Ben Smith hauls in a pass during a practice. (Photos by JohnsPhotos.net)
Smith rumbles for yardage during a game at Kittitas last season.
Smith and departing senior Sean Toomey-Stout embrace after Coupeville’s final game. The Wolves finished 5-4, the program’s first winning record since 2005. (Deb Smith photo)
With Washington state schools closed down for at least six weeks due to the spread of coronavirus, we’re offering all Coupeville students a chance to be heard and stay connected.
Ben Smith is currently a junior at CHS.
With any school, football is probably the most exciting sport for anyone to go to or watch despite the team’s level of performance, but for the past few years that hasn’t been the case with our school.
Everyone has been doubting, and looking down on our program like we’re floating half-dead in the water.
Clearly getting a winning season wasn’t enough for everyone to open their eyes and see what our program has turned into.
I’m tired of all these fools who wanna try saying our team is this and that and we’re “garbage” when all these people could be on that field playing, but they’re not.
So all these people sitting back being talkers are the ones who have no remorse for team or community and only care about trophies and don’t look at the little things.
Over 50% of our team last season was made of FRESHMEN and we still came out positive on the season and some of those freshmen even started.
When do you ever see that many freshman starting on a varsity team?
People don’t see the talent in all these younger guys coming up; most choose not to have faith in them and worry about the big age group.
As little or big as they can be, I will always have faith and protect the guy next to me.
This year you WILL see Coupeville Football in the postseason. There’s NO way around it.
I’m doing my job like everyone else should be as well, being in that weight room, staying on top of my stuff; I’m even going to three camps before damn spring ball.
By my own freshman year, I lost a lot of love for football and before that I was a little boy loving the game so much and I was about to just give it up.
When Coach Marcus (Carr), and all these guys came around, we were doing something really no other coach has ever constantly been on you for, weight room, grades, camp, food, everything a football player should be taking care of.
This didn’t get serious until coach KB (Kwamane Bowens) started talking to me about college.
I have never wanted to ever go to college, even just to go play football.
With how far I was getting with these guys, I realized it’s much more than the effort you put in, it’s the guys around you who are meant to be there for you, who show you moral support, who are your mentors.
Without any of that, you’re all in this on your own.
I wanna finish my senior year with a statement, 30 years without a conference championship … that’s gonna change and people can laugh at me as much as they want or say it’s the same thing we say every year.
I’m setting my foot down and putting this out for the whole world to hear.
Not for one second I doubt any of my team.
If I gotta brawl for any of these guys, you know I’ll do anything to protect them from having their season ruined like mine was.
We need them stands PACKED every Friday night, people are gonna remember this and when it happens, they’re gonna keep coming to our games after this year is done.
It’s all cause of our coaches, our commitment of our players who before school was shut down came in every day at 6:30 AM to lift weights every other day, after school, running routes in the gym.
These are the guys who are gonna make a change to the program.
If you one of these guys doubting our program and you ain’t even on that field. Stop it right now!
You wouldn’t have an ounce of care to step on that field and do what not a lot of people would wanna do and put their bodies on the line.
Your opinion is irrelevant, as well as last season, a winning season ain’t gonna be enough to keep the hype alive, so a conference championship it is.
The only opinions that matter are the people who continue to believe in us.
People are gonna remember the times they doubted us, what I said and they’re gonna try and act like they’ve been with us this whole time.
They’re nothing but sleepers who been sleeping on us.
We will be conference champions this year.
NO WAY AROUND IT.
Coupeville Sports 