Nick Streubel hangs out with family on Central Washington University football Senior Night. (Photos courtesy Nanette Streubel and Amanda Jones)
“I taught the boy everything he knows about football, just saying…”
Uncle Nick, the gentle gridiron giant.
“The Big Hurt” went out by delivering a … really big hurt.
Coupeville High School grad Nick Streubel celebrated Senior Night Saturday by leading his Central Washington University football team to a 72-17 win over Missouri’s Southwest Baptist University.
The non-conference rout was the fifth-straight win for the streaking Wildcats, who sit at 6-4 with one game left on the regular season schedule.
Central, which is 4-1 in the Great Northwest Athletic Conference, travels to Canada next Saturday, Nov. 16 to play Simon Fraser University (1-4, 1-8).
With a win, the Wildcats clinch half the GNAC title, which they will share with Western Oregon (5-1, 7-3).
The two teams split this season, with the Wolves coming out on top 36-26 in late September, before Central rebounded for a 42-41 overtime win in mid-October.
If Streubel and Co. win out and lay claim to their share of the title, it will be the third-straight year CWU has done so.
While he and his teammates are hopeful of landing a spot in the NCAA D-II playoffs, the former Wolf is nearing the end of what has been a rock-solid college career.
Thanks to two red-shirt seasons, one as a freshman, then a second due to a hand injury, Streubel spent six seasons in the Wildcat program.
A team captain and the face of CWU football this season, the anchor of the offensive line has already graduated but returned for one final go-round on the gridiron.
During his time as a ‘Cat, Streubel has been named to All-League and All-Region teams, while having ESPN announcers hype him as a guy worthy of a look from the NFL.
Way back when he was still a growing man mountain, and not yet the carved-from-granite physical specimen he has become, “The Big Hurt” was a three-sport standout at CHS.
Football, basketball, and track kept him busy, but his greatest moment came after a season-ending gridiron clash against Chimacum his junior year.
The stadium in Port Townsend had been used the night before the Wolves and Cowboys played, and the field was ripped up, mushy, and stinky.
After a game in the trenches, Streubel was given a rushing attempt as a reward for years of work, and he promptly carried at least seven screaming, sobbing Cowboys on his back, crashing forward for yardage, ending the play in the middle of a giant mud puddle.
The Wolves had to high-tail it to catch the last ferry out of town after the game, which gave no one a chance to clean up.
At the dock, Streubel, all 6-foot-3 and 300 pounds of him, coated from head to toe in mud, chased after his coaches, eventually snagging one and wrapping them in a grimy embrace.
So, basically, it’s great to see Nick do so well in college and all.
But, that said, I already witnessed him at his finest on that dock.
The man was a freakin’ legend at 17, and just keeps getting better with time.
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