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Rough night, but it’s just a night

December 16, 2022 by David Svien

Wolves Cole White (front) and Logan Downes ponder their place in the universe. (Chloe Marzocca photo)

One step at a time.

A new-look Coupeville High School varsity boys’ basketball team has opened the season with four of its first six games coming against schools from higher classifications.

It’s been a learning experience for the Wolves, one which is hopefully preparing them for defending their Northwest 2B/1B League title.

Thursday night, playing at home for the second time in a 24-hour period, Coupeville hit a bit of a rough patch, falling 50-29 to 2A Sedro-Woolley.

It was a game where the Wolves held their own in the second quarter and dominated in the fourth yet took it on the chin in the other two frames.

The non-conference loss drops CHS to 2-4 heading into a road trip Saturday to Forks.

That clash with the Spartans marks the first time this season the Wolves will face off with a fellow 2B school.

The goal for Coupeville will be to take what it learned while getting run over by Sedro and turn it into positives.

And there were some strong moments for the Wolves, just not in the early going.

Alex Murdy dropped a pair of runners to provide Coupeville’s only offense in the first quarter, while Sedro ran circles around its hosts while building a 16-4 lead.

A three-ball to open the second frame pushed the Cubs out in front by 15 points, and that’s where the margin remained for the rest of the first half.

Coupeville clamped down more on defense, and got some tentative bursts of offense, but couldn’t quite get everything to gel at the same time.

That set up a fairly miserable third quarter, with the Wolves absorbing a 16-2 Cub run fueled by a trio of three-balls.

Mixing up his lineup in the final frame, CHS coach Brad Sherman found a unit which clicked, and the Wolves refused to go quietly.

Coupeville closed the night on a 13-3 tear, with Ryan Blouin and Jonathan Valenzuela dropping buckets while they and their teammates increased the defensive intensity.

The Wolves got under the skin of Sedro-Woolley’s coach a bit, and his whining to the refs earned him a rebuke from the guys in the striped shirts.

So, there was that, which was nice.

Overall, Coupeville’s 29 points was its lowest total of the season, by far, as the Wolves rattled the rims for between 54 and 81 in all of its previous games.

Murdy banked in eight to pace the Wolves, with Logan Downes (6), Blouin (5), Valenzuela (4), Nick Guay (2), Dominic Coffman (2), and Chase Anderson (2) also scoring.

Mikey Robinett, Cole White, Jermiah Copeland, Quinten Pilgrim-Simpson, Zane Oldenstadt, and William Davidson rounded out the roster.

Chase Anderson heads to the rim. (Chloe Marzocca photo)

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Road warriors maul Cubs

December 15, 2022 by David Svien

Madison McMillan rumbles in the paint. (Jackie Saia photo)

The fourth quarter belongs to them.

Ending the game on an electric 18-2 surge Thursday, the Coupeville High School JV girls’ basketball squad turned a nailbiter into a blowout win.

With five different players scoring across the final eight minutes, Kassie O’Neil’s band of road warriors exited Sedro-Woolley with a rousing 50-30 non-conference victory to even their record at 2-2.

The Wolf JV gets right back at it Saturday, with an epic trek to Forks, before heading into winter break.

Apparently, the young guns love hearing the wheels on the bus go round and round, as they are a flawless 2-0 away from their home gym this season.

While Coupeville trailed 8-5 after one quarter of play, it rallied behind the sweet shooting of Desi Ramirez-Vasquez and Madison McMillan in frame two.

With the dynamic duo combining for nine points, the Wolves used a 12-8 surge to claim a razor-thin 17-16 lead at the half.

The third quarter was all about Jada Heaton gettin’ hers, as the super sophomore exploded for all eight of her points in the frame.

That gave Coupeville a bit of breathing room at 32-28, but it wasn’t enough as the fourth quarter barrage proved.

Kierra Thayer prepares to get awesome. (Jackie Saia photo)

Kierra Thayer had the hot hand in the final frame, banking in six points, with McMillan, Bryley Gilbert, Reese Wilkinson, and Kayla Arnold joining in on the offensive eruption.

Eight of 12 Wolves scored, led by McMillan (11), Thayer (10), Ramirez-Vasquez (9), and Heaton (8).

Gilbert (4), Arnold (4), Wilkinson (2), and Tegan Calkins (2) also scored, with Liza Zustiak, Brynn Parker, Kassidy Upchurch, and Skylar Parker seeing floor time.

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Cubs get hot, Wolves go cold

December 15, 2022 by David Svien

Aiden O’Neill surges to the hoop. (Chloe Marzocca photo)

Too many runs.

The Coupeville High School JV boys’ basketball squad survived one 11-0 tear by visiting Sedro-Woolley Thursday night.

The second time it happened, however, the Wolves didn’t recover.

Unable to stop a high-flying Sedro offense, Coupeville saw a one-point game turn into something much more like a rout, eventually falling 69-39.

The non-conference loss drops the Wolves to 1-3, with a road game Saturday at Forks next up on the schedule.

Coupeville struck first Thursday, with freshman Aiden O’Neill taking the ball end-to-end for a flying layup.

But then, in the blink of an eye, the visitors responded with a three-ball, kicking off a run of 11 straight points.

The Wolves recovered, step by step, slowing down the game by crashing to the hoop and getting free throws.

Chase Anderson rippled the nets for four charity shots, while Hunter Bronec added a fifth, and CHS chipped the deficit back to 18-9 by the first break.

Playing their best ball of the night, the Wolves jumped on the Cubs as the second quarter started, pulling within 20-19 after Camden Glover knocked down a short jumper in the paint.

That capped a 10-2 Coupeville surge, with Glover and both Hunter and Hurlee Bronec coming up big.

But, as quickly as the momentum shifted to the Wolves, it washed away, and this time when Sedro put the hammer down, it put it down for good.

The game’s second 11-0 run stretched the margin back to double-digits and a couple of late three-balls from the visitors helped them eventually carve out a 39-26 advantage by halftime.

The third quarter was a back-and-forth affair, but Coupeville never again got the deficit under 10, and a 19-3 Sedro rampage in the final frame made the score look worse than it really was.

The Wolves did spread their own offensive attack out, with O’Neill dropping a team-high 11 points.

Hunter Bronec (8), Anderson (6), Hurlee Bronec (5), Glover (4), Jack Porter (3), and Landon Roberts (2) also scored for CHS.

Mikey Robinett, Carson Field, Malachi Somes, Johnny Porter, and Yohannon Sandles rounded out the active roster for CHS coach Hunter Smith.

Hunter Bronec (14) and Jack Porter clamp down on defense. (Chloe Marzocca photo)

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School Board adds new director

December 15, 2022 by David Svien

Alison Perera

There’s a full lineup again.

Coupeville School Board directors chose Alison Perera Thursday to replace longtime board member Glenda Merwine, who recently resigned due to health concerns.

The seat is one of two on the five-member board which are up for election in 2023.

Perera was chosen from a field of six candidates who interviewed for the position.

Mark Conway Valencia, David Ford, Jennifer Marzocca, Chic Merwine, and Gregory Thomas also vied to fill the opening.

Ward Sparacio was originally to be part of that group but withdrew from consideration before his interview.

Perera, a mother of school age children, has been actively involved in the school district for several years.

She has worked with the PTA, Coupeville Farm to School, and the Robotics Club, and has been a member of both the Strategic Planning Committee and the Instructional Materials Committee.

Current board members include Nancy Conard, Sherry Phay, Christine Sears, and Morgan White, with Sears spot the other one set to go to the voters next year.

In addition to adding a new board member Thursday, the directors elected a President and Vice President for the year ahead.

Sears will remain as President, with White as Vice President, inheriting a position previously held by Glenda Merwine.

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RIP to The Zinger

December 15, 2022 by David Svien

Jack Elzinga, a Wolf hoops legend then and now.

They’re a part of the brotherhood of the hardwood, forever.

Wednesday night, Coupeville High School junior Mikey Robinett made his varsity basketball debut, knocking down a pair of buckets to become the 411th player to score for a program which began way back in 1917.

Or at least he’s the 411th player I can document, as there are still many players from the very early days whose names and stats remain hidden behind a veil of prairie fog, their fates bound to long-lost scorebooks.

For every Banky Fisher and Gaylord Stidham, who led the 1939-1940 CHS hoops squad with 44 and 41 points respectively, there remains a bunch of prairie guys from the ’20s and ’30s just out of my grasp.

Which is why it was such a thrill in May 2021 when a program legend suddenly surfaced with new info, gently bemused that I cared so much about his teenage days.

Jack Elzinga filled up the hoops for the Wolves in the early ’50s, then went on to lead an extraordinary life.

One day he Googles himself and finds to his amazement some dude back in his hometown has been name-dropping him on a regular basis.

An email exchange later, with his side of the conversation feeling more like a beautifully handwritten letter, “The Zinger” reveals he’s not only still alive, but possesses info on the 1953-1954 Wolf squad, one of my two holy grails.

Thanks to Elzinga, I’m able to finally lock down finished career numbers for both him and Jerry Zylstra, while getting halfway home in my mission to honor Tom Sahli.

Now, we know for a fact Sahli owns the seventh-best single-season performance by a Coupeville boy, knocking down 409 points as a senior.

Combined with the 310 he tallied as a junior, he sits with 719 points on my list, jumping from #90 to #20 on the career scoring chart.

Now there’s still the matter of that other missing holy grail — a scorebook for Sahli’s sophomore season of 1951-52 — but every time someone cleans out an old barn, hope flutters on the winds.

Thanks to Elzinga’s stats, Zylstra (527 points) moved from #59 to #44 all-time, while Elzinga (770) himself jumped from #25 to #14, then back to #15 after Hawthorne Wolfe passed him last season.

“The Zinger” twice led the Wolves in scoring, rattling the rims for 337 and 309 points as a junior and senior, coming after he notched 124 as a sophomore while playing alongside Sahli.

Last night, after Robinett joined the hoops brotherhood, I was talking to current CHS coach Brad Sherman (#8 all-time on the scoring list) and Elzinga’s name came up.

So today I did my own Google search and was saddened to discover “The Zinger” passed away at age 83 in late August.

His obit mentions he battled heart disease for several years, and in our emails, he mentioned he was likely the only All-District player of his time who had survived polio just five years prior.

In our last exchange, Elzinga capped things thusly:

This has been a ball for me. So happy to share things with someone with your quirky interests.

It was my honor, sir.

Coupeville Sports has opened a door to the past and allowed me, and many others, to remind the world the 106-year tale of Wolf boys basketball is not a dead history, but an ever evolving one.

From Roy Armstrong in the ’20s to Sid Mudgett in the ’50s, from Del O’Shell in the ’80s to Oscar Liquidano in the 2010’s, every player who pulled on the uniform is part of something bigger than themselves.

Why do I write so much about stats — tracking them, name-dropping old school players as new-age players craft their own stories?

Because last night, along with Robinett’s debut, Wolf junior Logan Downes popped for a game-high 17 points, which moves him from 318 points to 335, and bumps him from #91 to #82 on the all-time chart.

That means he passes Jim Yake (331), Aaron Trumbull (330), Brad Brown (328), Charlie Tessaro (328), Utz Conard (326), Ian Smith (324), David Ford (323), Bob Rea (320) and Chris Marti (319) — all heavy hitters.

It doesn’t make their stories any less compelling, but Downes pursuit of excellence gives us a chance to remember what those other players meant to the Wolf program.

Whether you scored 1,137 career varsity points like Jeff Stone and Mike Bagby, or are one of the seven dudes to record exactly one point, you are part of the brotherhood.

Celebrate the past, cheer the present, look forward to the future.

Take a moment to toast “The Zinger,” then show up at the CHS gym tonight as Downes, Alex Murdy, and the current cast square off with Sedro-Woolley, ready to pen another chapter.

 

To read Jack Elzinga’s obit, pop over to:

https://www.gainesville.com/obituaries/pgai0286914

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