Drew Chan and parents Chris and Beverly Chan. (John Fisken photos)
Caleb Valko and parents Jason and Jacque LaRue.
A freshman almost stole the show on Senior Night.
On a night when it pushed the number one team in the Cascade Conference hard until the end, on a night when it came within two fouls of finishing the game with just three players on the court, the Coupeville High School boys’ basketball squad went down swinging hard Friday.
And right in there making his impact felt was 9th grader Wiley Hesselgrave, who scored his first point as a varsity player and liked it so much he went back for five more.
A late run, after three Wolves had fouled out, two others found themselves saddled with four fouls apiece and the refs were handing out technical fouls like candy, made the final score look worse than it was. If you simply read the box score and see that visiting King’s topped the Wolves 66-36, you figure it was one kind of game.
You would be wrong, however.
The Wolves may have entered the game at 1-18, while the Knights were atop the league standings, but Coupeville came to play, despite opening the game missing two of their top three scorers (Aaron Trumbull and Ben Etzell) due to injury.
An early 5-2 spurt, sparked by Nick Streubel rumbling through the paint for a bucket and topped by Morgan Payne’s driving one-handed scoop shot, in which he split three defenders, kept things close in the first quarter.
Then, when King’s explosive speed threatened to blow things open midway through the second quarter, as the Knights built a 22-point margin, Hesselgrave stepped up. Three free-throws from the frosh, two from Aaron Curtin and a bucket off a dandy move by Carson Risner in the paint gave the Wolves a 7-0 run.
Coupeville picked right back up after the halftime buzzer, as senior Caleb Valko threw down back-to-back hard-earned buckets while under considerable duress. Back within 14 and surging, the Wolves had King’s a bit flustered, but then the refs rushed to the aid of the Knights.
Valko fouled out in the third, Streubel and Payne went in the fourth, Curtin and Risner finished the game with four fouls apiece and the refs gave the host Wolves two technical fouls — one for a disputed score book issue and one for a brief tussle where both players momentarily shoved each other, yet only the Wolf player was whistled.
By then, King’s was raining down three pointers from all sides, as they padded their lead to look nice in the big city papers.
Before he fouled out, Streubel tossed in 10 to pace Coupeville, while Curtin popped for seven and Hesselgrave swished six. Valko poured in five and Payne and Risner each dropped in four.
For Coupeville, which now heads to Lynden Christian Tuesday night to open the double-elimination district playoffs, the post-game moments offered a chance for fans and fellow students to honor Valko and fellow senior Drew Chan, many, many cupcakes to be eaten by all, and one final awe-inspiring sight.
That image was of Streubel, at 6-foot-4, hoisting CHS assistant coach Dustin Van Velkinburgh on his shoulders, while Coach V held his own tiny son above his shoulders, allowing the future Wolf to drop the ball through the bucket to an explosion of cheers from players and the last of the stragglers in the now semi-dark gym.
Then it was time to grab the last of the cupcakes and beat a hasty exit.
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