That is an interesting theory. Having seen the wood chunks stuck in the valves would, however, tend to make that seem unlikely… UNLESS the chunks weren’t stuck in the valves until the valves were closed DURING disassembly. Note that I’ve added a seeming contradiction to my own statement acknowledging a possibility that the wood chips were, in fact, introduced by some varmint at some point during the disassembly process, like overnight after the techs had gone home after removing the induction system but before removing the head.
Even a 1% probability is a possibility. Whatever the truth is, it’s weird, so even a weird theory is viable.