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Archive for the ‘Baseball’ Category

50 shades of Ben Etzell’s eye (including some grey)!!

Posted in Baseball, Boys Basketball, Boys Tennis on December 18, 2012| Leave a Comment »

Ben Etzell, gladiator.

Ben Etzell, gladiator. (Shelli Trumbull photos)

Etyzell risks life and limb further by attempting to chest-bump Nick "Freight Train" Streubel during player introductions.

Etzell risks life and limb further by attempting to chest-bump Nick “Freight Train” Streubel (50) during player introductions.

Few athletes sacrifice their body like Ben Etzell.

During the boys’ tennis season, while wearing shorts and NO PADS, he laid out not once, but twice, on a CEMENT court, ripping up his thigh something dandy and causing Wolf coach Ken Stange to scream like a little girl who had just been given a pony.

Now, midway through basketball season, he’s sporting a swollen, discolored eye after he used said eyeball to play defense against another player’s elbow.

The elbow won.

Ben Etzell, Wolf Nation hails your sacrifice. And we kind of hope you’re still standing when baseball season rolls around.

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Mr. Hustle turns hard work into big success!!

Posted in Baseball, Boys Basketball, Cross Country, Football, Where are they now? on November 28, 2012| Leave a Comment »

Jon and Sherry Roberts

The future Homecoming King.

Jon Roberts is a hustler. Pure and simple.

Coupeville High School’s Male Athlete of the Year 1983-1984 ran his rear off on the basketball court during his time as a Wolf (he also won basketball’s Mr. Hustle award that year and Homecoming King), and he continues to do more in the average day than many of us do in a week.

A husband (to acclaimed former Wolf athlete Sherry (Bonacci) Roberts), a father, owner of Cascade Custom Homes and Design, a veteran on-call fire fighter/EMT and the chair of the Ebey’s Landing National Historic Reserve Trust Board, he’s a busy guy.

And one who continues to give back quite a bit to the Island which helped raise him and make him the man he is today.

During his days at CHS, Roberts was that rare mix — a true scholar athlete. He lettered three years in baseball, two in basketball and one apiece in football and cross country (“I ran cross country my freshman year and hated running so much I never did it again”), while finishing in the top eight academically in his graduating class — and still found time to be a volunteer firefighter along with brother Jay.

Brought to the diamond early by dad Sandy Roberts, a former CHS athlete who became a coach in later days, Jon embraced the game.

“Out of all my sports, my love was baseball,” Roberts said. “My dad had me start little league in fourth grade, where I began playing catcher and left field, and I continued to do so until the end of high school.”

He also made a sizable impact on the hard court, where Cec Stuurmans would run the Wolves hard in practice, but never quite get the best of Roberts.

“Coach Stuurmans would make us run lines or “gassers.” We would run dozens of sets in a practice,” Roberts said. “He made us do this because we screwed a lot of stuff up and it was the penalty. It was also a great way to improve our cardio and quickness off the ball. PROUDLY, I was always the first one to finish.”

“I hope that if people can remember back that far — I can’t — they remember me as a hustler who was dedicated to work hard and never give up,” he added. “I was not a gifted athlete. I made my mark by working very hard.”

Coaches like Stuurmans and his own father made a lasting impression on a young man coming of age.

“Having played sports since I can remember how to swing a bat or shoot a hoop, I had many coaches who made great impacts on my life,” Roberts said. “My dad was one of them, coaching every sport I participated in until I entered high school. Coach Prosser was a great baseball coach who focused on technique. Coaches O’Hara and McKinley stressed always giving it your all and to be good sports.

“On top of all this, being around the older players like Emerson Faris, Keith Jameson and Troy Hurlburt — who were all spectacular athletes — instilled my wish to be the best,” he added.

Many of the traits he learned as an athlete have continued to shape him, both as he moved on to Washington State University — where he earned a BA in Architecture — and in later life, as he has carved out a living for his family while designing and building custom homes and remodels with an emphasis on historic restoration.

“Always put your best work forward first; hard work and perseverance WILL pay off; if you’re driven, you WILL succeed,” Roberts checked off. “It helps to be nice to others and play fair, too.”

As his own children grow up and begin to pick up sports for themselves, he finds himself on the other side of the field, and he’s fine with that. He’s coached basketball, t-ball and soccer, while remaining content to allow his children to find what they want to play.

“I have tried to push my kids and will continue to do so in a sport they have a true passion and desire to be the best in,” Roberts said. “It’s difficult at such a young age to push a kid to participate just because you “see” a potential. But as a parent you have to help guide.

“I see my kids finding one they love and play year after year and one or two just for fun.”What ever they pick I will support 100%,” he added. “I see myself continuing to coach as long as I am able and the kids want me to. Sort of weird, but in a way I’m following in my dad’s footsteps.”

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Future of Wolf basketball is a Wynn-ing one!!

Posted in Baseball, Boys Basketball, Football, Middle School on November 12, 2012| Leave a Comment »

Gabe Wynn (right) with his brother, Sam, and sister Katelyn.

Anthony Smith has seen the future, and he likes it.

The Coupeville High School boys’ basketball coach caught part of a recent Coupeville Middle School 8th grade hoops game and watched the Wolves’ one-two combo of Gabe Wynn and Grey Rische pound on their rivals. And, while he won’t be able to use either player on his squad this season, he’s looking forward to what they might offer the next four years.

“Good looking players. Looking forward to working with both of the big guys,” Smith said.

For now, the pair are playing for Bob Martin, but Wynn, who picked up the round-ball when he was seven, already has thoughts on what he would like to accomplish one day.

“One of my goals for the high school level is to be able to dunk and be the best I can be,” Wynn said.

Wynn generally operates out of either the post or center positions, and is actually a three-sport threat, also playing football and baseball. It’s hoops that remains his passion, though.

“Basketball is my favorite,” Wynn said. “I say that because the feeling of scoring those points and knowing you’re helping your team to victory or making that one great pass.

“I enjoy working together as a team and scoring the points together,” he added. “I think one thing I’m good at is court presence — like being aware of where my teammates are and the defensive players are.”

His goals for the rest of the season (the Wolves play at Langley Tuesday, Nov. 13, their third of eight games) include helping his team to its first victory and holding his composure under fire.

“I need to work on not playing with too much anger, because sometimes I can’t help myself, then I foul,” Wynn said. “But I also want to go harder than I thought I could.”

A fan of video games, dub step and rap, Wynn singles out math at his favorite subject while generally enjoying all of his classes, saying “I like all my teachers. They are all funny and make learning a blast.”

He draws much of his inspiration, on and off the hard court, from his family.

“My parents are always there to support me along the way and are at almost every game,” Wynn said. “One person who has helped me be the person I am today is my grandpa. Sadly he passed away, but he helped push me in basketball and taught me many life lessons.”

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Edwards makes immediate impact as new kid on the block!!

Posted in Baseball, Football on November 12, 2012| Leave a Comment »

Forget about Falcon blue. Joey Edwards (50) looks better in Wolf red. (Melissa Zimmerman-Losey photo)

Why be a Falcon when you can be a Wolf?

That’s the story of Coupeville High School junior football lineman Joey Edwards, who left behind South Whidbey and joined the forces of good at just the right time, as the Wolves snapped a six-year drought and reclaimed The Bucket by defeating their dastardly Langley rivals 18-13 this season.

“The highlight for me as a player is the same as what I think the highlight is for the team and that would be the South Whidbey game that we won,” Edwards said. “There was no greater feeling than coming to Coupeville and going to battle with my new family against my old family.

“The thing I enjoy the most about football would have to be bonding with the team,” he added. “Being part of Coupeville has been one of the best football experiences I have had.”

A BMX racer and hard-core baseball player (another bonus for the Wolves), Edwards first stepped on the gridiron in the third grade. As he has progressed, the game has taken on more value for him.

“I started mostly because it was just something fun to do back then and it has grown into more of a necessity and a passion then just a way to stay in shape and be with friends,” Edwards said.

Like many Wolf players, he will spend the off-season getting ready for the next campaign. Commitment in the weight room equals excellence on the field.

“The one area I know I would like to work on the most before the next season is making sure I make it in to the weight room and stay in shape so that come next year I’m as prepared as possible and ready to get to work,” Edwards said. “My goals for next year would be beating South Whidbey again and keeping The Bucket for another year.

“I’d like to make sure that next years departing seniors — which I will be a part of — I’d like to make sure we end the season with a homecoming win and a senior night win,” he added.

Edwards, who lists science as his favorite class (“I’m not sure why, but it’s just something about science that appeals to me”), is not sure about his post-high school destination, but know he has time to make the decision.

“I am definitely keeping an open mind. There is the choice of the military, which is something I have been strongly thinking about,” Edwards said. “But, as for any sure plans that I have set in stone, there are none. I feel like keeping an open mind is my best option right now.”

A car buff, he often works on automobiles with his dad and grandfather, both of whom have helped shape him into the young man he is today.

“I would have to say my dad is one of the people who has the biggest impact on me,” Edwards said. “He has always told me to make sure that I give 110% in whatever I do, whether it be football, baseball, school, work or any other sort of activity.

“He told me that as long as I give effort and work hard, good things will come and it’s true, good things have come from my hard work.”

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A successful Engle in Coupeville? I am shocked. Shocked, I say!!

Posted in Baseball, Boys Basketball, Football, Track, Where are they now?, tagged , , , , , on November 2, 2012| Leave a Comment »

Dalton (left) and Mike Engle, two generations of hard-hitting Wolf linebackers.

#58 in your program and #1 in your hearts.

There are some who question the emphasis placed on sports in high school.

To those people, I offer the case of Mike Engle.

Father of three, career firefighter, rock in the community he grew up in, and a kid who became a success because of the joy and positive rewards sports offered him.

“I think the best memories were my friends and sports. Sports were the one thing I put my whole heart and soul into,” Engle said. “It was the one thing I felt I was good at, and it was the one thing that gave me confidence, made me feel like I was as good as everyone else somehow.

“That’s one of the reasons I believe sports are so important for kids,” he added. “Especially the ones that struggle with academics like I did.”

The Coupeville High School Class of 1982 grad, the Athlete of the Year his senior season, remains one of the standout Wolves of all time, even 30 years after graduation.

He lettered three years in football (the only sophomore to do so), where he was a Second-Team All-Conference pick at linebacker two seasons, played basketball and baseball and went to state in track as a two-sport threat (shot put and discus).

At his graduation, he held CHS records in the shot put, discus and javelin.

Through it all, football was the sport nearest and dearest to his heart.

His senior season he had 60+ tackles through four games, before an injury cost him the rest of the season. Still, those four games were enough to net him Second-Team All-Conference, a sign opposing coaches recognized what a terror he was, even in limited duty.

“I loved the “zone” that you get into during the game,” Engle said. “Figuring out what the opposing coach was going to call, based on down and distance.

“The game against La Conner I had 17 or 18 tackles and a fumble recovery,” he added. “I loved being so focused that you didn’t hear the crowd or what quarter it was. I still get excited thinking about it.”

Living out his dreams on the gridiron gave Engle a chance to taste what life was like for the “big boys” who he had watched from afar as a kid.

“I remember when I was in junior high how cool the high schoolers seemed, i.e. the ‘jocks’,” Engle said. “There were a few (Bill Jarell, Keith Jameson) that were encouraging, which led me to believe I might have what it took to succeed.

“Other than that, I just remember my classmates/friends making it a fun year, even if we didn’t win a game,” he added.

Injuries cut short a football career at Wenatchee Valley College and Engle transitioned into teaching — getting a Bachelor of Science degree in physical education from Washington State University — before moving into full-time firefighting as a career.

Along the way, he helped to bring Coupeville and Oak Harbor together by marrying the former MaryAnn Fakkema, and the couple have had three children, daughters Erin and Miranda and middle son Dalton.

Seeing his own children take their parents athletic heritages and expand upon them has been one of the biggest blessings of his life.

Dalton followed his dad most closely, playing football with the same passion and in a “weird but cool” twist repeating his father’s twin selection as Homecoming King and Athlete of the Year as a senior.

“Watching our kids play has been awesome,” Engle said. “Of course, you always want your kid to have a lot of playing time so they can get better, but the best part is seeing the confidence increase and them get it.

“It’s hard to describe the emotion you feel when your kid makes a great play and contributes to the team,” he added. “We felt that keeping our kids active was part of being good parents, and it was a great way to spend quality time with our kids.”

If his children eclipse their dad one day, he’s fine with that. Just being remembered for his own accomplishments is enough.

“When Dalton was a freshman or sophomore, we were at a home game and I said I hope he ends up better than I was,” Engle said. “Dale Folkestad said ‘you were a hell of a linebacker, he’d do well to be as good as you were.’

“I guess that’s how I want to be remembered,” he added. “I think I just wanted to have earned any accolades. There were some good athletes at our school.”

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