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The legend walks away!!

Posted in Football, tagged baseball, CHS Wolves, football, Hall of Fame, legendary, Sid Otton, Tumwater High School on August 8, 2016| Leave a Comment »

Sid Otton (center, back row), who started his career in Coupeville, is headed into his 49th and final season as a high school head football coach. (Photo property of Jamie Dowers/Tumwater High School Football)

The most successful coach to ever call Coupeville High School home is bringing an end to his legendary career.

Sid Otton, the winningest high school football coach in Washington state history, announced the coming season, his 49th in the game, will be his final one.

While most of his 384 wins, and five of his six state titles, have come at Tumwater (where he was my 9th grade health teacher), Otton’s first win came on Whidbey.

He got his start at Coupeville in 1967, where he coached the Wolf gridiron squad for two seasons.

During that time, he was also the baseball coach, leading CHS to a Northwest B League title in the spring of 1969.

After taking a year off to go back to college, Otton coached Colfax for four seasons, where his undefeated 1971 squad was tabbed by the Associated Press as state champs.

Back then, there were no postseason games.

After that, he moved to Tumwater, where he has been at the helm of the T-Birds since 1974, winning state titles in 1987, 1989, 1990, 1993 and 2010.

During his run as a football coach, Otton is 384-129, with six state titles, three second-place finishes, 25 league titles, 26 trips to state, three perfect seasons and 15 one-loss seasons.

He coached two sons (Tim and future USC quarterback Brad, who I once nailed in the face with a tennis ball during practice, the highlight of my prep net career) and several grandsons.

Otton is also, not that he probably cares, in the Coupeville Sports Hall o’ Fame.

The end of the upcoming season will mark a huge change for Tumwater football, as Otton’s two longest-tenured assistants, Pat Alexander and Steve Shoun (my accounting teacher back in the day) will also retire.

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Former Wolf takes over RedHawk gridiron program!!

Posted in Football, tagged 1A Olympic League, Alex Heilig, CHS Wolves, football, new hire, Port Townsend, rivalry on August 6, 2016| 2 Comments »

When Coupeville and Port Townsend recreate this scene in Oct., the RedHawks will be coached by a former CHS assistant. (John Fisken photo)

Alex Heilig will be coaching football at Coupeville High School this coming season.

But just for one game.

The former Wolf assistant coach, who interviewed for the CHS head coach job that was filled by Jon Atkins, has been hired as the new head football coach at Port Townsend.

This news comes from Michael Carman at the Peninsula Daily News, who broke the hiring this afternoon.

Heilig, who was a teacher at CMS and an assistant coach under Tony Maggio, spent 2014 as an assistant at South Whidbey, then was head coach at Granite Falls in 2015.

The 2A Tigers went 1-9 last season.

Now, he’ll take over a program which has won back-to-back 1A Olympic League titles, replacing Nick Snyder, who resigned to spend more time with his family.

The RedHawks went 10-1 last season, bringing Snyder’s record at PTHS to 43-19.

Heilig, who is married to former Wolf three-sport legend Ashley Ellsworth-Bagby, inherits a program which lost a chunk of starters to graduation, but is still primed to be a power in an expanded league.

The four Olympic League schools (Coupeville, Port Townsend, Chimacum and Klahowya) are joining with the Nisqually League (Cascade Christian, Charles Wright, Bellevue Christian and Vashon Island) for football for the next two years.

Port Townsend travels to Coupeville this season, arriving Oct. 7, which is Homecoming for the Wolves.

Now, it’ll be two homecomings in one.

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Battle for The Bucket bumped!!

Posted in Football, tagged CHS Wolves, football, opening night, schedule change, South Whidbey, The Bucket on July 30, 2016| Leave a Comment »

Teo Keilwitz and Co. will have one extra day of practice before their season opener. (John Fisken photos)

That gives Julian Welling (left) and Hunter Downes extra time to work on their snaps.

One extra day to fan the rivalry flames.

The biggest football game of the year will be the first one this season for Coupeville High School, but the day it will be played is changing.

The Wolves host Island arch-rival South Whidbey in their first game under new head coach Jon Atkins, when they will bid to reclaim The Bucket after losing it last year in Langley.

The game, originally set for Friday, Sept. 2, is being bumped a day due to a shortage in available game officials.

It’s now set for Saturday, Sept. 3, with kickoff at 7 PM.

Coupeville, which is currently working on installing a new track oval around the football field, offered to make the change for a number of reasons.

“I volunteered us to move out,” said CHS Athletic Director Willie Smith. “I did this for a couple of reasons: it will give our new football staff one more day to prepare, it gives maintenance another day to prep, we will get a great draw no matter what with South Whidbey, so it just makes sense.”

The Falcons upended the Wolves 27-14 in last year’s opener — a game most famous for South Whidbey’s aging scoreboard going dark for more than a quarter.

While both schools are coming off of less-than-spectacular 1-9 seasons (Coupeville beat Chimacum last year, while South Whidbey was win-less after opening night), the rivalry burns bright.

At the heart of the battle is The Bucket, which is a … bucket, which bears Coupeville’s logo and school colors on one side and South Whidbey’s on the other.

The winning school holds on to the trophy until the next year’s game.

The two teams have traded ownership back-and-forth in recent years, with the Wolves winning in 2012 (18-13) and 2014 (35-28).

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Laminate this sucker!!

Posted in Football, Middle School, Volleyball, tagged CMS Wolves, football, Forks, schedules, volleyball on July 27, 2016| Leave a Comment »

Savannah Smith (10) should be one of the leaders for this year’s 8th grade spikers. (John Fisken photo)

CMS gridiron players point to the future. (Bob Martin photo)

Yep, they’re still going to Forks.

Keeping the longest drive of the season alive, schedules for Coupeville Middle School will pit the Wolves against five other schools this fall.

It’s a hodgepodge of mostly other Olympic League schools, with match-ups against two schools that feed other 1A schools (Port Townsend, Chimacum), two that feed 2A schools (Sequim, Stevens) and one far-flung non-league rival.

First day of practice is Tuesday, Sept. 6, coinciding with the first day of school.

As you fire up the laminating machine to preserve this schedule, be aware, things can always change at the last moment.

So, cross your fingers and make frequent visits to: http://coupeville.tandem.co/

VOLLEYBALL
(Home matches start at 3:15)

Thur-Sept. 22 Sequim
Mon-Sept. 26 Port Townsend
Thur-Sept. 29 @ Stevens
Mon-Oct. 3 @Forks
Thur-Oct. 6 Chimacum
Mon-Oct. 10 @ Sequim
Thur-Oct. 13 @ Port Townsend
Mon-Oct. 17 Stevens
Thur-Oct. 20 Forks
Mon-Oct. 24 @ Chimacum

FOOTBALL
(Home games start at 3:45)

Sat-Sept. 17 @ Forks (Jamboree)
Thur-Sept. 22 @ Chimacum
Wed-Sept. 28 Sequim
Wed-Oct. 5 Forks
Wed-Oct. 12 @ Port Townsend
Wed-Oct. 19 @ Stevens
Wed-Oct. 26 Chimacum

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New gridiron coach builds stellar staff!!

Posted in Football, tagged Brad Sherman, CHS Wolves, coaching staff, football, Jon Atkins on July 25, 2016| Leave a Comment »

Jon Atkins is Coupeville’s fourth head football coach in the last seven years. (John Fisken photo)

CHS football assistant coaches Ryan King, Jonathan Martin and Brad Sherman all had strong high school careers of their own.

New boss, not the same as the old boss.

As Jon Atkins prepares for his first season at the helm of the Coupeville High School football squad — he’s the school’s fourth head coach in the last seven years — he’s busy putting together a staff to help his transition.

Longtime assistant (and former Wolf player) Ryan King returns, while Brad Sherman and Jonathan Martin have joined the cause.

Martin, dad of Wolf senior running back Jacob Martin, is helping King work with the linemen, while Sherman, arguably the most successful quarterback in school history, is passing on his wisdom to his successors.

The 2003 CHS grad, who holds the school season and career record for most passing yards (don’t believe the “record” board in the school gym hallway) is tutoring Coupeville’s quarterbacks and defensive backs.

Sherman has already had an impact on junior Hunter Downes, who was the team’s starting quarterback last year until an injury sidelined him.

Healthy and raring to go, the young gunslinger is listening intently to what the old-school legend has to say.

“I actually really like him after only working with him for a couple of days,” Downes said. “He really knows what he’s talking about and all of his drills and everything that he has us do just makes sense and really helps.

“It is really cool to have someone to coach QB’s who was also a great QB himself,” he added. “I think he will be a great contributor to our success down the line.”

Martin was a standout athlete at Lind High School, where he played football for three seasons and basketball all four.

A 1991 grad, he averaged 19 points a game his senior year on the hard-court and was named to the All Bi-County squad.

He coached youth football in Oak Harbor for five seasons and is looking forward to the transition of working with older players.

“I thought it was time to increase my knowledge of the game and I thought working with Jon Atkins was a good opportunity to do just that,” Martin said. “Youth football is great, but I really want a more in-depth knowledge of a whole program.”

King, who anchored the Wolf line when Coupeville had its last winning season, back in 2005, connects the program’s past with its future.

He played for Ron Bagby, who spent 26 years running the Wolf gridiron program, and is entering his sixth season as a Coupeville coach.

King started at the middle school level in 2011, working as an assistant to Bob Martin, then joined the high school staff under head coach Tony Maggio in 2013.

For this year’s seniors, players like Clay Reilly and Mitchell Carroll, Atkins will be their third head coach.

They were there for the final two campaigns of Maggio’s three-season run, then had Brett Smedley for their junior year.

The one thing connecting them together for their entire four-year run as Wolves is King, the rock on which the Wolf program is built.

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