Coupeville Sports

Anthony Bergeron tastes the air up there in an off-season game. (Shelli Trumbull photo)

Less than three weeks until it gets serious.

Monday, Nov. 18 is the first official day for basketball practice and questions abound for the Coupeville High School boys’ and girls’ teams.

Can star shooter Gavin O’Keefe bounce back after suffering a broken foot for a second year in a row?

What impact will transfers like Tyree Booker, Matt Shank, Ramon Booker and others have?

Will Carson Risner be able to play after an injury during football season? Will Nick Streubel, the leading Wolf scorer from a year ago, play his senior season or sit out as he seeks a Division 1 football scholarship?

On the girls side, how much higher can already high-flying Makana Stone soar?

Fully healthy after a long comeback from injury, how much will Julia Myers sparkle along side Breeanna Messner, Amanda Fabrizi and Hailey Hammer?

What kind of impact can a promising freshman class full of back alley brawlers (which could be led by Valen Trujillo, Skyler Lawrence, Carlie Rosenkrance, Tiffany Briscoe and Mattea Miller, if all choose to play) have, especially when mixed with let’s-rumble-baby teammates like Madeline “TNT” Strasburg and McKayla “I Will Cut a Girl, and then Photo-Bomb Her” Bailey?

And, is there any way Mia Littlejohn can skip eighth grade and come play right now for the high school team? The girl plays like she stepped off a New Jersey playground and breaks ankles just checking in to the game.

Questions. Questions. All the answers start in early December, when practice turns to games.

The sort-of-set-in-stone schedules, which will have CHS teams playing at home 23 out of 40 times in 2013-2014:

GIRLS:

Fri-Dec. 6 Cedar Park Christian

Sat-7 Meridian

Tue-10 @ Cedarcrest

Fri-13 @ Lakewood

Tue-17 South Whidbey

Fri-20 @ Orcas Island

Fri-Jan. 3 La Conner

Tue-7 @ Sultan

Fri-10 Archbishop Thomas Murphy

Sat-11 Mount Vernon Christian

Tue-14 @ Granite Falls

Fri-17 King’s

Tue-21 Cedarcrest

Fri-24 Lakewood

Tue-28 South Whidbey

Wed-29 Friday Harbor

Fri-31 Sultan

Tue-Feb. 4 @ ATM

Fri-7 Granite Falls (SENIOR NIGHT)

Mon-10 @ King’s

BOYS:

Sat-7 @ Blaine

Tue-10 Cedarcrest

Fri-13 Lakewood

Sat-14 University Prep

Tue-17 South Whidbey

Fri-20 @ Orcas Island

Fri-Jan. 3 La Conner

Tue-7 Sultan

Fri-10 @ ATM

Sat-11 Mount Vernon Christian

Tue-14 Granite Falls

Fri-17 @ King’s

Tue-21 @ Cedarcrest

Fri-24 @ Lakewood

Tue-28 @ South Whidbey

Wed-29 Friday Harbor

Fri-31 @ Sultan

Tue-Feb. 4 ATM

Fri-7 @ Granite Falls

Mon-10 King’s (SENIOR NIGHT)

***To stay 100% up to date on any schedule changes, always go to: http://coupeville.tandemcal.com/

Read Full Post »

Gavin O’Keefe (center) during the comeback from his first injury.

This is not really fair.

Coupeville High School senior Gavin O’Keefe, the Wolf boys’ basketball team’s best shooter, will open the season on injured reserve after breaking his foot last month during open gym play.

It’s a virtual repeat of the same break he suffered on the court in the second game of his junior season. That injury sidelined him for the remainder of the 2012-2013 season.

This time around, there is some hope. O’Keefe had surgery on the leg two weeks ago, and doctors have said he may be able to return sometime in December.

Coupeville tips off Dec. 7 on the road at Blaine and plays its first six games in December, with the remainder of the 20-game regular season schedule spread out over January and early February.

Read Full Post »

   Former teammates Aaron Trumbull (top) and Taylor Ebersole spend some quality time together. (Shelli Trumbull photos)

Ebersole defends against the charge of Jared Helmstadter.

Trumbull, Ebersole and Joel Walstad smile for the camera.

Morgan Payne flies to the hoop and finds … yep, Ebersole again. Guy gets around.

Dalton Martin heads up court. “I don’t see Ebersole anywhere!!”

And Ebersole is back, as Anthony Bergeron blows by him for two.

The old gang was back together Sunday.

Facing off with La Conner in a SWISH basketball game, the players from the Coupeville High School boys’ basketball team had a chance to go toe-to-toe with a former teammate turned rival.

Taylor Ebersole, who started for the Wolves as a freshman, transferred to La Conner before his sophomore season, even though his dad, David, continues to work for the Coupeville school district.

Now, as a junior, Ebersole is expected to have a larger role for the Braves than he did during his first season, when his butt was intimate with the bench for long periods of time.

Sunday that meant getting his face in as many photos as possible, as he faced off with Aaron Trumbull, Joel Walstad and other former CHS classmates, in what seemed, this time around, to be a fairly friendly reunion.

Read Full Post »