstad followed the TD by throwing to Ryan Griggs for a two-point conversion.

Chimacum, again, lost a fumble. This time Bayne went 31 yards on the first play, and two plays later, scored from the 5. Walstad kicked his first of four straight PAT’s to made it 27-0.

After a Cowboy punt, C.J. Smith made a nice grab on a 37-yard pass from Walstad that put the ball at the 1. Bayne scored from there.

Chimacum went backward on its next possession, thanks to two Coupeville sacks. After the punt, Hesselgrave ran for 18 yards and Walstad hit Smith with a 20-yard scoring strike. Walstad’s PAT kick made it 41-0 at the break.

The Cowboys finally scored with just under three minutes left in the third quarter. It took the Wolves only two minutes to counter when Bayne scored from 35 yards out.

Chimacum broke off a 44-yard touchdown run early in the fourth quarter. Coupeville committed turnovers on its final two possessions, and the Cowboys used a short field to score with 4:18 left in the game.

Coupeville piled up 312 rushing yards as Bayne, Hesselgrave and Lathom Kelley all averaged over 10 yards per carry. Bayne led the way with 172 yards on 13 carries; Hesselgrave had 94 yards on seven carries; and Kelley 47 on four.

Walstad hit six of 11 passes for 128 yards with one interception and two touchdowns.

Bayne caught three passes for 57 yards, and Smith grabbed two for 57.

Bayne topped his typical all-around solid game by leading the Wolves on defense with 10 tackles and a fumble recovery. Matt Shank had nine tackles (eight solo), Kelley eight (seven solo) and Aaron Wright seven. Isaac Vargas recovered a fumble.

“It was a great win,” coach Tony Maggio said. “It was nice to get the young guys some time. A great effort.”

Next up is Port Townsend, the preseason favorite to win the 1A division of the Olympic League. The Redhawks (2-1) opened league play with a 22-9 win over Klahowya.

“Port Townsend is good,” Maggio said. “We will show up and play hard.”

Port Townsend will visit Coupeville (2-1) at 5:30 p.m. Friday, Sept. 26, as the Wolves wrap up a streak of four straight home games.