Coupeville Sports

In the end, they all bow down to Cow Town. (Photo by Shelli Trumbull)

I could be nice and sugar-coat things, but facts are facts.

The 1A Olympic League has come to a close after a four-year run, and the smallest school emerges as the top dog.

Sparked by an extremely strong final spring, in which it won conference crowns in softball, girls track, baseball, girls tennis and boys track, Coupeville High School has stared down Port Townsend, Chimacum, and, especially, Klahowya.

CHS had 227 students in grades 9-11 when the WIAA last did classification counts in 2016, which made it the sixth-smallest 1A school in the state.

That figure has since dropped to 208, which caused Coupeville officials to make a recent plea to drop to 2B which fell on deaf ears.

Klahowya boasted 445.07 students in ’16, making it the second-biggest 1A school in the state.

So, you take what is essentially a 2A school and pit it against what is essentially a 2B school, and what happens?

The lil’ school that could, did.

For the past four years, I have tracked 10 of the 11 varsity sports that the Wolves play.

In this scenario, we ignore track, since trying to figure out team win/loss records when 30 teams show up for a meet is a futile, and brain-injury-causing, endeavor.

So, we take volleyball, football, girls and boys basketball, soccer and tennis, softball and baseball and we watch.

And, in the course of four school years, we see a 24-game swing as one (small) school rises and another (big) school falls.

Varsity win totals:

2014-2015:

Klahowya 51
COUPEVILLE 40
Chimacum 23
Port Townsend 20

2015-2016:

Klahowya 45
COUPEVILLE 42
Chimacum 26
Port Townsend 22

2016-2017:

COUPEVILLE 51
Klahowya 48
Port Townsend 28
Chimacum 25

2017-2018:

COUPEVILLE 52
Klahowya 39
Port Townsend 26
Chimacum 20

Add together the four years and Coupeville beats Klahowya 185-183.

CHS was the only school to post 40 or more varsity wins in each school year, and the only school to post 50 or more wins twice.

To those who say, well, it’s only two games, let’s go back to the first numbers, the student body size — 445.07 vs 227 that became 208.

Klahowya should have dominated, pure and simple, and it didn’t.

In the early days of the league, KSS was the straw which stirred the drink, though the whirlpool created wasn’t anywhere as large as you would have expected.

And give the Eagles soccer teams credit.

The only Olympic League programs to go unbeaten in league play from 2014-2018, their combined 59 wins account for nearly a third of Klahowya’s varsity win total.

But, ultimately, the smallest, scrappiest school took over and made the Olympic League its own.

Coupeville finished with the best league record in four sports, the most of any school — girls tennis, baseball, girls basketball and boys tennis — with girls hoops winning 33 games, most of any program, in any sport.

Better still, CHS was the ONLY school to not finish as the worst in any sport.

Klahowya, by contrast, accrued the top all-time mark in three sports, but finished dead last in three others.

What’s this all mean in the end?

As Coupeville departs for new pastures and new challenges next year in the six-team North Sound Conference, its current rivals can take solace in two facts.

One, you won’t have to listen to me natter on as often (if ever).

And two, you won’t have to lose as often to the Wolves.

So, win-win … sorta.

Spring sports standings:

Olympic League baseball:

Olympic League boys soccer:

Olympic League girls tennis:

Olympic League softball:

And, complete Olympic League records from 2014-2018:

Volleyball:

Football:

Boys Tennis:

Girls Soccer:

Girls Basketball:

Boys Basketball:

Softball:

Girls tennis:

Baseball:

Boys soccer:

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