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Archive for the ‘Boys Basketball’ Category

Bucket$ for Bennett!!

Posted in Boys Basketball, Fundraisers, tagged , , , , , on July 28, 2016| Leave a Comment »

Bennett Boyles (Photo courtesy Pat Kelley)

Bennett Boyles (Photo courtesy Pat Kelley)

rock

The rock outside CHS shows support for the town’s ailing hoops star.

They’re shooting for their teammate.

Adding a personal spin to the community’s ongoing efforts to help Bennett Boyles and his family, Coupeville Middle School basketball players will be scoring for two reasons this weekend.

The Wolves are sending two squads to Encumclaw for a tourney, and while there, every basket they score will go to help Boyles, their missing teammate.

The 11-year-old is in Seattle, undergoing weeks of treatment for an inoperable tumor on his brain stem.

His mom, CHS grad Lucienne Rivera, quit her job to be with him, and people near and far are stepping up to help the family pay their considerable expenses.

Ebey Academy, where teachers had the joy of welcoming Bennett on a regular basis, has been at the forefront of fundraising operations.

You can help them at: https://gobennett.givingfuel.com/go-bennett

The Wolves hoops squads, coached by Nate Barton and Pat Kelley, will be eight-men strong this weekend.

Matthew Kelley, Alex Jimenez, Jake Mitten, Connor Barton, Danny Barajas, Caleb Meyer, Logan Martin and Miles Davidson will play in a 3 v 3 tourney.

Each player is asking fans to pledge money for baskets scored, with all proceeds going to their missing brother.

The team’s goal is to raise $500 this weekend for Boyles.

“We will take Enumclaw by storm,” Pat Kelley said. “We will play fair but HARD.

“The teams we leave in our wake will fear us and know that our effort and dedication is based on the LOVE we have for Bennett and his family!”

Total baskets from the tourney will be published here on Coupeville Sports after play is done Sunday.

Pledges can either be given to players or dropped off at Ebey Academy (140 SE Terry Road in Coupeville, across from the high school).

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South Whidbey still cries (5+ years later)!!

Posted in Boys Basketball, tagged , , , , , on July 11, 2016| Leave a Comment »

Hunter Hammer (left) and Dalton Engle played key roles in the epic win.

Hunter Hammer (left) and Dalton Engle played key roles in the epic win.

It is, arguably, the greatest moment in a long and loud rivalry.

Coupeville and South Whidbey have warred for decades, and being fairly similar in size, are much more natural rivals with each other than with Oak Harbor.

Over the years the Falcons have won their share and the Wolves their share, but one CHS victory stands the tallest.

Jan. 25, 2011 the two schools clashed in a boys’ basketball game in Langley that features the wildest finish ever seen in the long-running rivalry.

South Whidbey was camped atop the Cascade Conference entering the game, riding a 10-game winning streak, only to see Coupeville pull off a rally for the history books.

Ian Smith scored the game’s final eight points, including dropping a trey at the buzzer, to lift the Wolves to a stunning 44-42 win that five-plus years later just grows in epicness.

Now, thanks to my new-found ability to embed video, you can enjoy the moment over and over, courtesy Wolf mom Linda Hammer, who shot and downloaded the clip that still makes South Whidbey weep.

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Captain Cool leaves a lasting legacy!!

Posted in Baseball, Boys Basketball, Football, Happy birthday, tagged , , , , on July 2, 2016| Leave a Comment »

CJ Smith, a man for all seasons. (John Fisken, Shelli Trumbull and Sylvia Hurlburt photos)

   CJ Smith, a man for all seasons. (John Fisken, Shelli Trumbull, Charlotte Young and Sylvia Hurlburt photos)

Big things sometimes start quietly.

The first time I saw CJ Smith, he suddenly appeared, perched at the end of the Coupeville High School boys’ basketball bench one night, a couple of games into the 2013-2014 season.

Someone in the stands, a fellow player’s dad, said he had just transferred into the school, but no one knew much about him.

As the game went on, CJ (we didn’t even know his name that night) watched the court like a hawk, once in awhile murmuring a question or two to the guy next to him, then nodding, face impassive.

Little did we know at that moment, cloaked in stoic quietness, that we were seeing the birth of one of the best athletes to ever wear the red and black.

Later, we discovered he was a sophomore, and we wouldn’t see him in a game for close to two weeks, as he got up to speed on practices.

When he finally touched the court, wearing a Coupeville uniform for the first time, he didn’t come out screaming, or wildly waving.

He played calmly, coolly, under control, making sharp passes and even sharper cuts.

Captain Cool had arrived, and, for the next two-and-a-half years we got to witness a young man who handles his business as strongly as any Wolf I have witnessed.

CJ, who celebrates a birthday today and graduated from CHS last month, gave us two strong basketball seasons (he sat out his senior season to focus on schoolwork), two superb football campaigns and three dazzling baseball years.

Through it all, he was the picture of composure, a guy who didn’t seem to ever have a butterfly and never, ever flinched away from the big moment.

If he was nervous, if he had self-doubt, CJ hid it well from the fans.

When he was on the mound, whiffing hitters in great gobs, it was nearly impossible to tell if he was up 20-0 or trailing 1-0.

And that calmness, his sense of purpose, always seemed to settle his teammates down around him.

Which was especially helpful during his senior season, when most of his teammates were freshmen and sophomores.

Teaming with senior catcher Cole Payne and his brother, sophomore Hunter Smith, CJ led Coupeville to its first baseball league title in 25 years.

During that run there were many moments when the team could have fallen apart, but it didn’t, thanks in large part to its easygoing mound ace.

That serene spirit flows through CJ’s entire family.

Turns out we got a 5-for-1 deal, with CJ, Hunter and lil’ sis Scout all three-sport stars, while mom Charlotte and dad Chris are superb coaches.

As his prep career played out, Captain Cool was a rock for the Wolves, a talented athlete, but, more importantly, a quality dude through and through.

So happy birthday CJ, and thanks for letting us all be part of the ride for the last three years.

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Rally for Bennett!!

Posted in Boys Basketball, Fundraisers, tagged , , , , on June 27, 2016| Leave a Comment »

Bennett Boyles (Photo courtesy Konni Smith)

Bennett Boyles (Photo courtesy Konni Smith)

Bennett Boyles is one of the happiest kids in Coupeville.

A huge smile dotting his face every time you see him, Boyles was part of this year’s 6th grade SWISH boys’ basketball squad, where his enthusiasm served him well.

But Bennett has also been slowed by a battle with autoimmune encephalitis, one which has taken a bad turn in recent weeks.

Doctors have found inoperable tumors on his brain stem, and Boyles is scheduled for six weeks of radiation therapy at Children’s Hospital in Seattle.

It’s now that we, as a community, need to really rally to support this young man and his family, which is headed up by mom Lucienne Rivera.

She’s a former CHS grad herself, whose own sunny personality closely mirrors her son’s.

As the treatments are administered, she’ll be commuting back and forth extensively from Whidbey to Seattle.

Bennett’s teachers at the Ebey Academy are leading the charge to support the family, and have held several fundraisers.

They are currently seeking additional help, whether it be financial donations, gas cards, ferry passes, gift certificates for food or prayers for the family.

Get well cards and posters would also be greatly appreciated.

Items can be dropped off at Ebey Academy (140 SE Terry Road), right across from the high school.

To make financial donations, pop over to:

https://gobennett.givingfuel.com/go-bennett

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Just Jared? Just the best!!

Posted in Boys Basketball, Boys Tennis, Happy birthday, Track, tagged , , , , on June 26, 2016| Leave a Comment »

Jared Helmstadter drives to the hoop. (John Fisken photo)

Jared Helmstadter drives to the hoop. (John Fisken photo)

One more time. And why not?

Traditionally, if you’re an athlete, once you graduate from Coupeville High School, I stop running birthday stories for you here on the blog.

At that point, you’ve moved on, so it’s time to flip the spotlight onto the other 23,000 Wolves trying to elbow their way into the frame.

But, Jared Helmstadter, who celebrates a cake day today, only graduated a couple of weeks ago, and he’s one of the big success stories from our run here at Coupeville Sports, so we’re bending the rules.

Sometimes you need to do that for the great ones.

And Jared is, without a doubt, one of the biggies.

He first skipped into high school right after I kicked off Coupeville Sports in Aug. 2012, and, over the next four years, he was everywhere.

Even when I tried to change his last name to Helmstadler, with an L instead of a T, he never missed a beat.

The kid who shot into the world at week 26 (a modest two pounds at the time) grew up to be the only Wolf in the Class of 2016 to play a full 12 sports in his time at the school.

Four years of tennis, basketball and track later, he exited as arguably the best-liked, most-admired athlete in his class.

And I’m not saying that lightly.

His coaches adored him. His teammates raved about him.

Jared, much like classmate Makana Stone, transcended sports.

When he applied for the scholarships given out by local photographer John Fisken, one of the interview questions the paparazzi asked of each applicant was “If you don’t win, who do you want to see win?”

Every single applicant said the same name. Spoiler alert: it was Jared.

Helmstadter himself would admit he wasn’t the most talented athlete in his class, but he was justifiably proud that he put out as much effort, showed as much heart and cheered for each and every one of his teammates like no other.

When he talked about the best moments of his prep career, he always went to team moments, slices of time when he was part of something bigger than himself.

Through four years of covering Jared, I saw a young man who will not be beaten down by rough times, who will always get up and fight, who will always look for the best in everyone around him.

The guy is, was, and will always be, a true class act and it really was an honor to be a small part of telling the world about him.

Happy birthday, Mr. Helmstadter. May the best be yet to come.

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