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Archive for March, 2014

Ally Roberts, she was born awesome. (John Fisken and Jennifer Eelkema-Roberts photos)

Ally Roberts, she was born awesome.

She is heir to a pretty impressive legacy.

Her grandfather (Sandy Roberts) was a legendary Coupeville High School coach.

Her dad (Jay Roberts), aunt (Sherry (Bonacci) Roberts) and uncle (Jon Roberts) were all premier athletes during their times as Wolves.

Her older sister (Madeline Roberts) is going to play softball on scholarship in college.

So it’s a good thing Ally Roberts is pretty dang awesome herself. Otherwise, she might not have much to talk about during family get-togethers.

But the CHS freshman, who celebrates her 15th birthday today, has already accomplished much in her short time as a Wolf.

Volleyball player, and sparker of the one-woman “Ally Rally.” Irrepressible cheerleader whose smile lights up the entire gym on its own. Both nice accomplishments.

But put her on a horse, and that’s where Ally really rules.

Her collection of ribbons and trophies is building at a staggering rate, and at the top of the pile is a state championship she claimed in intermediate trail riding at the Washington State Fair in September.

That event is no walk in the park, consisting of a rider taking their horse through a course that can include gate (open and close), bridge walk-throughs (cones or poles), jog- throughs (cones or poles), jog-overs (poles on the ground), back-throughs (L’s, U’s, serpentines), loping (circles, over poles) and sidepassing (i.e. to a mailbox).

What’s next for the pint-sized spark-plug? More ribbons, more trophies, more awesomeness, and then, probably total freakin’ world dominance.

So learn her name now, cause you’ll be saying it a lot over the next few years.

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Sean Donley and teammates held Cedarcrest scoreless for 60+ minutes Tuesday. (John Fisken photos)

Sean Donley and teammates held Cedarcrest scoreless for 60+ minutes Tuesday. (John Fisken photos)

nelson

CHS coach Kyle Nelson, together one last time with Uriel (left) and Oscar Liquidano.

Tuesdays are made for Zane Bundy.

The Coupeville High School sophomore and his Wolf boys’ soccer teammates have played twice this season — both time on Tuesdays — and both games have featured electrifying goals from Bundy.

This time around, he netted a score against 2A biggie Cedarcrest off of an assist from fellow sophomore Abraham Leyva. The duo are now tied for the early team lead with two goals apiece.

It wasn’t quite enough for a huge upset, however, as the visiting Red Wolves managed to scrape together a pair of late second-half goals and escape from The Rock with a 2-1 victory.

The loss dropped Coupeville to 1-1 overall, 0-1 in Cascade Conference play, heading into a big Island showdown against South Whidbey Friday.

That contest, the Wolves’ third straight home game, kicks off at Micky Clark Field at 6 PM.

Playing against Cedarcrest, the Wolves held on to a 1-0 lead past the 20th minute of the second half.

Josiah Campbell barely missed netting a second score for CHS. The persistent wind and a couple of questionable calls, including one on a Coupeville breakaway, hurt the Wolves.

Still, CHS coach Kyle Nelson came away pleased with much of what he saw.

“The boys played a great game,” Nelson said. “Could have come away with a win against a really good team.”

The Wolves lost two starters after the game, with a family move to Las Vegas taking away junior Oscar Liquidano and freshman Uriel Liquidano.

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Uriel (left) and Oscar Liquidano. (John Fisken photo)

Uriel (left) and Oscar Liquidano Tuesday night at their final game in a Coupeville uniform. (John Fisken photo)

Vegas 2, Coupeville 0.

A family move is taking two of Coupeville High School’s most-promising athletes away just two games into a new boys’ soccer season.

CHS junior Oscar Liquidano and his younger brother Uriel, a Wolf freshman, departed the team after Tuesday night’s home game against Cedarcrest.

The move will leave Coupeville down a football captain in the fall, when Oscar Liquidano was set to lead the Wolves along side Aaron Wright, Josh Bayne and Carson Risner.

“Devastating. I love that kid,” said CHS football coach Tony Maggio.

Both Liquidano brothers were three-sport athletes in the two years they lived in town, playing football, basketball and soccer.

While Uriel, aka “Woody,” had begun to make his presence felt at the high school level, his older brother was already an extremely popular part of Wolf Nation.

Big O, an easy-going dude, was famous for an incredible one-man cheer performance that rocked the gym at Mount Vernon Christian as a sophomore.

Arms waving wildly in the air, he had out-screamed the home cheering section by himself as the Wolf boys’ basketball team snapped a season-and-a-half losing streak.

His departure will leave an impact on his friends and teammates.

“You will be missed by all of Coupeville; you are a great teammate and a better friend,” said CHS senior soccer player Gunnar Langvold. “I will miss your joyful presence in school.

“I hope you have a good time where you will live, stay out of trouble and don’t change,” he added.

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Ian and Rawle Jefferds have given much to our community. Now we need to reach out and help their family.

  Ian and Rawle Jefferds have given much to our community. Now we need to reach out and help their family.

I hate mussels, but I have a great respect for Ian and Rawle Jefferds.

The brothers and co-owners of Penn Cove Shellfish loom large over our town, good men who have done much to make Coupeville a better place.

Every day, when I go down the Hill O’ Death in front of my house and plunge into Penn Cove, I am face-to-face with the mussel rafts they own and operate.

Their processing buildings sit up the hill from my house, and they could hit me with a well-thrown mussel, if they so chose.

Over the years, I have known both men and their families through my jobs — mainly from the many years at Videoville and Miriam’s Espresso — and I have stood next to Ian as he watched a derelict boat burn and threaten the very future of all that he and his family built.

While I will always bitch and moan about mussels and believe them to be the slugs of the sea, forever scarred by my time on the water working for a different, far less competent mussel harvesting company in my younger days, I embrace the Jefferds.

They are good people, they are our people.

And now they need our help.

Seth Jefferds, the middle brother in the family, is a volunteer firefighter in Oso, Washington. His life, like many others, has been devastated in the recent mudslide that decimated the area.

He has lost his wife and his home. His four-month-old granddaughter is among the missing.

Our help will not give him back his family, but it will give a good man hope.

It will show him we do not walk away and leave others to their pain. We help them, in any way we can, at any time we can, because we can. Because we should. Because there is no other way to live our lives.

We are Coupeville. If you are connected to one of us, you are connected to all of us.

Please visit:

http://www.gofundme.com/7s58tc

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Hunter Hammer, the biggest thing to happen to sports coverage on Whidbey ... ever.

Just a taste of Hunter Hammer. Bottom row, the early days with dad Mark (left) and mom Linda (right). Above, the modern day master at work.

It’s another busy day at Wolf Nation’s Birthday Center.

CHS junior golfer Christine Fields, a two-time state meet competitor, hits the big 1-7 today.

Also, highly-respected hoops guru Avis Mitchell, who has given the Wolves three basketball players in the last two years (sons Anthony Bergeron, Dante Mitchell and DeAndre Mitchell) celebrates her arrival on the planet.

But the fact remains, in terms of Coupeville High School sports, both are overshadowed by the six-foot-seven legend himself, the one true Page Hit King, the man, the myth … Hunter Hammer.

Many have come for his title, and a few have made some serious inroads — I’m looking at you, softball sensation McKayla “Photo Bomb Queen” Bailey.

But none have knocked him off his perch yet.

Hammer, whether rejecting shots by delusional basketball rivals who dared to drive into his paint or flinging shot puts into the great wide unknown, is now, always was, and will always be, a first-class athletic beast.

But what separates him from others is his love of the camera, his willingness to go that extra mile to deliver the kind of photos that bring me increased page hits.

Without his birth 21 years ago today, we probably wouldn’t be talking about coupevillesports.com now.

Cause, seriously, what reason would there be for us to exist if not to pay tribute to the king?

It is always Hammer Time around these parts, and no one has to tell us to stop to get us to honor him.

Hunter, you complete us. And now I need to go to another room, because I told myself I wouldn’t cry and…

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