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Friday Harbor football dings Coupeville title hopes

October 2, 2021 by David Svien

Sophomore quarterback Logan Downes scored his second touchdown of the season Friday night. (Photos by JohnsPhotos.net)

Mikey Robinett (45) and Co. play three of their next four games at home.

The dream isn’t dead, but it’s on life support.

Coupeville’s bid to win its first high school football league title since 1990 took a major hit Friday night.

Run over by host Friday Harbor to a 32-6 tune, the Wolves drop to 1-1 in Northwest 2B/1B League play, 1-3 overall.

Coupeville sits a game back of Friday Harbor (2-0, 3-2) and one up on La Conner (0-2, 0-3), with two conference tilts remaining for each team.

CHS travels to La Conner Oct. 15, then the Braves make the jaunt to Friday Harbor Oct. 22.

The season finale, bumped up to a Thursday, goes down in Coupeville Oct. 28, when the Wolves get a second crack at Friday Harbor.

With La Conner in a down season — it lost 63-0 to Friday Harbor and 51-0 to Coupeville the first time around — it seems likely the Braves, barring a miracle, are headed to an 0-4 league campaign.

If so, Friday Harbor would have clinched at least a tie for the NWL title coming in to the final week, though a Coupeville win on Senior Night would make them co-champs.

But I’m getting ahead of myself.

Friday’s game started more than an hour late, thanks to ferry issues, and that seemed to be a sign of things to come for Coupeville.

Trailing 32-0, the Wolves finally got on the board when Logan Downes plunged in on a quarterback keeper late in the fourth quarter.

With the ball in his hands, the sophomore gunslinger went right, then, dodging a would-be tackler, cut back to the left and ran over a dude to put six on the board.

It was his second TD of the season, moving him up into a third-place tie with Tim Ursu, with the duo chasing Dominic Coffman (3) and Scott Hilborn (6).

Coupeville went for a two-point conversion, but Downes ensuing pass was knocked down by Friday Harbor’s Dylan Roberson.

The Wolves had their opportunities Friday, and, if they can correct some mistakes, could put up a strong fight in the rematch.

“It was a tough, physical game,” said Coupeville coach Marcus Carr. “We moved the ball well, but had drives stopped by very untimely penalties and a few turnovers.”

The Wolves get a big test in their next game, and a break from league play, as they host 1A Meridian (3-2) Saturday, Oct. 9.

Kickoff is 7 PM.

The game is a late addition to Coupeville’s schedule, as Meridian’s original opponent, Lynden Christian, is having Covid issues.

Posted in Football | Tagged , , , , | Leave a Comment »

Tense game, solid finish

October 1, 2021 by David Svien

Cael Wilson and Coupeville toppled Grace Academy Friday night in a game decided by penalty kicks. (Photos by JohnsPhotos.net)

Cameron Epp and Co. are 2-4 and headed home for three-straight games.

“The soccer gods were on our side today.”

Coupeville High School boys soccer coach Robert Wood and his team exited Marysville with a hard-fought win Friday night, thanks to some skill and some luck.

The Wolves bounced host Grace Academy 3-2, with the game decided by a penalty kick shootout after two scoreless overtimes.

That finale went down 5-3 in favor of Coupeville, and lifts it to 2-4 in Northwest 2B/1B League play, with both victories coming against the same opponent.

“Strong second half with a good result,” Wood said. “Ending with PK’s is probably the most unfair method known to mankind … but a win is a win, even when the other team outplayed us most of the night.”

Closing out a three-game road trip, the Wolves went to extra time for the second-straight game. Coming off of a loss to La Conner, this ending was much more preferable.

Alex Murdy got CHS on the board with his first high school goal, coming on an “aggressive takeaway and good couple moves to get a power knuckleball shot over the keeper, under the bar.”

Coupeville’s second score came courtesy Nick Guay, who tallied his team-leading third goal of the campaign.

“An aggressive attack on a free ball … cheeky little chip over the keeper rushing the ball and into the goal,” is how his coach fondly remembered it.

Grace forced overtime by scoring in stoppage time, then the two teams failed to score in either of the two five-minute extra periods.

While the Wolves played stellar ball at times, they also benefited from Grace hitting the goal post four times.

Coupeville now returns home for three straight games, starting with a rematch with La Conner next Tuesday, Oct. 5.

The Wolves then host Mount Vernon Christian Oct. 7 and Providence Classical Christian Oct. 9.

Posted in Boys Soccer | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a Comment »

CMS harriers splash to PR’s

October 1, 2021 by David Svien

Ready and rarin’ to run in the rain. (Elizabeth Bitting photos)

“Bring on the liquid sunshine!”

Rain and mud never stopped a Wolf.

Attacking a soaking-wet course which came complete with “two-inch deep puddles” and “one big, muddy, slippery hill,” the Coupeville Middle School cross country team shined brightly in the gloom Thursday afternoon.

The Wolves were competing at a multi-team event in Granite Falls which attracted 118 runners and probably needed a different name this time around.

“Granite Gallop? You mean Granite Galoshing!,” CMS coach Elizabeth Bitting said with a laugh.

“Historically this is our wettest and flattest course of the season! As soon as we arrived the rain began! As soon as the last race finished the rain stopped and rainbows started appearing.

“It was a fun, muddy mess of a run, and all had a great time.”

Despite being soaked, many of the Wolf runners set PR’s, and the girls team finished second in the team race out of six squads, trailing just powerhouse King’s.

Coupeville also made a very positive impression on rival coaches.

“There were athletes smiling as they ran through the puddles,” Bitting said. “A coach from another school even commented to me, ‘Your team ran so well today, coach! Their smiles when you cheer for them is everything!!’

“Compliments like that make a coach proud.”

 

Complete Thursday results (1.7 miles):

 

GIRLS:

Noelle Western (7th) 12:51 *PR*
Ivy Rudat (14th) 14:30
Aleksia Jump (16th) 14:32
Mikayla Wagner (19th) 14:46
Laken Simpson (20th) 14:50 *PR*
Marin Winger (25th) 15:56
Emma McFadden (33rd) 17:50 *PR*
Devon Wyman (35th) 17:57
Mary Western (42nd) 19:58 *PR*

 

BOYS:

Easton Green (13th) 11:39 *PR*
Beckett Green (19th) 12:27
Wyatt Fitch-Marron (23rd) 13:01
Axel Marshall (35th) 14:01
Zack Blitch (52nd) 16:52 *PR*

Posted in Cross Country, Middle School | Tagged , , , , | 1 Comment »

Mr. DeMille, I’m ready for my close-up

October 1, 2021 by David Svien

Natalie Perera leads off a collection of CMS volleyball portraits. (Photos by JohnsPhotos.net)

Let the spikes (and the photos) fly.

As a new season of Coupeville Middle School volleyball gets underway, photographer John Fisken delivers a selection of portraits featuring Wolf players and coaches.

Ava Carpenter

Isabella de Souza Oliveira

Coach Katie Kiel

Abbigail Bond

Carly Burt

Adeline Maynes

Coach Cris Matochi

Posted in Middle School, Volleyball | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a Comment »

Two coaches, two paths to success

October 1, 2021 by David Svien

Cory Whitmore is working on a sixth-straight winning season as CHS volleyball coach. (Photos by JohnsPhotos.net)

Wolf softball guru Kevin McGranahan, coming off a 12-0 season, has led the diamond program to four-straight winning campaigns.

It’s a two-man battle, with a third lurking.

When you look at Coupeville High School’s sports programs, volleyball and softball have had the most sustained success over the past half-decade plus.

The Wolf spikers, currently sitting at 5-2, are playing for a sixth-straight winning season, all under coach Cory Whitmore.

CHS is 5-0 in Northwest 2B/1B league play this year, and has eight matches, seven against conference foes, remaining on the schedule.

Meanwhile, the softballers, playing for Kevin McGranahan, have put together four consecutive campaigns which ended with more wins than losses.

The only other Coupeville coach with an active streak of back-to-back winning seasons is football guru Marcus Carr.

His gridiron teams have finished 3-2 and 5-4 the past two campaigns, and are 1-2 this time around, with five games left to play on the regular-season schedule.

Boys basketball (Brad Sherman), girls tennis (Ken Stange), and baseball (Will Thayer) each have a current one-year streak of winning seasons.

Whitmore and McGranahan both were hired in 2016, both taking over programs which had a losing record the season before.

Since then, they’ve each won 60 games and taken a team to state, though their paths slightly diverge.

Whitmore is the only current CHS coach in any sport with more than one season under their belt to never post a losing record.

Meanwhile McGranahan’s softball squad went 12-0 this spring, believed to be the best finish by any Wolf team in school history, in any sport.

Unfortunately, Covid restrictions scrapped any form of playoffs for the diamond queens.

Which is still better than 2020, when the pandemic erased the whole season for spring teams.

How the coaches with the longest active-winning streaks at CHS match-up through Oct. 1, 2021, with Whitmore set to move ahead with a win next Tuesday at home against Concrete.

 

Cory Whitmore:

2016: 11-6
2017: 13-5 (State)
2018: 11-5
2019: 14-5
2020: 6-3 (Partial season – Covid)
2021: 5-2 (Active)

Total: 60-26

 

Kevin McGranahan:

2016: 9-11
2017: 12-9
2018: 12-9
2019: 15-10 (State)
2020: No season – Covid
2021: 12-0 (Partial season – Covid)

Total: 60-39

Posted in Softball, Volleyball | Tagged , , , , | Leave a Comment »

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