PORT TOWNSEND — Coupeville played like it had a ferry to catch, which it did, as Port Townsend ran the visitors back to the ferry dock in a 61-12 pasting of the Whidbey Island-bound Wolves.
The contest was played in the late afternoon Friday at Memorial Field because of tidal cancellations on the Port Townsend-Coupeville ferry route. And it really wasn’t much of a contest as the Redhawks ran roughshod over their competition for the second straight week to improve to 3-0 in Nisqually-Olympic League play, 3-3 overall.
Port Townsend amassed nearly 500 rushing yards on offense, totaling 483 yards on the ground on 64 attempts as a team (7.5 yards per carry).
Defensively, the Redhawks were just as good at denying Coupeville yardage. Port Townsend allowed the Wolves to gain just 16 yards on 17 carries and limited a one-dimensional Coupeville passing attack to 121 yards — all to one receiver, Cameron Toomey-Stout.
Complete and utter devastation, basically.
“Our word tonight was dominate,” Redhawks (3-0, 3-3) coach Alex Heilig said. “That’s what we set out to do and what we wanted to do. We know this was a big game going forward for our playoff position and this is exactly what we wanted. I couldn’t be happier with our offensive line play, they set the tone for us.
“The offense is starting to get there, we still have a lot of work to do and a lot of room to grow.”
The Wolves won the opening coin toss, about the only victory on the day for Coupeville (1-2, 3-3), but Port Townsend quarterback Noa Apker-Montoya burned the Wolves quickly, speeding up the right sideline for a 50-yard touchdown on the game’s second play. Apker-Montoya would use the same option keeper play to perfection later in the half on a 23-yard TD scamper.
He finished with 154 yards rushing and three running TDs and also went 5 of 11 for 64 yards with touchdown passes of 12 yards to Jacob Boucher and a perfectly-placed back-shoulder throw to Nico Winegar for a 14-yard score. Apker-Montoya also threw an interception in the first half, but picked off Coupeville on the ensuing play for his fourth interception of the season and 17th of his short career.
Port Townsend led 21-6 after one quarter, with the other Redhawks’ touchdowns coming on a 7-yard run by Jacob Boucher and Boucher’s 12-yard TD reception.
The Redhawks leaned on sophomore running back Dylan Tracer all game long, and Tracer put up the best game he’s played so far, rushing 34 times for 218 yards and two touchdowns.
Tracer said he and Apker-Montoya have good chemistry, having played running back and quarterback together since their little league days.
“We’ve been in the same backfield since we were 7-years old,” Tracer said. “We have a pretty good idea of how to play together.”
Tracer credited his offensive line for sticking to their blocks and opening up holes in another impressive performance.
“They kept pushing for that extra half- second and that little bit of extra time really helps in giving us lanes to run and time for Noa to stay in the pocket,” he said.
Apker-Montoya and Tracer offer good balance in the running attack, with Apker-Montoya’s speed to the outside a strength, and Tracer’s ability to gain yardage after initial contact standing out. Tracer broke countless Coupeville tackles in the game while fighting for more yards. Boucher also offered some tough running in the first and third quarters, rolling up 53 yards on five carries, and Cole Crawford had 58 yards on six carries, including a late touchdown run from 11-yards out.
Port Townsend’s defense also came through with Apker-Montoya and Winegar intercepting passes and Robert Hammett, Jackson Foster and Kaiden Parcher causing trouble at the line of scrimmage.
The game was effectively over when Hammett came off the edge to sack Downes and force a fumble which Foster recovered and returned 20 yards late in the first half. Port Townsend then put together a 16-yard scoring drive in the final 25 seconds of the second quarter, capped off by a QB sneak TD by Apker-Montoya at the halftime buzzer for a 40-6 lead at the break.
“Our defense played outstanding, they didn’t give up any points,” Heilig said. Coupeville’s scores came on a fake punt in the first half and a kick return in the third quarter.
Tracer’s second TD, a 1-yard plunge, put the game into running clock mode with Port Townsend up 41 with 5:36 to go in the third quarter.
The Redhawks visit Klahowya (1-2, 1-5) at Silverdale Stadium on Friday at 7:15 p.m.
Port Townsend 61, Coupeville 12
C’ville 6 0 6 0 — 12
PT 21 19 14 7 — 61
First Quarter
PT —Apker-Montoya 50 run (Winegar kick)
PT — Boucher 7 run (Winegar kick)
PT —Boucher 12 pass from Apker-Montoya (Winegar kick)
C — Toomey-Stout 62 pass from Downes (kick missed)
Second Quarter
PT —Apker-Montoya 23 run (kick blocked)
PT —Tracer 4 run (kick missed)
PT —Apker-Montoya 1 run (Winegar kick good)
Third Quarter
PT — Tracer 1 run (Winegar kick)
PT — Winegar 14 pass from Apker-Montoya (Wingegar kick)
C — Hoagland 72 kick return (run failed)
Fourth Quarter
PT —Crawford 11 run (Winegar kick)
Individual Statistics
Rushing—C: Martin 6-17, Hilborn 7-6, Keilwitz 2-3, Downes 2-(-10). PT: Tracer 34-218, Apker-Montoya 15-154, Crawford 6-58, Boucher 5-53, Fontanges 4-5.
Passing—C: Downes 8-17-121, 2 INT, 1 TD; Houston 0-2-0. PT: Apker-Montoya 5-11-64, INT, 2 TD.
Receiving—C: Toomey-Stout 8-121. PT: Winegar 3-43, Boucher 1-12, Crawford 1-9.
