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Archive for the ‘Middle School’ Category

Let’s get ready to rumble!!

Posted in Boys Basketball, Middle School on November 14, 2012| Leave a Comment »

Nothing less than Island supremacy was on the line Tuesday, as Coupeville Middle School and Langley Middle School clashed in a boys’ basketball extravaganza that raised at least one question.

If both CMS and Coupeville High School share the Wolf as their mascot, why does Langley claim the Cougar, only to give that mascot up and embrace the Falcon when they send their kids to South Whidbey High School?

Anyway, while I ponder that, you can gaze upon your current and future Wolf hoops stars, all rolled into one.

Calling on our vast army of moms (and grandmas) who are everywhere, armed with cameras and phones and constantly clicking away, we present some photos from the afternoon. This time our thanks go out to Kelly Evans Crownover.

P.S. — If you’re wondering, the scores were nothing to write home about — and both schools had serious issues with their stat-keeping — but Cameron Toomey Stout did pump in a game-high 12 points for the 7th grade Wolf squad.

With the holidays coming up, Coupeville has nearly two weeks off before its next game — a home affair with King’s Monday, Nov. 26.

 

 

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The chosen ones have returned!!

Posted in Memories, Middle School, Ranting and Raving, Where are they now?, Whidbey's Best on November 13, 2012| Leave a Comment »

Left to right, Aiden, Maggie, Jon and Jodi Crimmins.

“A bear going after pic-a-nic baskets in my park? No sir!!”

Forever a legend.

I have a splitting headache today.

The why and how is not important. I mean, it’s possible I ate something I knew was 99.3% likely to give me a migraine, but that would be stupid and when was the last time I was called stupid and … fine, I guess it’s possible … probable … oh, shut up.

But in the midst of the little men with their jackhammers assaulting my frontal lobe, a ray of sunshine shot through the pouring rain outside and brightened the world. It was the realization that all was well in the world of Wolf sports once again.

After daring to tempt the fates themselves by living, working and sending their children to schools on South Whidbey, revered former Coupeville High School athletes Jon and Jodi (Christensen) Crimmins have finally accepted reality and returned to the fertile soils of their youth.

The legend decreed that the spawn of a Crimmins/Christensen union, born of a man who once was a laid-back tennis ace and a woman who was an elbow-flingin’ basketball wild child, must only wear the black and red. The blue of a Langley uniform may be fine for some, but not for the chosen ones.

And now, with park ranger dad and school teacher mom having accepted fate and moved down the Island, their kids (Aiden and Maggie) can once again walk the same hallways where their parents-to-be once lounged, casting googly-eyes at each other in between classes.

Aiden is playing basketball for the Coupeville Middle School 8th grade team, and Maggie, after a brief dalliance with the dark side in which she wore the volleyball uniform of a South Ender (ag-o-neeeee for Wolf diehards!!) can now lay claim to her mom’s legend. And what a legend it is.

There was never a nicer person off the court, or more of a hellion on the court than young Jodi Christensen. One walking, talking, gum-popping black ‘n blue bruise, she threw herself with wild abandon after loose balls, crashing into bleachers, wiping out any teammate who dared to get between her and a rebound (poor Marlys West is probably still flinching) and thoroughly freaking out her opponents, who wondered where that nice girl with the pleasant smile had gone.

Other Wolves have scored more than Jodi. Other Wolves have had more natural talent. But no one has ever played the game as hard as the angel with hellfire coming out of her elbows.

If Maggie is 3% of the hard-charging force of nature her mom was, Coupeville coaches and fans are set. The good times (and possibly heads) will roll.

Party on, Wolf Nation. Party on.

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Briscoe family business is volleyball (and business is good!!)

Posted in Middle School, Volleyball on November 12, 2012| Leave a Comment »

    Tiffany Briscoe, CMS volleyball ace, shows a hint of her artistic talent with this tinted self-portrait.

Toni Crebbin left too soon.

The Coupeville High School volleyball coach stepped down at the end of the season, her 20th in the Wolf program. With her second son graduating high school and two irrepressible young daughters vying for her attention, the ol’ ball coach decided to call it a day.

Right as a very promising crop of 8th grade spikers made their presence known down at the middle school level this past season. With big hitters like Tiffany Briscoe and Valen Trujillo on their way, the next Wolf coach will have a wide variety of young players who could make the jump to rumbling alongside varsity stalwarts like Hailey Hammer and Madeline Strasburg in the next few years.

Briscoe, whose younger sister Kyla played on the CMS 7th grade squad, picked up volleyball originally as something to fill in a gap in her schedule. A basketball and soccer player, she just wanted to stay busy, but quickly fell for the game.

“I honestly love everything about volleyball, but my favorite is probably outside hitting,” Briscoe said. “It’s hard to say I have a favorite because I try and dedicate myself to each sport and have the same levels of enthusiasm, but even with the short time that I’ve played, volleyball is my heart.

“I love everything about it and that’s more than I can say with most sports.”

Briscoe lists her strengths as “definitely any sort of hitting and moving my feet,” while wanting to work on her tips and ball control. Her favorite moment came during one of the Wolves’ grudge matches with Island rival Langley Middle School.

“Out of all the great moments this season, my personal favorite was our away match against South Whidbey,” Briscoe said. “We changed as a team that last game; we moved, we had control and we stuck in there, 32-30.

“Although we didn’t win, it was by far our best game, and I was so proud of myself and each of my teammates for every ball that was put back over the net,” she added.

A loud and proud fan of modern rock and screamo, Briscoe thrives on music and can usually be found listening nearly 24/7, especially when she draws. A big fan of art, she specializes in charcoals.

“Music is one of the few thing that I really love,” Briscoe said. “I’m almost always listening to it, even if it just one headphone turned down low.”

When she does head off to high school, she’ll be able to draw on the support of her family and her teammates.

“My mom and dad have really helped me, they’ve pushed me to do the very best I can and to always give 110%,” Briscoe said. “Not just with sports but with school work too. There have been countless times that I’ve wanted to just give up and take a zero, but my mom was always there reminding me that if I did that I wouldn’t play.

“Another person who has helped me through the entire season is one of my teammates, Valen Trujillo,” she added. “She always has my back, giving me pointers, helping me when I was getting too distracted, and she was always optimistic and ready for a challenge.”

Whomever the new CHS coach turns out to be, they will inherit a warrior in Briscoe.

“My goal for next season is to really lose some of the nerves I’ve had in the past,” she said. “I want to be able to get up there and be able to focus and give it my all!”

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Future of Wolf basketball is a Wynn-ing one!!

Posted in Baseball, Boys Basketball, Football, Middle School on November 12, 2012| Leave a Comment »

Gabe Wynn (right) with his brother, Sam, and sister Katelyn.

Anthony Smith has seen the future, and he likes it.

The Coupeville High School boys’ basketball coach caught part of a recent Coupeville Middle School 8th grade hoops game and watched the Wolves’ one-two combo of Gabe Wynn and Grey Rische pound on their rivals. And, while he won’t be able to use either player on his squad this season, he’s looking forward to what they might offer the next four years.

“Good looking players. Looking forward to working with both of the big guys,” Smith said.

For now, the pair are playing for Bob Martin, but Wynn, who picked up the round-ball when he was seven, already has thoughts on what he would like to accomplish one day.

“One of my goals for the high school level is to be able to dunk and be the best I can be,” Wynn said.

Wynn generally operates out of either the post or center positions, and is actually a three-sport threat, also playing football and baseball. It’s hoops that remains his passion, though.

“Basketball is my favorite,” Wynn said. “I say that because the feeling of scoring those points and knowing you’re helping your team to victory or making that one great pass.

“I enjoy working together as a team and scoring the points together,” he added. “I think one thing I’m good at is court presence — like being aware of where my teammates are and the defensive players are.”

His goals for the rest of the season (the Wolves play at Langley Tuesday, Nov. 13, their third of eight games) include helping his team to its first victory and holding his composure under fire.

“I need to work on not playing with too much anger, because sometimes I can’t help myself, then I foul,” Wynn said. “But I also want to go harder than I thought I could.”

A fan of video games, dub step and rap, Wynn singles out math at his favorite subject while generally enjoying all of his classes, saying “I like all my teachers. They are all funny and make learning a blast.”

He draws much of his inspiration, on and off the hard court, from his family.

“My parents are always there to support me along the way and are at almost every game,” Wynn said. “One person who has helped me be the person I am today is my grandpa. Sadly he passed away, but he helped push me in basketball and taught me many life lessons.”

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Middle school mania: Wolves go on the prowl!!

Posted in Boys Basketball, Middle School on November 7, 2012| Leave a Comment »

  Johnathan Thurston (10) blitzed Northshore in the 8th grade JV game, one of two wins on the afternoon for Coupeville Middle School. (Barb Cope photo)

Defensive enforcer Steven Cope (15) and 8th grade coach Bob Martin discuss strategy. (Barb Cope photo)

Sarah Stuurmans unleashed the beasts.

The Coupeville Middle School 7th grade boys’ basketball coach has a varsity squad chock full of super-quick, turnover-causing wild men, and, let loose Wednesday, they ran visiting Northshore right out of the gym. Jumping to a 19-0 lead, the Wolves spread the joy around, with all ten players eventually scoring as they swatted the Gators 53-23.

The win capped a three-and-a-half hour odyssey of middle school hoops, as Coupeville and the visitors from Everett split four games. The 8th grade JV squad used a flawless second quarter to surge to a 17-9 win, the 7th grade JV team dropped a 9-6 defensive struggle and the 8th grade varsity started strong, but ran out of steam in the second half and fell 72-32.

The split came a day after Coupeville dropped all four of its season-opening games on the road at Lakewood.

Wednesday the highlights came fast and furious, especially in the finale. With Luke Merriman, Hunter Downes and Paul Gallahar raining down buckets from the opening tip, the Wolves came out on fire and never really cooled off.

Pushing the pace every chance they had, with Merriman wheeling and dealing and splitting defenders with precision passes to his open teammates, Coupeville kept the Gators on their heels. With Northshore wildly banging away from three-point land — with little success — most of the rebounds were of the long variety, giving the quicksilver Wolves a head start.

In the second half, it turned into a bit more of a defensive struggle, but mohawked Ethan Loy came up big on the boards for the Wolves and medium-sized Joey Lippo put a punctuation mark on things by rejecting a shot by a Northshore kid who measured in at about six-foot-two.

Merriman paced the Wolves with 11 points, while Downes and Gallahar each chipped in with eight. Loy and Nick Etzell popped for six apiece, Lippo and Cameron Toomey Stout had four each and Kyle Rockwell, Ben Olson and Jake Hoagland each knocked in a bucket.

Bob Martin’s 8th grade varsity, which doesn’t have nearly the same amount of playing experience that Stuurmans’ squad brings to the table, stayed close for much of the first half. Clay Reilly hit a sweet tear drop shot over the outstretched arms of two defenders to pull Coupeville within three, at 23-20, right before halftime.

Things took a sour turn from there, unfortunately, as Northshore begin to relentlessly press and picked apart the Wolves. A 38-6 second-half advantage made the game more of a blowout than it had seemed destined to be.

Grey Rische (14 points) and Gabe Wynn (12) paced the Wolf attack, while Reilly swished four and Blake Gallahar netted two to round out the scoring.

The 7th grade JV game threatened to be a scoreless affair, with Northshore clinging to a 1-0 halftime lead. Things picked up a bit in the second half, as Ethan Spark scored four (all on free throws) and JT Quinn netted a layup off of a pass from Spark.

Northshore clinched the game with two crucial steals in the final minute, converting both into breakaway layups.

The epic afternoon of round-ball mania had kicked off with a second quarter to remember for the 8th grade JV squad. Trailing 9-4 after the first seven minutes (with buckets from Loy and Uriel Liquidano), the Wolves played virtually flawless ball in the final quarter, with Johnathan Thurston scoring all eight of his points during a 13-0 run.

Thurston nailed a pair of jumpers, picked the pocket of a Northshore kid and turned it into a bucket and then capped things with a soft runner in the paint. Blake Gallahar added the other five points in the quarter, the final two coming off a nice pass from Liquidano and Wolf big man Steven Cope swatted away three consecutive shots to close the door.

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