One of Coupeville’s hardest-working young athletes needs our help.
Liza Zustiak, a sophomore at CHS, plays basketball and competes in track and field for the Wolves, while also putting in plenty of hours in the equestrian world.
She’s largely self-financed in that field, popping up on Facebook seeking work cleaning stalls and such to pay her own way.
Now, Zustiak is asking for a bit of help to meet the financial requirements to compete with the Interscholastic Equestrian Association.
IEA is a nonprofit group which gives riders in grades 4-12 a chance to vie in team and individual equestrian competition.
Zustiak is hoping to compete in Hunt seat and Western, and there could be a big payoff at the end, as those who make it to nationals have a chance to win scholarships.
The biggest prize in 2022 was a cool million dollars.
To be able to compete in five shows between October and January, Zustiak needs to raise $450, and a $70 fee per discipline.
The talented, outgoing young woman, who is a daughter, niece, cousin, and sister to CHS grads, is hard at work raising money one stall at a time, but Wolf Nation can get her over the top.
Think about helping one of Coupeville’s best and brightest achieve her dreams and pop over to:
The buildup to next Friday’s football clash between Coupeville and Forks begins Monday with the start of class competitions and continues through a parade and the game itself.
Day one brings with it “Class Colors,” though none of the four classes gets red, black, or white — Coupeville’s actual colors.
Instead, it’s yellow for freshmen, pink for sophomores, blue for juniors, and green for seniors.
OK…
Tuesday is “Country vs. Country Club,” followed by “Wacky Wednesday,” with Thursday all about paying tribute to “The USA” and Friday being “School Spirit.”
As the week plays out, there are two home games for CHS teams, both featuring volleyball, with fans asked to cram the stands in support of the Wolves.
Coupeville’s spikers host Concrete Tuesday on Dig Pink Night and Mount Vernon Christian Thursday, with both rumbles set to tip at 5:00.
Finally, the annual Homecoming parade is set to wind down Main Street and Front Street starting at 3:00 PM Friday, with the gridiron clash kicking off at 5:00 PM.
The dance, with the theme “A Night in Greece,” goes down Saturday at 8:00.
Friday night there was no liquid sunshine as in earlier games, just Ezra Boilek raining down goals. (Jackie Saia photo)
Does Ezra Boilek know who Jim Croce was?
Maybe, maybe not, but Friday night the former lived up to the words sung by the latter during pregame warmups.
And he’s bad, bad Leroy Brown.
The baddest man in the whole damn town.
Badder than old King Kong.
And meaner than a junkyard dog.
Now, Ezra Boilek actually seems like a pretty mellow dude in real life, but on the pitch, he was Grace Academy’s worst nightmare.
Raining down not one, not two, but FIVE goals in one half of play, the sharpshooter with the golden leg spurred the Wolves to a resounding 5-2 win under Friday Night Lights.
The victory lifts Coupeville to 2-1 in Northwest 2B/1B League play, 5-2 overall, and sets up a royal rumble next Tuesday, Oct. 10.
The Wolves, currently ranked #5 in Washington Interscholastic Activities Association RPI, travel to Friday Harbor to face the defending state champs, who sit at 3-0, 6-1 and #2.
The two schools played in the season opener, with Coupeville falling in a game considered a non-conference affair.
This time around, the game counts in the league standings and has huge playoff implications.
Friday night was all about not getting caught looking too far ahead, and Coupeville took care of business.
Squaring off with a scrappy Grace Academy squad, the Wolves launched an attack on the goal, and Boilek, who spent his freshman season as a kicker for the CHS football team, finished things off with a bang.
His first score came from the right side a few minutes into play, then he cranked goal #2 with a little extra mustard on it.
Score #3 came from the middle of the field, Boilek slapping the ball into the left corner of the net, then wham-bam-thank-you-ma’am he rattled home two more goals before the game’s first 40 minutes were up.
Is his five-goal nuclear explosion a school single-game record for Wolf boys?
It appears so, since CHS career scoring leaders Abraham Leyva and Derek Leyva, who tallied 45 and 38 goals respectively, both topped out at four goals in one game.
So, raise one finger, then two, three, four, and finally, the full hand for Boilek, who was repeatedly mobbed by excited teammates.
In one half Boilek went from one career goal to six, pushing him to a tie for #19 on the all-time Wolf boys’ list, along with Xavier Murdy, Zack Nall, and James Wood.
Wolf sharpshooters (l to r) Preston Epp, Boilek, and Nick Guay live to terrorize goaltenders. (Carly Burt photo)
Grace Academy did manage one goal of its own midway through the first half, then scraped out a second one late in the game after Coupeville had gone to a JV-heavy lineup.
When Boilek wasn’t crushing the life out of the ball, teammates Preston Epp, Ayden Wyman, and Cael Wilson had strong looks at the net, but came up just short of scoring.
Coupeville’s defense was on point all night, especially in the first half, with Hank Milnes, Andrew Williams, Quinten Simpson-Pilgrim and Co. clamping down hard on any potential shooters.
Chase Anderson is a two-way warrior for Coupeville. (Photo by JohnsPhotos.net)
A lot has changed in a year.
Jump back to fall 2022 and 2B Coupeville pounded the crud out of 2A Bellingham to the tune of 48-6, part of a 7-2 season for the Wolves.
Now, return to 2023 and the tide has turned, as the Bayhawks answered back Friday on their home field, shredding CHS for seven touchdowns — all on plays of 30+ yards — en route to a 50-7 victory.
The non-conference loss drops the Wolves, who were missing five starters, to 1-5 on the season heading into a Homecoming showdown with Forks, which is 4-1 with a Saturday clash with Friday Harbor on their schedule.
Coupeville had the game’s first highlight play Friday, with Marcelo Gebhard recovering a Bellingham fumble.
After that, positive plays were few and far between for the Wolves.
The Bayhawks defense stiffened and got the ball back, then quarterback Josh Leonard went to work.
A 6-foot-3 senior who transferred from Squalicum to join his dad Adam, the head coach at Bellingham, he tossed four touchdown passes in the first quarter, breaking off 49, 40, 58, and 42-yard scoring bombs.
Toss in a 38-yard scoring run by Christian Olberg and the home team was up 36-0 at the first break.
Bellingham added a pair of rushing touchdowns, covering 30 and 37 yards, to coast into halftime with a 50-0 lead and a running clock on the horizon.
In the midst of all that scoring, Coupeville did force another turnover, with freshman Davin Houston snaring a fumble to join Gebhard in the ball retrieval business.
With the clock rolling relentlessly, neither team scored in the third quarter, then Coupeville finally cracked the end zone on its own long-distance play.
Logan Downes limbers up his arm. (Bailey Thule photo)
Senior QB Logan Downes connected on a 49-yard scoring strike with sophomore Chase Anderson midway through the fourth quarter, with Anderson tacking on the PAT.
It was the fourth touchdown of the season for the young gun, pulling him closer to fellow sophomore Aiden O’Neill, who leads the Wolves with five scores.
For Downes, the pass was historical.
His 13th touchdown bomb of the season, it gives him 33 for his career, tying him with current CHS boys’ basketball coach Brad Sherman for #2 all-time in program history.
Logan Downes needs two TD passes to tie older brother Hunter for the top spot, and three to stand alone on top of gunslinger hill.
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