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Clear your schedule!!

July 3, 2018 by David Svien

Coupeville Athletic Director Willie Smith giggles as he pulls off yet another schedule change. (Photo by JohnsPhotos.net)

The countdown has begun.

Yes, we’re still knee-deep in summer, which you can tell by the frequent rain storms. But, out there on the horizon, you can see the faintest rumors of the approaching fall sports season.

The first game — a non-conference road football clash Aug. 31 with Port Townsend — is 59 days away.

After that comes the first league battle (boys tennis Sept. 5) and the first home games (volleyball and girls soccer Sept. 6).

The new school year will bring a new league, as Coupeville has bolted from the 1A Olympic League after four years to get in on the ground floor of the new 1A North Sound Conference.

That means Klahowya is long gone, while Chimacum and Port Townsend remain only as the occasional non-conference entry on the schedule.

CHS will square off with South Whidbey, King’s, Cedar Park Christian-Bothell, Sultan and Granite Falls in the new league, though boys tennis will face a slightly different road than their fellow athletes.

The Wolf netters, along with South Whidbey, the only other North Sound Conference school to play boys tennis, will compete in the Emerald City League.

That pits the two Island schools against private school powerhouses like two-time defending state champs University Prep.

The league change also affects Coupeville’s middle school teams, as they get away from ginormous Stevens and Sequim, which fed 2A high schools, as well as leaving Forks, Chimacum and Blue Heron behind.

Sultan, Granite Falls, King’s and Langley form the core of the new foes, with Northshore Christian Academy also in the mix for some sports.

With some trepidation, I offer the schedules below, which cover five high school and three middle school programs.

While I’d like to believe these are the final, set-in-stone, schedules, I know that’s wishful thinking.

So, as we move forward, keep an eye on both the school and league sites, because things can, and will, change.

School calendar — http://coupeville.tandem.co/

League web site — http://www.nscathletics.com/index.php?pid=0.60.0.0.200

 

High School (* = league game):

 

BOYS TENNIS (Varsity & JV):

Sept. 5 – @ South Whidbey (3:30) *
Sept. 7 – Eastside Prep (3:30) *
Sept. 11 – University Prep (3:30) *
Sept. 14 – Bush (3:30) *
Sept. 15 – @ Chimacum (3:00)
Sept. 17 – @ Overlake (3:30) *
Sept. 19 – Bear Creek (3:30) *
Sept. 21 – @ Seattle Academy (3:30) *
Sept. 24 – South Whidbey (3:30) *
Sept. 26 – @ Eastside Prep (3:30) *
Sept. 28 – @ University Prep (3:30) *
Oct. 3 – @ Bush (3:30) *
Oct. 5 – Overlake (3:30) *
Oct. 10 – @ Bear Creek (3:30) *
Oct. 15 – Seattle Academy (3:30) * SENIOR NIGHT

 

CROSS COUNTRY (Varsity & JV):

Sept. 5 – @ Granite Falls (4:00) *
Sept. 8 – @ Sehome Invitational (9:30 AM)
Sept. 15 – @ Carl Westling Invitational (South Whidbey) (TBA)
Sept. 22 – @ King’s Roller Coaster Trail Run (Shoreline) (TBA)
Oct. 4 – @ South Whidbey (4:00) *
Oct. 6 – @ Nike Hole in the Wall XC Invitational (Lakewood) (9:00 AM)
Oct. 11 @ King’s (4:00) *
Oct. 20 – @ North Sound Conference Championships (TBA)
Oct. 27 – @ Districts (TBA)
Nov. 3 – @ State (TBA)

 

FOOTBALL (Varsity):

Aug. 31 – @ Port Townsend (7:00)
Sept. 7 – Vashon Island (6:00)
Sept. 14 – Friday Harbor (TBA)
Sept. 21 – @ La Conner (7:00)
Sept. 28 – King’s (7:00) *
Oct. 5 – Sultan (7:00) * HOMECOMING
Oct. 12 – @ South Whidbey (7:00) *
Oct. 19 – @ Cedar Park Christian-Bothell (7:00) *
Oct. 26 – Granite Falls (7:00) * SENIOR NIGHT

 

FOOTBALL (JV):

Oct. 1 – @ King’s (5:30) *
Oct. 8 – @ Sultan (5:30) *
Oct. 15 – South Whidbey (5:30) *
Oct. 22 – Cedar Park Christian-Bothell (5:30) *
Oct. 29 – @ Granite Falls (5:30) *

 

GIRLS SOCCER (Varsity):

Sept. 4 – @ Meridian (4:00)
Sept. 6 – Friday Harbor (4:30)
Sept. 11 – King’s (6:45) *
Sept. 13 – Sultan (6:45) *
Sept. 15 – @ Chimacum (3:00)
Sept. 18 – @ Cedar Park Christian-Bothell (6:00) *
Sept. 22 – @ Mount Vernon Christian (12:00)
Sept. 25 – @ South Whidbey (6:00) *
Sept. 27 – Granite Falls (6:45) *
Oct. 2 –  @ King’s (6:00) *
Oct. 4 – Port Townsend (6:15)
Oct. 9 – @ Sultan (7:00) *
Oct. 11 – Cedar Park Christian-Bothell (6:45) *
Oct. 15 – South Whidbey (6:45) * SENIOR NIGHT
Oct. 17 – @ Granite Falls (6:00) *

 

GIRLS SOCCER (JV):

Sept. 11 – King’s (4:00) *
Sept. 13 – Sultan (4:00) *
Sept. 18 – @ Cedar Park Christian-Bothell (4:00) *
Sept. 25 – @ South Whidbey (4:00) *
Sept. 27 – Granite Falls (4:00) *
Oct. 2 – @ King’s (4:00) *
Oct. 9 – @ Sultan (5:00) *
Oct. 11 – Cedar Park Christian-Bothell (4:00) *
Oct. 15 – South Whidbey (4:00) *
Oct. 17 – @ Granite Falls (4:00) *

 

VOLLEYBALL (Varsity):

Sept. 1 – @ Oak Harbor Jamboree (9:00 AM)
Sept. 6 – Friday Harbor (4:30)
Sept. 8 – @ South Whidbey Invitational (9:00 AM)
Sept. 18 – @ Cedar Park Christian-Bothell (7:00) *
Sept. 25 – @ South Whidbey (7:00) *
Sept. 27 – Granite Falls (7:00) *
Oct. 2 – @ King’s (7:00) *
Oct. 4 – Port Townsend (6:15)
Oct. 9 – @ Sultan (7:00) *
Oct. 11 – Cedar Park Christian-Bothell (7:00) *
Oct. 13 – @ Wenatchee Invite (8:00 AM)
Oct. 15 – South Whidbey (7:00) *
Oct. 17 – @ Granite Falls (7:00) *
Oct. 23 – King’s (7:00) *
Oct. 25 – Sultan (7:00) * SENIOR NIGHT

 

VOLLEYBALL (JV):

Sept. 1 – @ Oak Harbor Jamboree (9:00 AM)
Sept. 6 – Friday Harbor (6:15)
Sept. 8 – @ South Whidbey Invitational (9:00 AM)
Sept. 18 – @ Cedar Park Christian-Bothell (5:15) *
Sept. 25 – @ South Whidbey (5:15) *
Sept. 27 – Granite Falls (5:15) *
Oct. 2 – @ King’s (5:15) *
Oct. 4 – Port Townsend (4:15)
Oct. 9 – @ Sultan (5:15) *
Oct. 11 – Cedar Park Christian-Bothell (5:15) *
Oct. 15 – South Whidbey (5:15) *
Oct. 17 – @ Granite Falls (5:15) *
Oct. 23 – King’s (5:15) *
Oct. 25 – Sultan (5:15) *

 

Middle School:

 

CROSS COUNTRY:

Sept. 15 @ Westling Invitational (South Whidbey) (TBA)
Sept. 20 @ Lakewood (3:30)
Sept. 22 @ King’s XC Invite (TBA)
Oct. 2 @ Granite Falls (3:30)
Oct. 6 @ Nike Hole in the Wall Invitational (Lakewood) (9:00 AM)
Oct. 9 @ Sultan (3:30)
Oct. 17 @ League Championships (TBA)

 

FOOTBALL:

Sept. 13 – @ King’s (3:30)
Sept. 19 – Sultan (3:45)
Sept. 26 – @ Langley (3:30)
Oct. 4 – @ Sultan (3:30)
Oct. 10 – King’s (3:45)
Oct. 17 – Langley (3:45)

 

VOLLEYBALL:

Sept. 18 – Sultan (3:00)
Sept. 20 – Lakewood (3:00)
Sept. 25 – @ Northshore Christian (3:15)
Sept. 27 – @ Granite Falls (3:00)
Oct. 2 – @ King’s (3:15)
Oct. 3 – Langley (3:00)
Oct. 9 – @ Sultan (3:15)
Oct. 11 – Northshore Christian (3:00)
Oct. 16 – @ Langley (3:30)
Oct. 18 – Granite Falls (3:00)

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“We are on our way!!”

July 2, 2018 by David Svien

After building a winning program in Concrete, Marcus Carr has returned to Whidbey to coach the Coupeville High School football team. (Photo courtesy Carr)

Marcus Carr is ready for the challenge.

While recent history has not been kind to Coupeville High School football — Carr is the fifth head coach in nine seasons, and none of his four predecessors posted a winning record — positive change can happen quickly on the gridiron.

Having made the jump from Concrete, where he won 13 games across two seasons, the new Wolf head coach is tackling the past head-on, while aiming for future success.

“It is hard on the players with the amount of turnover,” Carr said. “I have had several meetings with the players to discuss the state of the program and my goals and their goals for our future.

“I let them know it will be a process to get where we want to be,” he added. “With hard work and dedication from myself, the assistant coaches and the players, I am confident we will turn things around!”

After playing high school football as a young man in Oklahoma, Carr joined the Navy but never strayed far from the game he loves.

“I like the competition, and teamwork. It’s truly a team sport, no one person can do it alone,” he said. “It also creates great camaraderie.”

He’s led numerous youth teams in Virginia, Texas and Washington state, coaching both in Oak Harbor and Mount Vernon after he and his family arrived on Whidbey in 2005.

Carr moved into high school coaching as an assistant with Mt. Vernon, put in time as an offensive coordinator with the Arlington Grizzles semi-pro team, then took the reins as head coach in Concrete in 2016.

Under his guidance, the Lions went 6-3 in 2016 and 7-3 in 2017, winning the Northwest League title last season.

Since retiring from the Navy in 2012, Carr has balanced living in Oak Harbor with working off the Island. He’s currently doing IT for the Mount Vernon School District.

While he enjoyed his time with the Concrete football program, the chance to run a team on Whidbey had a special lure.

“I have wanted to coach high school football on the Island for several years,” Carr said. “I am excited to have the opportunity.”

With CHS assistants Brad Sherman and Jerry Helm stepping down in an effort to carve out a little more time in busy lives while balancing young children and real-world jobs, the Wolves coaching staff will have a different look this year.

But it should be one operating on the same page, as Carr will be joined by “a staff of coaches that I have coached with before.”

As Coupeville moves into the new 1A North Sound Conference this fall, joining Sultan, King’s, Granite Falls, South Whidbey and Cedar Park Christian-Bothell, the football players will be among the first Wolves to see action.

As they do, their new coach is aiming for success, both in the present and in the future.

“We want to re-energize the program,” Carr said. “Win league and make the playoffs.

“I want our team to be one of the top 10 teams in 1A year after year,” he added. “It won’t happen overnight, it’s going to take a lot of hard work and dedication.

“But, with the energy that the coaching staff has brought in and the hardworking, enthusiastic players we had in spring football, we are on our way!”

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Where everyone (sorta) knows your name!!

July 2, 2018 by David Svien

Gaze upon the logo for Coupeville’s new league. (Photo courtesy Scott Sifferman)

We’re going home again. In a way.

After four years in the 1A Olympic League, Coupeville High School is reuniting with four old rivals (and one new one) to launch the 1A North Sound Conference when the 2018-2019 school year begins this fall.

The new league is comprised of refugees from the imploded 1A/2A Cascade Conference, where the Wolves spent eight years from 2006-2007 to 2013-2014.

Gone are the 2A schools (Archbishop Thomas Murphy, Lakewood and Cedarcrest), so on with the (slightly) more-balanced party.

Coupeville reunites with South Whidbey, King’s, Sultan and Granite Falls, while coming face-to-face with the school which replaced it in the Cascade Conference, Cedar Park Christian-Bothell.

But, since no current Wolf athlete ever played in a Cascade Conference game, it might be a good idea to offer a refresher on just who Coupeville’s new league mates will be.

The new league:

http://www.nscathletics.com/index.php?pid=0.60.0.0.200

 

Cedar Park Christian-Bothell

Location: Um … Bothell

Public or private: Private

Student body count (2016 WIAA counts): 249.38

Established: 1982

Mascot: Eagles

Colors: Blue and gold, purple, yellow

Team state titles: Girls Soccer – 2001, 2002, 2003; Softball – 2003

Fast facts: The main campus for a private Christian school (preschool-12th grade) which also has sites in Everett, Mountlake Terrace, Lynnwood and Mill Creek; affiliated with the Assembly of God church; one-year tuition for high school student – $9,992; hired former Bellevue football coach Butch Goncharoff, who won 11 state titles before a Seattle Times investigation forced WIAA to (very briefly) punish Bellevue for numerous alleged improprieties.

 

King’s:

Location: Shoreline

Public or private: Private

Student body count (2016 WIAA counts): 354.38

Established: 1950

Mascot: Knights

Colors: White, red

Team state titles: 51 spread across multiple sports. I’m not listing them all.

Fast facts: Before turning to education, site housed a tuberculosis sanitarium; rumors abound that “some of the damp tunnels connecting buildings are still haunted by the ghosts of TB victims;” was known as King’s Garden until ’79; one-year tuition for high school student – $15,950; 98% of its students go on to higher education, while other 2% are no longer welcome home for Thanksgiving.

 

Granite Falls:

Location: Um … Granite Falls

Public or private: Public

Student body count (2018 WIAA appeal): 367.25

Established: 1896

Mascot: Tigers

Colors: Black, orange

Team state titles: Baseball – 2006

Fast facts: Known as “The Gateway to the Mountain Loop;” originally used by Native Americans to portage their canoes between fishing grounds; had a gold rush in 1889; had runs as both a mining and logging town; celebrates Railroad Days first Saturday in Oct.; former Coupeville assistant Alex Heilig coached GF football for one season in 2015, went 1-9.

 

South Whidbey:

Location: Langley

Public or private: Public

Student body count (2016 WIAA counts): 358.38

Established: 1981 (*previously Langley High School)

Mascot: Falcons

Colors: Blue and white

Team state titles: Boys Cross Country – 2000; Girls Golf – 2016

Fast facts: Has lost four of last six football games to Coupeville, with one former Falcon coach (a two-time loser) purposefully denting The Bucket, the trophy which is held by the winner; the snarky chant “Drive home safely,” directed at rival fans after South Whidbey wins, is both kind of annoying and kind of funny; the part of the Island where all the weird murders happen (seriously, go do a Google search); admittedly, a pretty nice school, with several athletes and coaches who have been very generous to me — Maia Sparkman, Oliana Stange, Kody and Hayley Newman, Tom Fallon, Mark Hodson, Mary Zisette and Lewis Pope to name a few.

 

Sultan:

Location: Um … Sultan

Public or private: Public

Student body count (2016 WIAA counts): 347.13

Established: 1888

Mascot: Turks

Colors: Navy, white, Columbia blue

Team state titles: Girls Soccer – 2002

Fast facts: Town named (sorta) for Snohomish Indian chief Tseultd, whose name was changed to Sultan John by white settlers; hosted the Sky River Rock Fest and Lighter Than Air Fair in 1968, which brought Richard Pryor, The Grateful Dead, Santana and “20,000-plus hippies” to town; former Turk basketball player Cooper Beucherie, he of the white boy dreadlocks, once kicked a chair into about the 12th row of the stands after being ejected from a basketball game at Coupeville. I miss the dude – he was entertaining.

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Fire up fan mail for Coach Ford!!

July 1, 2018 by David Svien

Go find a stamp and mail a card to former Coupeville track coach Larrie Ford as he recuperates in Seattle. (Photo courtesy David Ford)

I’m gonna need you to go find a stamp.

Then go send a card to former Coupeville High School track and field coach Larrie Ford as he continues to battle back after surgery.

Coach Ford, a fully-accredited member of the Coupeville Sports Hall of Fame, has moved to the Washington Care Center in Seattle after a three-month-plus stay at Careage.

That’s actually a huge positive, as he recovers from a leg amputation.

At the VA-contracted facility in Seattle, Coach Ford will be focusing on transitioning to the next stage of rehab as he works towards being able to have a prosthesis.

Both during his time at CHS and afterwards, he made a tremendous impact on the local sports community.

There was no project he wouldn’t support, and he put his money, time and spirit into everything he did.

Coach Ford was one of my first, and most loyal supporters, with this blog, but we go back much further.

He used to be a regular presence at Videoville during my video store days, a master of storytelling, and just an all around good guy.

As he goes through rehab, one of the best ways we can support him is to make sure he knows how important he is to his home community.

During his time at Careage, he collected 61 cards, according to son David Ford, and they hung on his wall, a reminder of everyone who was pulling for him.

Now that’s he in the big city, we need to step it up and flood his room with cards and notes.

Let Coach Ford know what an impact he had on Coupeville. What an important role he played, both on the athletic stage and off.

And that we expect him to walk back onto Mickey Clark Field at some point in the near future.

So, get going, get a stamp and fire off something to:

Larrie Ford
Room 253
2821 S Walden St
Seattle, WA 98144

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Kick off your soccer career!!

July 1, 2018 by David Svien

   Want to be a rock star like Avalon Renninger? Start by playing youth soccer today. (Photo by JohnsPhotos.net)

Want to scratch an itch to play on the pitch? You’re in luck.

The Central Whidbey Soccer Club has risen liken a phoenix in recent weeks, installing a completely new board of directors who are hitting the ground running.

“Everyone has come in with some fresh ideas and everyone is very enthusiastic about the future of the club,” said new CWSC President Reese Cernick.

First up on the agenda is registration for the fall season, with sign-ups starting July 1 and running through Sept. 6.

Games will be played Sept. 15-Nov. 3.

The league is offering a mix of girls, boys and co-ed teams this season. The lineup:

U6 Co-Ed (Birth year of player – 2013)
U8 Co-Ed (Birth years 2011-2012)
U10 Girls (2009-2010)
U10 Boys (2009-2010)
U12 Girls (2007-2008)
U12 Boys (2007-2008)
U15 Co-Ed (2004-2006)

Cost is $75 per player.

CWSC is also in urgemt need of coaches, with openings for both head coaches and assistants.

For more info or to register, pop over to:

http://www.centralwhidbeysoccer.com/

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