The South Whidbey football team had high hopes going into Friday’s game at Coupeville.

Instead, the injury-plagued Falcons fell to the Wolves 27-8.

South Whidbey is 2-2 in the Cascade Conference, 3-3 overall for the season.

Against Coupeville, South Whidbey had a solid game plan featuring cutbacks, sweeps, option plays and maybe a little razzle-dazzle from quarterback Danny Parra.

But on the second defensive play, the football gods frowned and Parra suffered an injury to his inner knee.

“I ran into their guy and we both just stopped,” Parra said. “I could feel my knee turn in and knew I had a problem.”

On the next series — with backup Kyle Hoch out — freshman Hunter Rawls stepped in.

“Hunter was nervous,” Falcon center James Jones recalled. “He threw a nice one to Rob Boenish, though.”

Parra returned, but his lateral movement was severely curtailed — no wide-outs, sweeps or options — and he couldn’t play on defense.

When South Whidbey defensive coordinator Damian Greene realized his third, second and best tacklers were in trouble, he knew it would be an uphill battle.

“Danny couldn’t play defense, Kyle was gone and James wasn’t in top form with a sore ankle,” Greene said.

“Levi (Sawyers) and Trapper (Rawls) stepped it up, but we didn’t do a good job overcoming all the adversities.”

Sawyers led with six tackles, Rawls had five, plus a quarterback sack, a forced fumble and a fumble recovery. Jones made four tackles and had a fumble recovery.

Greene made note that the team never gave up.

“They were frustrated; they knew if all the pieces to the puzzle were in place, they could have won,” Greene said.

With 8:15 left in the first quarter, the Wolves rammed through the line for a touchdown. With the point after good, it was 7-0.

The Falcons couldn’t manage a first down and had to kick, but Coupeville was called for roughing the kicker.

Six minutes later, Parra handed off to Rob Boenish who ran one yard for his first touchdown. Then Rob Knight swept to the right for two while roughly 260 cheering South Whidbey fans celebrated an 8-7 ball game.

Following a fine midfield jersey tackle by fellow Falcon Justin Dunsmore, Jones picked up a fumble and rumbled to the Wolves’ 18-yard-line.

“It was an option play, their back dropped the ball and I was right there,” Jones said. “We practice scoop and score every week just in case. I really wanted to score, wanted it bad.”

As the second period got underway, Wolf QB James Smith made a fine fake and fullback Trevor Tucker scored. Coupeville led at the half, 15-8.

Then, with their backs to the wall at their own five-yard-line at the start of the second half, the Wolves engineered a straight-through-the-center attack that ground to a halt when Mike Pelzer fumbled and the Falcons took over. But after a series of penalties, South Whidbey couldn’t capitalize.

Coupeville’s Casey Larson scored on a 55-yard run, but no one on the Falcon bench was giving up.

“Come on, guys, time to be aggressive. Let’s go!” shouted sophomore Chandler Thompson.

For his last hurrah of the night, with fourth and inches to go, Parra picked up a first down on a quarterback sneak with 2:28 left in the third. But holding and illegal motion penalties brought them back.

Coupeville scored again in the fourth and put the game out of reach.

Boenish had eight carries for 47 yards for South Whidbey, Knight added 28 carries for 46 yards and Parra completed six passes for 19 yards.

“Coupeville had a great defensive scheme,” Falcon Coach Mark Hodson said.

“I was impressed. They were fast, aggressive and really took it to us. When Danny got hurt, they no longer had to worry about the option play; that threat was removed and they keyed in on both Robs,” he said.

Though he led on tackles, Sawyers was disappointed with not notching the victory. “Yeah, they were fast and tough and though I had a good defensive night, I’d rather have won,” he said.

Rawls agreed.

“We were a little shocked and depressed afterwards. We should have beaten them; we’re a better team and we know it. And we’ll show it on Friday,” Rawls said.

Coupeville is now 2-2 and 4-2 overall.

At 7 p.m. Friday, the Sultan Turks (1-3, 3-3 overall) visit Waterman Field.

“They have a pretty good quarterback, but overall they’re not as strong as last year,” Hodson said.

As he often does, Hodson will ascend atop the bleachers for the best view, staying in constant radio contact with his coaching staff. “He knows what he’s looking for,” Coach Greene said. “He uses that better offensively than anyone else.”

Jeff VanDerford can be reached at 221-5300 or sports@southwhidbeyrecord.com.