January | 2013 | Coupeville Sports

Archive for January, 2013

Emily Coulter is a “made” woman!!

Posted in Girls Basketball on January 11, 2013| Leave a Comment »

Emily Coulter prepares to let fly with the free-throw that would result in her first point as a Wolf basketball player. (Robert Bishop photos)

Success!!

“These are the moments I live for as a coach!”

In the middle of a 55-30 loss to visiting Cedarcrest Friday night in which her team faced a bit of a stacked deck and unraveled a bit in the second half, Coupeville High School girls’ JV coach Amy King still was able to find some bright moments.

None more so than a sequence of events late in the second quarter in which freshman Emily Coulter fought off three girls to snare an offensive rebound and then went right back at the hoop and was rewarded with a pair of free-throws.

One of a handful of Wolves with little to no basketball experience prior to this season, Coulter has earned time on the floor with hustle and scrappiness. When she drained one of the two shots from the charity stripe, it was her first ever point scored as a Wolf hoops player, a nice memento for a player who never stops coming.

The never stop coming attitude is perhaps best typified by two Coupeville players — sophomores Kacie Kiel and Madeline Strasburg. Back on the floor after missing several games with a knee injury, Strasburg pumped in a team-high 10 points while Kiel popped for nine.

Facing a six-player Red Wolf JV squad that heavily utilized swing players (younger players who see both JV and varsity time), Coupeville stayed close when its lone swing player, Strasburg, was on the court.

Without her ripping balls away from Cedarcrest players and rampaging through the paint, the Wolves struggled to get a consistent offensive flow going.

The five-foot-seven Kiel did what she could, converting a breakaway bucket in the first quarter, draining a pair of jumpers and triggering several plays after first rising up and snatching balls away from Cedarcrest’s six-foot-one center. With Wynter Thorne hitting a pair of buckets to back up Kiel, Coupeville hit the locker room down by eight.

Strasburg immediately opened the second half with a steal and a bucket to cut the lead to six. Then, just as quickly, the game start to slip away as Cedarcrest went on a 13-1 run punctuated by two three-point bombs.

Refusing to give in, however, the Wolves responded with their own 11-2 surge, sparked by Kiel banging home an offensive rebound, then snatching a carom off the glass at the defensive end and pushing the ball hard up-court, where she set Strasburg up for a quick pull-up jumper.

After Monica Vidoni put a rebound back up and in, McKenzie Bailey banked a three-pointer off the backboard, Strasburg hit another jumper and the lead was once again down to single digits with six minutes to play.

Unfortunately, then someone covered up Coupeville’s basket, as all of their shots, regardless of the angle, bounced off of the rim, allowing Cedarcrest to cruise home with a game-ending 16-2 rally.

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The spark is back (and other things to watch for tonight)!!

Posted in Girls Basketball on January 11, 2013| Leave a Comment »

Madeline Strasburg — the spark that lights the fire for the Wolves — is back. (Shelli Trumbull photo)

Mad Dog is back!

Now, I’m not sure whether Madeline Strasburg is even OK with that nickname, but since the Coupeville High School sophomore plays like a ferocious ball of fire on the basketball court, constantly nipping at the ball as she bats it away from foes, it kind of fits.

Plus, it would mean we could call her and teammate/best bud Hailey Hammer “Mad Dog and Hammer Time,” which would be the greatest title ever for a buddy cop show.

But anyway, we’re here to talk about the fact that Strasburg is expected back on the court tonight when big baddie Cedarcrest comes calling (JV tips at 5:15, varsity at 7). After missing several games with a knee/leg injury, the spark that lights a fire under the Wolves has been re-lit.

And Strasburg’s return isn’t the only storyline being played out tonight.

Sophomore post Monica Vidoni has reeled off back-to-back big offensive performances, dropping 22 at Granite Falls and 20 at home against King’s in JV games. The only Wolf, boy or girl, varsity or JV, to top the 20-point barrier twice this season (Ben Etzell popped for 21 in a varsity game against Granite Falls), she goes for three in a row tonight.

At the varsity level, there’s also the revenge factor.

The first time these two schools met was way back on Dec. 7 and Coupeville played a then unbeaten Cedarcrest squad virtually even in the first half. Down just 25-17 at the half, the Wolves then hit a cold shooting streak in the second half, however, and were sent home on the wrong end of a 62-24 score.

Coming off a game when it stared down powerful King’s and pushed the Knights to the very end, Coupeville will look to carry over its strong play and pull off the upset of the season.

The Red Wolves come to town at 11-2 overall, 6-1 in Cascade Conference play, with their only league loss coming to Archbishop Thomas Murphy (7-0). Coupeville is 5-7 overall and fourth in the eight-team league at 3-4.

But, I don’t know if you heard … Mad Dog is back. Now anything is possible.

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The Man comes around … again!!

Posted in Ranting and Raving on January 11, 2013| 2 Comments »

They call me Mr. Graves!!

The Man (left), back in the days of the ‘stache.

Well sweet son of a goat-lickin’ whore, what am I supposed to do now?

Since I launched this web site, I have taken great delight in being snarky about the Whidbey Island newspapers as they languish in captivity, held prisoner by Canadian Corporate Overlords who sit in Moosejaw eatin’ gold-plated truffles and merrily erasing three years of my bylines and not givin’ a crap.

And today?

Today I still feel the same way. Mostly.

I am still not Vincent Nattress and I still want my bylines back. I still believe I am doing a better job covering Central Whidbey sports than all three papers combined.

I am faster. My coverage goes deeper. I not only drink your milkshake — your glass was drained empty four months back.

I am still irrationally, sanctimoniously ticked that the Examiner, the last independent, truly local paper, was sold to a media Godzilla to just be another cog in a 250-paper portfolio.

But today, the Canadian Corporate Overlords went and hired Keven R. Graves, one of my mentors, to return to Whidbey and run the News-Times, Examiner and Record as Publisher.

This is a giant of a man. A man who shot me in the head with rubber bands in the News-Times newsroom until I couldn’t feel my forehead. A man who pulled my not-going-to-college butt through the frequent fires I lit as I explored professional journalism as a slack-jawed yokel.

The man who founded the Examiner and let me write a weekly video column for 15 years.

The man, who, with former News-Times editor Fred Obee and photographer/EMT/rumored swimsuit model Geoff Newton, forms a part of the holy trio of men who represent what a newspaperman is supposed to be.

How can I be snarky to him?

Frankly, it was easier, much easier, to chafe Kasia Pierzga all these years, first at the Examiner, then in the months since I threw a hissy fit and took my words to a new location.

Kasia is a true professional and she put up with way too much whining, bitching, and assorted David-being-an-idiot antics over the years. And it’s not that I don’t respect her, because I do, and I wish her well in her new job.

But Kev, Kevvy, the Kevster, Mr. Graves, was and is, one of my idols.

As an 18-year old freelancer who somehow became a 21-year old sports editor of a twice-weekly paper — back when that paper still mattered (ooh, rib shot!) — Keven was larger-than-life to me. Easy to approach, a fountain of info and a man deeply committed to the belief that newspapers were more than just ink and paper, he presented, without trying too hard, an image of the writer I wanted to be.

Of course, along the way, I learned to be a royal pain in the ass to editors, the guy who chafed editorial but they put up with because I never, ever missed a deadline. I left the News-Times and came back and then left again.

I have never trod the straight journalism path that Keven and Kasia have. I have opted more for the Hunter S. Thompson route, minus most of the notoriety, drugs and alcohol and all the money.

It is what is.

But I like what I’m doing right now, publishing at 2 AM and writing features about the kids who never see their names in the Canadian-funded papers and never again having an argument over whether I can use the word stud.

Underneath it all, I still firmly believe I am at war with the Canucks and their filthy money. They need to give us our papers back and return to Manitoba or Saskatchewan or wherever their home is (I did not do well at geography…) and I intend to keep kicking their fannies.

But, with all my snarkiness, it has never been personal (though I’m sure some people read it that way) against Kasia, or Jim Waller (my high school journalism teacher, for crying out loud! I don’t have a bad word to say about the man!) or the other people who write for the Whidbey papers.

It’s a fine line, I realize. One I crash over every day.

And now The Man returns and how can I be snarky to one of my idols?

Oh, I’ll find a way, I’m sure. He wouldn’t expect anything less.

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Why is that dude reading a book?!?!

Posted in Cheer, Fashionable Fans on January 10, 2013| Leave a Comment »

“He’s right behind me, isn’t he?”

“He is … don’t look!!”

“Can anyone see what he’s reading!?!?”

“I bet it’s Fifty Shades of Grey!!!”

(Rim shot…)

“Where are our real fans?!?!”

“You mean us?”

“YOU!!!”

“Yep! Fifty Shades of Grey … told ya!”

So, I’m looking through pictures Robert Bishop shot at Tuesday’s epic Coupeville vs. King’s girls’ basketball rumble, and I notice something odd.

During halftime, as the Wolf cheer squad performs their routine, there is a gentlemen in the visitors section who … is … reading a book!!

And he keeps on reading, throughout the entire show, right behind Iris Ryckaert.

The nerve!

I will have you know at least one Wolf cheerleader hauled herself off her death bed to be there and take part that night. Probably more, with all the crud running around as we head through the winter flu and cold season.

But there you are, head buried in a book.

Good thing you’re from King’s and not Coupeville, or we’d have to call you out by name.

P.S. — The photos of Hunter Hammer are by Sarah E. Roy, who I have never met. Hopefully, if she sees this, she will understand this town’s obsession with the one true Page Hit King and its need to see as many photos of him as possible and not contact her lawyers.

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Big family, big success for Samantha Martin!!

Posted in Girls Basketball, Volleyball on January 10, 2013| Leave a Comment »

Samantha Martin (center) and two of her sisters, Holly (left) and Olivia, catch a wave.

Martin (22) and teammates listen as Wolf coach Amy King discusses strategy. (Robert Bishop photo)

Samantha Martin has a large, loving supporting cast.

There are the five sisters and two brothers from her two families, just to start. Then there are the friends, especially fellow basketball players Makana Stone, Rhiannon Ellsworth and Kacie Kiel, who have helped the Coupeville High School freshman navigate her first year in high school, and her first taste of hard court action.

“My mom, dad and step parents have influenced me greatly and helped me achieve my goals in any way they can possible,” Martin said. “I appreciate them greatly for carting me around with my busy schedule.”

Five of her siblings are younger than she is, which means Martin also spends a fair amount of time helping her parents with their care. The opportunity has provided her with a different outlook than many her age.

“Olivia, my 18-month old sister, really trains me to be patient and stay positive,” Martin said. “I love taking care of my five younger siblings and bonding with my eighth grade sister, Holly Mathusek, who I am very very close to.”

Martin had never played organized basketball before, but picked up the sport at the urging of Ellsworth and Kiel, her teammates during the volleyball season.

“I never thought I would love it so much,” Martin said. “I love how aggressive basketball can be; I love the physical endurance needed for the sport and, of course, I love my team!

“During volleyball Kacie and Rhiannon asked me if I was playing. My answer at first was no, but both girls said I should go out for it,” she added. “They said that freshman year was the time to get the awkward out, that it was the perfect time to go out for a new sport, so I did.”

On the court, Martin brings a ton of hustle to the Wolf JV hoops squad and has become a favorite of coaches, teammates and fans. She banked in a three-point bomb on her way to a five-point performance at home against South Whidbey, a moment Wolf coach Amy King hailed as one of the highlights of the season.

Martin, who plays on the wing and helps carry the load as a ball-handler and press-breaker, plays the game full-tilt. That’s both a strength, and, at times, a bit of a drawback.

“My strengths as a basketball player are my speed, defense and my overall drive,” Martin said. “I need to work on being calm and focused on the court. My train of thought tends to get blurred with the rush of adrenaline of being on the court.

“I also need to practice a little more on offense,” she added. “I want to get more points this season, as well as become a stronger ball handler and a leader. I also want us to continue winning.”

Someone who loves art, family and culture, Martin can also appreciate the less serious side of life, as well.

“My favorite movie is “21 Jump Street,” because, honestly, who doesn’t love a cheesy movie for a great laugh?” she asked. “I love ’80s music, because there is more depth in the music back then compared to music nowadays.”

When spring arrives, Martin will be outdoors, though she is still weighing whether she will pick up a tennis racket or whether she will follow Stone and turn out for track.

Regardless of which sport she chooses, she will have friends around her to help her and cheer for her, something she returns to them in equal measure.

“Makana is one of my very best friends and she has helped me always stay strong and positive and she always keeps me laughing,” Martin said. “The same goes for Rhiannon and Kacie.

“Rhiannon has been the most inspirational this year, though,” she added. “I love all of the other seniors on my team, but me and Rhiannon really bonded over volleyball and she has guided me through my freshman year so far.”

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