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Close games, big intensity

December 4, 2025 by David Svien

Coupeville defenders Nico Strong (10), Abel O’Neil (middle) and Les Queen (right) converge on a rival in an earlier game. (Julie Wheat photo)

It was a rumble in the side gym.

While their high school counterparts punched it out with Forks next door Thursday, the Coupeville Middle School boys’ basketball squads did their own dance with visiting Lakewood.

Squaring off with a much-bigger school, the Wolves won one and narrowly lost two in an afternoon of close finishes.

 

How the day played out:

 

Level 1:

A single point separated the top squads, with Lakewood sneaking away with a razor-thin 44-43 victory.

While the loss drops Coupeville to 2-4 on the season, the Wolves showed plenty of offensive pop, with a trio of players hitting double-digit scoring on the afternoon.

CMS big man Diesel Eck was rumbling in the paint and popping outside to singe the nets on a three-ball, en route to a game-high 18-point performance.

Backing him up with 10 points each was River Simpson and Kamden Ratcliff, while Trey Stewart banked in three, and Xander Beaman popped for two to round out the attack.

Gracen Joiner, Darius Stewart, Colton Ashby, and Aiden Wheat also saw floor time for the Wolves.

CMS coach Alex Evans (red hat) plots some strategy. (Suzan Georges photo)

 

Level 2:

Another close one, but this time it was the Wolves who got to howl at the end.

Sparked by 14 points off the fingertips of Les Queen, CMS came out on top 33-31 to run its record to a sparkling 5-1.

RayLynn Ratcliff’s squad has won four straight games, with their only loss this season coming early to powerhouse King’s.

While Queen earned top honors in the scoring column, five other Wolves scored as well, led by Braxten Ratcliff, who made the nets jump for seven points.

Nico Strong (4), Xander Flowers (4), Abel O’Neil (2), and Brady Sherman (2) also tallied points, with Brayden Grinstead, Henry Purdue, Mario Martinez, and Hayden Maynes seeing floor time.

 

Level 3:

A late run wasn’t quite enough for Coupeville, which fell 29-22 and sits at 1-4 on the season.

The Wolves poured in 13 of their points in the fourth quarter, but a scoreless third stung.

Dreyke Mendiola paced CMS with seven points, with Gabe Reed (6), Luke Blas (5), Alton Hansen (3), and LJ Schultz (1) also making the scorebook keeper burn some pencil lead.

Oliver Miller, Burke Winger, Jack Bailey, Vincent Alguire, Logan Dees, Jon Driscoll, Dom Durbin, and Logan Flowers rounded out the roster, bringing passion and grit to their time on the floor.

 

Up next:

Two more games left in the season, and they are both Monday matinees at home.

Coupeville hosts Sultan Dec. 8, then wraps the campaign by welcoming South Whidbey to Cow Town Dec. 15. Tipoff is 3:15 PM each time.

Posted in Boys Basketball, Middle School | Tagged , , , , | Leave a Comment »

Lone Wolf opens swim season strongly

December 4, 2025 by David Svien

Finn Price is back for a fourth season of high school swim. (Photo courtesy Rachel Price-Rayner)

He’s back in his element.

Coupeville High School senior Finn Price kicked off his fourth year as a Lone Wolf swimmer Thursday, competing in a meet alongside his training buddies from Kamiak.

The aquatic rumble also included Mountlake Terrace and Archbishop Thomas Murphy, as well as South Whidbey swimmers, who like Price, have to hook up with bigger schools since their own doesn’t have a full swim program.

Coupeville’s king of the deep, who is aiming for a third-straight trip to state this winter, opened with a win in the 50 free and a second in the 100 free.

While he’s battling sickness, which took a bit off his times, Price still hit marks Thursday that punched his entry to next February’s district meet.

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Help Wolves shoot ‘n score with toy drive

December 4, 2025 by David Svien

Get ready to rumble, for a good cause.

Coupeville High School basketball players are launching their annual toy drive to benefit local youth, and Wolf fans will have multiple opportunities to help the cause.

When you attend CHS hoops games this month, you’ll see boxes in the lobby of the gym awaiting delivery of new, unopened toys.

As usual, there’s also a bit of a side bet to the whole thing, as one box is labeled “Girls”, and one box is labeled “Boys.”

That has nothing to do with which children will receive which toys but instead draws the battle lines between the two CHS hoops programs, as they compete to see which team can collect the most toys.

Last season, the Wolves collected 200+ gifts, and this time around they’re hoping to surpass that number.

There is home games set for Dec. 4, 6, 9, and 16 to grant you easy access to donate.

This year as well, there is a GoFundMe being run for the Holiday House, which is where the toys are dispersed through.

To see that fundraiser, pop over to:

https://www.gofundme.com/f/save-christmas-for-local-children

 


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Some milestones, some pain

December 3, 2025 by David Svien

Wolf hoops hotshot Haylee Armstrong cracked the 100-point career club in Tuesday’s season opener. (Photo courtesy Michelle Armstrong)

The net was unforgiving.

The Coupeville High School varsity girls’ basketball team suffered through a cold-shooting night for much of Tuesday’s season opener, and if you can’t score, you can’t win.

The second quarter particularly stung the Wolves, leaving a new-look CHS squad on the wrong side of a 45-28 score in an Island rivalry rumble with visiting South Whidbey.

Coupeville, which is being coached by Scout Smith this season as Megan Richter takes a leave of absence to deliver her second child, could not get anything to drop in the first quarter.

Haylee Armstrong made off with a steal and slapped home the bucket midway through the frame, but that was it for the Wolves, as everything else slid off the rim, popped back out, or simply refused to fall through the bottom of the net.

Thankfully for CHS, its defense was on point, and the deficit was a modest one at 6-2 when the first break came roaring up on the teams.

Unfortunately for the Wolves, while their own shooting woes continued into the second quarter, South Whidbey found a bit of a groove, dropping in a pair of three-balls during a 19-9 surge.

The second quarter added physical pain to mental pain, as sparkplug sophomore Adeline Maynes, who hit three free throws in her varsity hoops debut, got crunched and spent the remainder of the game with an ice bag on her forehead.

Coupeville pulled off a pair of highlight reel buckets, with Tenley Stuurmans scoring off a ball saved by a major hustle play from Capri Anter, and Kennedy O’Neill converting a bucket set up by a zippy pass from Armstrong.

But the Falcons were scoring in gobs and stretched the lead out to 25-11 at the half and 34-11 late in the third.

Showing a scrappiness reminiscent of the playing style of their acting coach, the Wolves did rally, closing the third on a 7-1 run before battling to a 10-10 stalemate across the final frame.

Coupeville’s leading returning scorer, senior Teagan Calkins, who was held down in the first half, popped in a pair of second half buckets off of stellar set-up passes from Ari Cunningham and Stuurmans.

That allowed “The Red Dragon” to move into the top 50 on the CHS girls’ career scoring chart.

Calkins, who finished with five points in the opener, now has 247 for her varsity career, putting her in a temporary tie with CHS grads Mia Farris and Marlys West at #49 on a chart which began back in 1974.

Stuurmans paced the Wolves with eight points, while Armstrong pumped in six to crack the 100-point club — she has 104 and counting heading into Coupeville’s next game Saturday at home against Eastside Prep.

Maynes (3), O’Neill (2), Sydney Van Dyke (2), and Anter (2) also scored for CHS, with Danica Strong, Cunningham, and Lexis Drake all seeing floor time as well.

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Rough opener for CHS varsity boys

December 3, 2025 by David Svien

Camden Glover played strongly in the paint Tuesday night. (Marquette Cunningham photo)

It’s a work in progress.

Playing minus two key players Tuesday, a new-look Coupeville High School varsity boys’ basketball squad struggled to contain a quick, efficient South Whidbey team, falling 57-42 in the season opener.

The bad news?

The game actually wasn’t that close, as the Wolves trailed by as many as 28 points in the fourth quarter.

The good news?

The Wolves stayed scrappy until the end, even after their most dangerous big man fouled out, and closed the game on a 18-5 tear that saw six different players put the ball in the hoop.

Coupeville started the season without leading scorer Chase Anderson and high-energy Davin Houston, both on the sideline in street clothes, and things got out of hand quickly.

Camden Glover rolled inside for a bucket in the paint to make it 2-2, with running mate Malachi Somes drawing an offensive charge on a South Whidbey ballhandler on the very next play.

Then things got bumpy.

South Whidbey ripped off 12 unanswered points, with four consecutive buckets coming off of steals, and kept pushing the pace en route to a 20-5 lead at the first break.

The deficit stretched out to 23-5 early in the second frame, before the Wolves were finally able to put together a sustained run of their own.

A jumper from Glover kick-started an 11-5 tear for CHS, with Somes and Mahkai Myles combining for seven of those points, while Liam Blas and Glover hit the boards hard.

But South Whidbey had an answer on this evening, rallying to score the final five points of the half to carry a 33-16 advantage into the halftime break.

The third quarter was more of the same for the Wolves.

Aiden O’Neill went coast to coast for a pretty bucket, but South Whidbey responded with an immediate 11-0 spurt, crushing any hopes of a CHS comeback.

It wasn’t until the fourth quarter, with Glover being fouled out by overly sensitive refs and the Falcons up 52-24, that Coupeville found a truly consistent groove.

O’Neill knocked down a three-ball from the top, and he, Myles, Somes, Riley Lawless, Carson Grove, and Easton Green all scored as the Wolves dominated the final five minutes after struggling through the first 27.

Somes, who played a standout game on both sides of the ball, even after taking a hard shot to the head, paced Coupeville with a varsity career-high 12 points, while Glover banked in nine and Myles knocked down eight in his varsity debut.

O’Neill (5), Grove (3), Lawless (2), Green (2), and Sage Arends (1) scored as well, with Blas and Nathan Coxsey also seeing floor time.

The Wolves get a chance to carry over their hot finish when they play host to Forks Thursday and Eastside Prep Saturday.

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