Cole Payne prepares to be explosive. (John Fisken photo)
For a kid fighting through injury the entire time, Cole Payne had a pretty good football season.
The Coupeville High School sophomore was the JV team’s biggest weapon, whether working as a receiver on offense or crashing the party and hauling down folks while patrolling the backfield on defense.
Whenever he was on the field, Payne made an impact, a feat his coaches noticed. Without a doubt, he is earmarked for major varsity time the next two seasons.
“My main goal is to start on varsity next year,” Payne said. “I love the challenge and effort you have to put toward the game. To be the best you have to put in work to get better. I enjoy making hits and great catches.”
And he did all that while fighting off pain, having hurt his shoulder at the start of the school year.
“It has really affected the ability that I can play,” Payne said. “If it didn’t happen, I would have had a lot better season.”
Still, he helped lead his team to big wins over South Whidbey and Granite Falls and collected a string of strong personal moments, before getting knocked off the field late in the season.
His most recent injury — a dislocated shoulder — will keep him off the basketball court as he heals, but Payne, who got varsity at-bats as a freshman, expects to be ready for baseball season.
“I remember everything the day I hurt my shoulder,” Payne said. “I was running a route, caught the ball and right away got hit by Wade (Schaef) and like 100% on my left elbow and I dislocated my shoulder.
“But I did hold on to the ball the whole time!”
Holding on to the ball under pressure was a trademark for Payne, who was a consistent target for Wolf quarterbacks Ramon Booker and Joel Walstad. Once he had the ball, he was often electric in the open field, but would like to add more explosiveness to his game.
“I am really good at catching,” Payne said. “I need to work really hard to get faster and I will continue to work and get stronger.
“I think just being the youngest athlete by a year in my grade just pushes me harder to get right where they are,” he added. “All my coaches have influenced me to become a better, more disciplined person. They put me into shape.”
While he can’t decide on his favorite sport (“I think I enjoy football and baseball equally the same. I like to play both sports and that’s what I want to get in to college for”), off the field, he is a big math fan.
And also a huge disciple of working on his lifting under the tutelage of Wolf assistant coaches Dustin Van Velkinburgh and Brett Smedley.
“I enjoy algebra based math. I like biology,” Payne said. “And when ever I have nothing to do I try to get in the weight room to make myself better.
“When ever I have an opportunity to make myself better, I take the opportunity.”
Coupeville Sports 