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Archive for the ‘Football’ Category

84 days ’til Lathom Kelley cracks heads!!

Posted in Football, tagged , , , , on June 13, 2014| Leave a Comment »

Lathom Kelley, poppin' collars and knockin' helmets off. (Sylvia Arnold photo)

Lathom Kelley, poppin’ collars and knockin’ helmets off. (Sylvia Arnold photo)

Joel Walstad is the favorite to be under center when the Wolves kick off the 2014 season. (John Fisken photo)

Joel Walstad is the favorite to be under center when the Wolves kick off. (John Fisken photo)

Let the countdown begin.

A mere 84 days from now, the Coupeville High School football team will step onto its home turf to kick off a new gridiron season.

And when Lathom Kelley, Wiley Hesselgrave, Josh Bayne and Co. take the field, it’ll be a whole new game for the Wolves.

After eight seasons of being the smallest team, by far, in the 1A/2A Cascade Conference, Coupeville will be on a somewhat more level playing field.

The Wolves will still rep the smallest 1A school in the state. Actually, having lost several students AFTER the classifications were set for the next two years, CHS will  have fewer students than several 2B schools.

But, their new opponents in the 1A Olympic League will be much closer in size to them than Cedarcrest or Lakewood in years past.

Coupeville will play home-and-away against their three new league rivals — Chimacum, Port Townsend and Klahowya — while retaining the Island rivalry for The Bucket with South Whidbey.

That matchup, which kicks off the season, will be one of three non-conference tilts.

The Wolves will play one 2A school, Sequim, which went 0-10 a season ago, and one 2B squad, with a revival of an old school rivalry with Concrete on Halloween.

The schedule as it stands now has CHS home for four straight to kick off the year:

 

9-5 South Whidbey
9-12 Sequim
9-19 Chimacum
9-26 Port Townsend
10-3 @ Klahowya
10-10 @ Port Townsend
10-17 @ Chimacum
10-24 Klahowya
10-31 @ Concrete

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Know Your Foe: Klahowya’s George Harris!!

Posted in Baseball, Boys Basketball, Football, tagged , , , , , on June 13, 2014| Leave a Comment »

George Harris

Klahowya three-sport star George Harris.

With Coupeville leaving the 1A/2A Cascade Conference and joining Port Townsend, Chimacum and Klahowya in the 1A Olympic League this fall, now is a great time to learn a bit about some of the players who will face off with the Wolves in the future.

George Harris is a throw-back.

At a time when no Coupeville High School boy has played the core three sports (football, basketball, baseball) the past two years, they will run into at least one new opponent who does just that.

Harris, a junior-to-be at Klahowya Secondary School, doesn’t take any seasons off, and he hopes to be successful in each of them.

“My athletic goals for next season are to letter in each sport and go to the playoffs in each, as well,” he said.

While he gets something out of all of his sports (“What I enjoy is the friendships I build with my teammates and the competition”), Harris picks football, where he plays quarterback and linebacker for the Eagles, as his favorite in a close call.

“My favorite is football because, out of the three, I believe it is the biggest team sport,” Harris said. “To have success your whole team has to be on the same page and stick together like brothers.”

Away from the field, he enjoys boating with friends and is a regular church-goer.

In the same way he treats his teammates as family, Harris draws support and encouragement from those closest to him.

“My mother and father have had the biggest impact on me,” Harris said. “They are both very supportive of me.

“My mom is always there for me to talk to when I am going through something,” he added. “My dad is the person I still play catch with in the front yard and he provides the moral and financial support to play all the sports I do.”

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Fight on, brother!!

Posted in Football, Fundraisers, Whidbey's Best, tagged , , , on June 9, 2014| Leave a Comment »

Gabe Kennedy

Gabe Kennedy (Photos from Solea Kennedy’s GoFundMe page)

A moment or two in the sun for Gabe and one of his nurses.

A moment or two in the sun for Gabe and one of his nurses.

Hope never rests.

Fighting back from terrible injuries suffered in a hit and run accident while skateboarding in Reno, Gabe Kennedy, older brother of Coupeville High School football star Ben Haight, continues to get stronger with each day.

Mom Solea Kennedy, a volunteer with the Coupeville Food Bank, has been by her son’s side for most of the ordeal — coming back to town for Haight’s graduation, where he was Salutatorian.

She continues to update the progress shown by Gabe, who has come out of a coma but is enduring multiple surgeries, on the family’s GoFundMe page.

A recent one:

Gabe really smiled tonight! Kerri Anne and Andy were visiting and when Andy repeated something funny that Gabe had said a month ago, Gabe gave him a big toothy grin!

Whenever Andy told Gabe one of Gabe’s own jokes, he would smile! We tried our own jokes, but according to Gabe, no one is as funny as Gabe!

Donations, including those from Coupeville folks, have poured in, but the family is still in great need.

To follow updates on Gabe’s progress, and to possibly help out the family (every dollar counts) jump over to:

http://www.gofundme.com/955tg8

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Coach V departs the gridiron!!

Posted in Football, tagged , , on June 3, 2014| Leave a Comment »

Wolf coach Dustin Van Velkinburgh (left) shares a moment with CHS senior Joey Edwards. (Sharon Edwards photo)

Wolf coach Dustin Van Velkinburgh (left) shares a moment with CHS senior Joey Edwards. (Sharon Edwards photo)

Workin' on the guns with son Chayse. (Jessica Van Velkinburgh photo)

Workin’ on the guns with son Chayse. (Jessica Van Velkinburgh photo)

At the end of last season, hangin' with seniors Gunnar Langvold (left) and Nick Streubel.

At the end of last season, hangin’ with seniors Gunnar Langvold (left) and Nick Streubel. (John Fisken photo)

If it was fall, it was easy to find Dustin Van Velkinburgh.

For 13 of the past 15 seasons — nearly half his life — he’s been a presence on the Coupeville High School football sidelines, first as a player, then as a popular assistant coach.

But this coming fall, as the Wolves move from the 1A/2A Cascade Conference to the 1A Olympic League, Van Velkinburgh will be watching from the stands, having stepped down as a full-time coach Monday.

With three young children and a growing business, he felt the time was right to reduce his coaching work load. He will continue on as Wolf JV boys’ basketball coach.

“I have many great memories and have met countless amazing people. Thanks to all who have made those years what they are,” Van Velkinburgh posted on Facebook. “I’m truly blessed to have been able to do what I love for so long. A big thanks to my wife for all she has done as well to allow me to be there.

“Go get ’em WOLVES! Lead them to glory, Coach (Tony) Maggio!”

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It’s Bayne a very good year!!

Posted in Baseball, Football, Happy birthday, tagged , , , , on June 2, 2014| Leave a Comment »

Josh Bayne

Josh Bayne

He is the star of tomorrow, today.

Coupeville High School junior Josh Bayne, who celebrates his birthday today, is primed to be the BMOC next year.

With the graduation of Jake Tumblin, Bayne will move up and become the primary ball carrier for the Wolf football team.

It’s a role he’s suited for, as he slashed and flat-out blew people up whenever he touched the ball the past two seasons.

When Tumblin was injured, Bayne rambled for 204 yards and three touchdowns on 24 carries against Sultan.

Not content to merely run, he snagged four pass receptions for another 57 yards and collected four tackles and four assists while patrolling the backfield on defense.

He also got the quote of the season, from CHS stat man Chris Tumblin, after an especially impressive defensive effort against Nooksack Valley.

“Josh had one tackle on a receiver, folded him in half like a cheap hooker who was punched in the gut by her pimp,” Tumblin said. “He had to sit out for awhile and wait for his liver to start working again.”

On the baseball diamond, Bayne cranked a home run over the farthest part of the CHS outfield fence as a sophomore, then was named Second-Team All-Cascade Conference as a junior.

Whether he’s in the infield, or on the mound, Bayne can deal.

The best would seem to be yet to come, as CHS moves out of the 1A/2A Cascade Conference and into the 1A Olympic League in the fall.

Bayne should bring the pain in both of his sports, as the Wolves try to make an immediate impact on their new foes.

So enjoy your birthday, Josh, and get ready — next year is yours.

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