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Archive for the ‘Football’ Category

Falcon football legend needs our help

Posted in Football, Fundraisers, tagged , , , , , on August 17, 2020| Leave a Comment »

Former South Whidbey High School football coach Mark Hodson.

A Whidbey Island gridiron legend and his family are in need.

Mark Hodson, a South Whidbey High School social studies teacher, led the Falcon football program to great success through two tours of duty.

Sunday, he and his family returned from a day at the lake to find their Freeland home a complete loss after a fire.

The Hodson home on Spinnaker Drive was fully involved when firefighters from multiple departments arrived on scene.

South Whidbey Fire/EMS reported neighbors “were actively using garden hoses to help as much as possible.”

Firefighters from South and Central Whidbey stations used interior and exterior extinguishment tactics to keep the fire from spreading to nearby houses, but the Hodson home was a complete loss.

With the family gone, no one was injured and the cause of the fire is under investigation.

Friends of the Hodson’s have set up a GoFundMe to help the family of six, which has been left with little more than the clothes on their backs.

To help out, pop over to:

https://www.gofundme.com/f/m2qwt-helping-hands

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Oldenstadt a star on the rise

Posted in Baseball, Boys Basketball, Football, tagged , , , , , on August 3, 2020| 1 Comment »

Zane Oldenstadt rumbles down low in the paint. (Photo by JohnsPhotos.net)

Oldenstadt and William Davidson pause for a photo op during track season. (Morgan White photo)

Zane Oldenstadt listens to his mom, and that may pay off as the world deals with a pandemic.

As Coupeville students prepare for a new school year, without knowing for sure how it will play out in the age of coronavirus, incoming freshmen have high hopes in an unsettled world.

For Oldenstadt, who plans to be a three-sport athlete at CHS, it’s a perfect time to reflect on words of wisdom from mom Michelle Glass.

“My mom’s had a huge impact in showing me how the only way things get done is through perseverance and work,” Oldenstadt said.

Whether his high school days start off in a classroom or at home in front of a computer, the outgoing 9th grader-to-be wants to make an impact in everything he does.

Oldenstadt is “very interested in marine biology, and I plan to go to college for it,” while in the arena he hopes to play football, basketball, and baseball, in whatever order the WIAA and CHS allow him to.

Being a three-sport athlete is something which comes naturally, as he played soccer and basketball, then wrapped up the school year competing in track and field during his middle school days.

He also played little league baseball.

While he enjoyed all of his sports, Oldenstadt felt most at home on the hardwood.

“Basketball, I have fun getting out there and battling on the court,” he said. “It’s a sport I never tire of, and I’m always ready to go and give it my all.”

As he makes the transition from CMS to CHS, Oldenstadt already has the height and strength to set him apart from other athletes his own age.

But he also realizes he needs to add other components to his game if he wants to be successful at a higher level.

“I think my athleticism at my size really stands out,” Oldenstadt said. “But I’d still like to work on overall quickness.

“My goal in high school sports is to better myself and the teams I play on through hard work and commitment.”

When he’s not playing sports, Oldenstadt enjoys listening to music.

In an uncertain world, though, athletic activity is key to his happiness.

“Sports helps me cope with stress or anything else that’s bothering me,” he said. “It’s nice just to go and focus all your energy on trying to win something.”

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Fall sports pushed back, not cancelled yet

Posted in Football, tagged , , , , on July 7, 2020| Leave a Comment »

If Ben Smith and other Wolves get to play this fall, their season will start later than normal. (Photo by JohnsPhotos.net)

Fall prep sports, if they happen in 2020, will begin later than in most previous years.

As the world deals with the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, the Washington Interscholastic Activities Association Executive Board met Tuesday and made that decision.

The board opted to push the start of the high school football season until Saturday, September 5, and the start of practices for all other fall sports until Monday, Sept. 7.

The original start dates were August 19 and 24, respectively.

Coupeville’s first football game, from a schedule put together before the pandemic seized the stage, was originally to be a home game Sept. 4 against Port Townsend.

Now, in a best-case scenario, practices would begin the next day instead, with games not starting until mid to late September.

Football players need to put in 12 practices to be eligible for games, while all other athletes need 10 prior to their first contest.

But this is where a big “BUT…” comes in.

Under current WIAA guidelines, the only sports which can compete in Phase 3 of the state’s reopening plan are “low risk” activities such as tennis and cross country.

To play “moderate risk” sports such as basketball, soccer, and volleyball, a school will have to be in a county in Phase 4 of the four-phase plan, while the WIAA has yet to set a time frame for “high risk” sports (football and wrestling) to start competition.

Island County is currently in Phase 3, but positive cases of COVID-19 have increased in recent weeks.

Also, Washington state officials have frozen the ability for any county to move up a phase, and no county can currently apply for Phase 4.

So, while Tuesday’s announcement is a glimmer of hope, it is only that – a glimmer.

In a press release Tuesday night, the WIAA said the following:

The Board will continue to work with staff, member schools and state agencies to monitor the impact of COVID-19.

The Board plans to make its next statement concerning the start of fall sports on July 22nd following its next scheduled meeting.

In the interim, a committee of Board members, staff, and select WIAA stakeholders will work to create a fall schedule with the adjusted start dates.

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Former Falcon among state’s best senior football players

Posted in Football, tagged , , , on June 27, 2020| Leave a Comment »

South Whidbey’s Bodie Hezel runs to daylight during his senior season. (Photo by JohnsPhotos.net)

Whidbey Island would have been represented in Yakima.

The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic shut down prep sports this spring, and one of the bigger casualties was the loss of the Earl Barden Classic.

The annual all-star football game, played in Yakima, pits the top seniors in the state from the 2A, 1A, 2B, and 1B classifications.

Coupeville gridiron stars who have played in the event in previous years range from Josh Bayne to Ryan Labrador.

While the game, and surrounding festivities, were cancelled for 2020, Earl Barden officials went on Twitter Friday night to reveal what the rosters would have been for this year’s game.

While not all players had yet accepted their invitation to play before the game was shut down, the rosters in their original form give a pretty good indication of what might have been.

While Coupeville’s Sean Toomey-Stout was snubbed, Whidbey Island did get some respect with South Whidbey senior Bodie Hezel selected for the West team.

Hezel, listed as a 6-foot, 180-pound running back/receiver/defensive back, drew the attention of coaches for a senior season in which he was named the North Sound Conference Most Valuable Offensive Player.

The South end standout was also tabbed as a First-Team pick as a defensive back, helping lead the Falcons to a 6-4 record in his final go-around on the gridiron.

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Let us play, they say

Posted in Cheer, Football, Wrestling, tagged , , , , on June 23, 2020| Leave a Comment »

Under current guidelines, high school football is in danger of not returning this fall. (Photo by JohnsPhotos.net)

“I honestly don’t know about football, as we know it, happening in the fall, and I don’t think anyone else does either.”

That quote comes from someone right in the thick of things right now, a man with decades of experience in high school sports, as an athlete, coach, and administrator.

It’s a feeling shared by many, after the Washington Interscholastic Activities Association released its most detailed guidelines yet on how prep sports MIGHT start back up this fall amid the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

While a possible path was laid out for some sports to return, things don’t look good overall, and definitely not for football, the sport which typically brings in more money to a school’s athletic budget than every other sport combined.

As stated by the WIAA:

Counties in Phase 3 of Governor Jay Inslee’s reopening plan, such as Island County, can compete in “lower risk” sports.

For Coupeville High School, we’re essentially talking about cross country.

With “moderate risk” sports such as volleyball, soccer, and basketball, a county must be in Phase 4 for games to be played.

At the moment, as coronavirus cases rise in Washington and a statewide facemask requirement goes into effect Friday, the chances of any county jumping to Phase 4 — essentially a full return to normalcy — seems like a far-off mirage.

But, even if a county does get to Phase 4, the current guidelines leave three “higher risk” sports high and dry, with no timetable for a return.

Those sports — football, wrestling, and competitive cheer — “involve close, sustained contact between participants, lack of significant protective barriers, and high probability that respiratory particles will be transmitted between participants.”

You know, just like basketball…

Anyway.

Understandably, people are frustrated, and a petition on Change.org calling on the state to include “higher risk” sports in Phase 4 of the reopening plan is picking up steam.

The petition, called Let US Play – Washingtonian’s for Athletes-End Sports Lockdown, is making a run at 800 signatures as of Tuesday night.

 

To see the petition, pop over to:

https://www.change.org/p/jay-inslee-let-us-play-washingtonian-s-for-athletes-end-sports-lockdown

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