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Archive for the ‘Football’ Category

Um … it’s national Jonathan Thurston Day!!

Posted in Baseball, Football, Happy birthday, tagged , , , on July 15, 2015| Leave a Comment »

Jonathan Thurston (Shelli Trumbull and John Fisken photos)

Jonathan Thurston (Shelli Trumbull and John Fisken photos)

Jonathan Thurston bleeds red and black.

The Coupeville High School junior, who celebrates his 16th birthday today, is part of a pack of (still) young Wolves who have brought the noise and costumes back to the student cheering section.

Working with Aiden Crimmins, Uriel Liquidano, Jimmy Myers, Jacob Martin and others, Thurston has helped to reclaim both the loud and the proud part of being a CHS fan.

When he’s not busy on the field himself, of course, since he’s a baseball and football player for the Wolves.

As he celebrates his big day today, we want to wish him the best.

Stay loud. Stay proud. Keep on excelling, on and off the field, Mr. Thurston.

You are a key part of Wolf Nation, and it wouldn’t be the same without you being around.

May the next two years be your finest as an athlete, a student and a young man coming into his own.

Now, while the rest of the readers are busy gazing at the photo montage of your exploits, go grab some birthday cake and bask in the moment.

This way, I gave you a head start.

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Class acts every day, in every way!!

Posted in Baseball, Basketball, Football, Happy birthday, Track, tagged , , , , on July 2, 2015| Leave a Comment »

Birthday boys CJ Smith (left) and Jerry Helm.

Birthday boys CJ Smith (left) and Jerry Helm.

One’s old enough to be the others dad … barely.

But while Jerry Helm and CJ Smith have an 18-year age gap, they share a lot in common, and not just a birthday.

One is a former Wolf star, the other a current one, and both have never been content with playing just one sport, or ever going half-speed.

Helm was a standout football, basketball and track athlete who also dabbled in baseball for a bit, while Smith has helped revive the “traditional” three-sport athlete at CHS.

After moving to Coupeville in the middle of his sophomore year, CJ, who will be a senior in the fall, has played football, basketball and baseball.

In the two previous years, not a single Wolf boy played all three traditional sports, with soccer, track and tennis luring away a number of athletes.

CJ, and younger brother Hunter, led the charge to change that during the school year that just ended, reviving memories of a time when it was common.

The comparisons between the two go deeper than just being multi-sport stars, however.

Both Jerry and CJ carry themselves with a quiet confidence, content to let their actions speak louder than their words.

That calmness and inner fire has led Helm through a meteoric rise in Central Whidbey Island Fire and Rescue and it allows Smith to very closely resemble outgoing Wolf star Aaron Curtin, another self-contained young man who prefers athletic success to scrambling to pose in pre-game photos.

I have a great deal of respect for how both of the birthday boys conduct themselves.

If you’re looking for sports role models, old school (well, not that old…) and new school, you can’t go wrong with Helm and Smith.

As they celebrate their joint cake day, united by the calendar, their success at CHS and their low-key style, we want to wish them both the best.

Happy birthday, gentlemen, and thank you for being class acts every day.

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He’s just a good dude!!

Posted in Boys Soccer, Football, Happy birthday, tagged , , , , on July 1, 2015| Leave a Comment »

Jose Marcos

Jose Marcos

Jose Marcos is a young man on the rise.

A strong two-sport (soccer, football) athlete, he’s one of those kids who plays his heart out on the field, then reverts to being an easy-going, friendly guy once the game is done.

Watching him interact with his soccer mates in the stands before and after games, you can see his sunny personality shine through. He’s just a good dude.

As Jose celebrates a birthday today, we want to wish him all the best.

May cake rain down on you all day long.

And, for those who want to know a bit more about him, pop over and take a look at this story I wrote back in early 2014:

https://coupevillesports.com/2014/03/19/fueled-by-friends-marcos-thrives-in-two-sports/

Now you know. And knowing is half the battle.

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Two sports, twice the awesomeness!!

Posted in Baseball, Football, Happy birthday, tagged , , , , , on June 22, 2015| Leave a Comment »

Julian Welling (John Fisken phgoto)

Julian Welling is ready to make the same impact on the football field that he has already done on the baseball diamond. (John Fisken photos)

Welling hangs out at a Wolf basketball game with Katrina McGranahan (center) and Mckenzie Meyer.

Welling hangs out at a Wolf basketball game with Katrina McGranahan (center) and Mckenzie Meyer.

Julian Welling is ready for the spotlight.

Today he celebrates his 15th birthday (happy cake day, Jo Jo!).

Tomorrow, he returns to preparing for his sophomore year at Coupeville High School.

A two-sport athlete for the Wolves, Welling has already been a huge hit for the CHS baseball squad.

Scrappy in the field and at the plate, he started a number of games at third base last season, including the team’s playoff game, joining Hunter Smith as the leaders of an extremely promising group of freshman ballplayers.

And while baseball is his favorite (“It’s what I do!”) and has taken him the furthest so far — he’s been playing travel baseball since he was an eight-year-old in Florida — football is coming up fast.

Welling first stepped on the gridiron when he was five, eventually putting in four seasons before taking a brief break to focus on baseball.

Now, he’s doing both, and doing well at both.

In brief comments fired off from between workouts at a football camp the Wolf team is attending, Welling said he enjoyed playing defense (“Mostly, hitting is my favorite”) and wants to continue to work on fine-tuning his skill set.

“I would like to work on my blocking and speed,” Welling said. “I think my best ability is being able to read the line.”

He credits his parents for shaping him (thereby winning him crucial points at a time when they would be considering getting him birthday cake) and has a wide array of interests away from sports.

If he’s not playing baseball or football, Welling can be found hunkered down playing Halo, smacking the drums or watching funny movies.

Regardless of what he’s doing, the rising young star has a simple outlook at what’s to come.

“Over the next few years, I would like to be a better student and teammate,” Welling said.

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Bayne Train rumbles all over Yakima!!

Posted in Football, tagged , , , , , , , on June 20, 2015| Leave a Comment »

Josh Bayne stares down the state. (John Fisken photo)

Josh Bayne stares down the state. (John Fisken photo)

Josh Bayne only played one-way this time, but it was more than enough.

The recent Coupeville High School grad, who was an All-State player on both sides of the ball during his senior season, sparkled on defense Saturday at the 21st Earl Barden East-West All-Star Classic.

Sparked by Bayne’s hard-hitting play from the corner-back position, the West held on for a 20-14 win in the game, played at East Valley High School in Yakima.

The game brings together the best players in 1A, 2B and 1B.

Bayne, who was the 1A Olympic League MVP, was one of the state’s leading rushers in 2014.

While he didn’t get any carries Saturday, he brought the heat in much the same way that also made him one of the best defenders in his class.

He recovered a fumble, made several tackles and swatted a pass down.

With all the offense coming in the game’s first half, Bayne and his West teammates clamped down at the end of the first half to seal the win.

With their backs to the wall, they refused to break and pulled off a goal line stop heading into the break.

The score would have been more lopsided, but the West had a pick six called back because of a personal foul behind the play.

Bayne, who was also a First-Team All-League player in baseball, will now take his skills to the college level, where he plans to play football at Simon Fraser.

He’ll be one of two speedy Wolves making the trip North of the border, as former Wolf rushing sensation Jake Tumblin is also slated to join the school’s gridiron squad, known as The Clan.

Simon Fraser is scheduled to play Central Washington twice this coming season.

Former CHS lineman Nick Streubel, who blocked for both Tumblin and Bayne, is on scholarship at CWU, having red-shirted his freshman year.

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