Coupeville Sports

   South Whidbey football, seen here getting its rear spanked by Coupeville’s Hunter Smith, is leaving the Cascade Conference. (John Fisken photo)

Coupeville’s old stomping grounds aren’t what they used to be.

The 1A/2A Cascade Conference is falling apart before our very eyes, and football inequality is at the heart of the matter.

First 2A Lakewood fled for the Northwest Conference after a failed move to combine two leagues for football, then five of the league’s remaining seven schools refused to play eventual 2A state champ Archbishop Thomas Murphy, AKA “The Best Team Money Could Buy This Side of Bellevue.”

Now, 1A Cedar Park Christian has hired former Bellevue coach Butch Goncharoff, ensuring the school will likely launch a recruiting war with fellow private school ATM (I mean “offer academic opportunities to underprivileged 250-pound linemen”).

Taking advantage of a swinging exit door, 1A South Whidbey has fled the scene.

Coupeville’s closest rival, which suffered badly during a win-less 2016 season that started with a 41-10 pounding by the Wolves, is breaking with its league for football, and will try and put together an independent schedule for next fall.

CHS Athletic Director Willie Smith confirmed the move does not affect South Whidbey’s annual Battle for the Bucket with Coupeville, set for Sept. 1 in Langley.

What it does mean is the Falcons, who will be on their third head coach in four seasons, will cobble together a schedule of non-conference games with 1A and 2B schools.

Not having residence in a league makes qualifying for the postseason harder, though not impossible, and will require some scrambling from South Whidbey’s AD, who won’t be able to automatically plug six of 10 games with league foes.

Coupeville went down a partially similar path several seasons ago, when their gridiron program was also hit hard by injuries, forcing them to play freshmen and sophomores against the seasoned, weight-room-living juniors and seniors employed at ATM and King’s.

The Wolves got permission to play a limited league schedule, facing only the smaller schools, as they rebuilt, but did not go totally rogue like the Falcons.

Of course, CHS followed that up by making a bigger change, jumping to be a founding member in the new 1A Olympic League in 2014.

While many of South Whidbey’s athletic programs are not in the same disarray that football is, I, for one, again raise the call — it’s time for the Falcons to fully get while the getting is good.

I am an idiot, and no one is going to listen to me, but I think there are many, many great reasons for South Whidbey to fully reunite with Coupeville and grow the Olympic League to a five-school joint.

Pop over and read my thoughts at https://coupevillesports.com/2016/09/27/falcons-time-to-fly-home/ before you outright dismiss me.

It’s time, Falcon Nation, it’s time. Come home.