The Chimacum Cowboys would rather be the hammer than the nail.
If they only could.
They finally were.
Chimacum claimed its first win in nearly two years Friday, beating Coupeville 14-9 on a touchdown toss from James Porter to Matthew Torres with 1.2 seconds left in the game.
The victory ended an 18-game losing streak for the Cowboys.
“At some point, you’ve got to get tired of being the nail,” head coach Mike Dowling said after Chimacum’s loss to Sequim to open this season.
Reminded of that line following Friday’s win, Dowling said, “You can tell, whether it’s employees or players, you can come up with all the clichés you want, if you don’t see all the results, it doesn’t mean anything.”
After three close calls this season — “We coulda, shoulda, woulda Forks, Coupeville and Klahowya,” Dowling said. — the Cowboys finally saw the result of all of sticking around through the many losses.
And now after one win, they’re in the postseason race.
“Which is crazy,” Dowling said.
In fact, if the season ended today, Chimacum would be advancing to the Class 1A West Central District playoffs.
The Olympic League 1A season isn’t over until this Friday, but the Cowboys (1-4, 1-6) are the favorites over Coupeville in the two-team battle for league’s third and final postseason berth.
Chimacum faces rival Port Townsend (5-0, 7-0) on Friday, while Coupeville (1-4, 1-6) has to play at second-place Klahowya (3-2, 4-3).
Obviously, if either Chimacum or Coupeville pulls off an upset, that team will advance to districts, where it will face the Nisqually League champion, which will probably be fifth-ranked and defending 1A state champion Cascade Christian, on Nov. 6 or 7.
If the Cowboys and Wolves have identical results this weekend — wins or losses — then Chimacum would claim the league’s third postseason berth by way of tiebreaker.
The first tiebreaker, head-to-head results, solves nothing for Chimacum and Coupeville.
But the second tiebreaker, point differential among the tied teams, breaks the tie. The Wolves beat the Cowboys by two points, 28-26, last month, but that gets trumped by Chimacum’s five-point win Friday.
By the way, as Olympic League 1A champion, Port Townsend will face the Nisqually League’s third-place team.
Who that is should be decided by this week’s game between Charles Wright and Bellevue Christian — though Vashon can move into consideration by shocking Cascade Christian.
Last year, Port Townsend beat Charles Wright the last week of the regular season and then lost to the Tarriers the following week in the postseason.
The Redhawks play at Charles Wright the final week of the regular season again this year, so they might have a repeat of the back-to-back meetings with the Tarriers. The district game would be in Port Townsend.
Port Townsend has already faced Bellevue Christian this season, earning one of its five shutouts in Week 2 with a 44-0 victory.
Here are two other things learned last week in North Olympic Peninsula high school football:
■ Neah Bay’s offense is on point.
Prior to Neah Bay’s 62-12 win over Lummi on Friday, Red Devils coach Tony McCaulley said that he hasn’t seen a drop off from last year’s Class 1B state championship team. And not for a lack of looking.
In fact, the offense is probably better than last season.
Reigning 1B Player of the Year Cole Svec is bigger and better. Sophomore quarterback Rwehabura Munyagi Jr. has improved his throwing and is a serious running threat this season. And Cameron Buzzell is more of a playmaker at receiver.
“He’s way better,” McCaulley said of Svec. “He’s about 20 pounds heavier, he’s stronger, yeah, he’s a better player.
“I think Rweha is, too, and I also think Cam is. All three of them are really better.”
On spot Neah Bay’s offense might not be quite as strong is at running back behind Svec, but Michael McGee flashed his potential wiht a 44-yard run in the fourth quarter Friday.
■ Port Townsend passes depth test.
Port Townsend has been jumping all over teams in the first quarter this season, so it’s questionable depth hasn’t really been put to the test.
On Friday, Klahowya played the Redhawks close for a half, scoring first and only trailing 14-6 at halftime.
Ultimately, Port Townsend pulled away in the second half en route to a 43-6 win.
As the Redhawks were pulling ahead in the third quarter, though, leading rusher Wesley Wheeler went down with a serious knee injury that will keep him sidelined for the remainder of the season, according to head coach Nick Snyder.
Wheeler finishes the season with 730 yards rushing with 17 touchdowns on 77 carries, an average of 9.5 yards per carry.
With Wheeler down, starting quarterback David Sua moved back to fullback — he was named Olympic League 1A Offensive MVP last year as a fullback — and inserted Berkley Hill at quarterback.
Sua ran for 131 yards on 11 carries in the game and scored two TDs.
Hill, a junior, completed both passes he attempted, including a touchdown to Jacob Ralls.
For the season, Hill is 7 of 10 for 141 yards and three TDs.
Snyder was unsure Saturday if the Redhawks would stick the changes made during Friday’s game going forward, but he liked what he saw.
“Berkley’s a great kid and he did such a tremendous job,” Snyder said.
“But Sua’s done such a good job at quarterback this year.
“I’ve got all the faith in the world in Berkley. He’s a little Doug Flutie out there. He just makes stuff happen. He just makes good decisions”
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“Three things learned in high school football” appears each week during the football season in the PDN.
Sports Editor Lee Horton can be reached at 360-417-3525 or at lhorton@peninsuladailynews.com.
