Bennett Richter | Coupeville Sports

Posts Tagged ‘Bennett Richter’

Number crunchers warm up to Wolves

Posted in Football, tagged Bennett Richter, CHS Wolves, Computers, Evans Rankings, football on October 3, 2022| Leave a Comment »

Coupeville football is 4-1 and earning the favor of our computer overlords. (Jackie Saia photo)

Movin’ on up.

Coming off of a 35-3 dismantling of league rival Friday Harbor, the Coupeville High School football squad jumps three rungs in the latest computer rankings.

Newman, the often-diabolical computer employed by stats hound Matt Evans on his site, Evans Rankings, has bumped the Wolves from #10 among 2B schools to #7.

Coupeville is a perfect 2-0 against fellow 2B schools this season, with wins over La Conner and Friday Harbor, while going 2-1 against 1A competition.

The Wolves beat Klahowya and Sultan, with their lone defeat coming to South Whidbey, which is 5-0 and also ranked #7 in its classification by Newman.

Next up for CHS is a home non-conference game Thursday against 2A Bellingham, which sits at 2-3 on the season.

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Gridiron giants crack top 10

Posted in Football, tagged Bennett Richter, CHS Wolves, Evans Rankings, football, Top 10 on September 26, 2022| Leave a Comment »

Daylon Houston and Coupeville are getting more respect these days. (Brenn Sugatan photo)

Our computer overlords are a benevolent bunch.

At least this week.

We still need to keep an eye on Skynet, but Newman, the system employed by noted numbers cruncher Matthew Evans, likes Coupeville at the moment.

The latest tally released by Evans Rankings has Wolf football in the top 10 for the first time this season.

Sporting a record of 3-1 heading towards a Homecoming showdown with Friday Harbor, Bennett Richter’s 2B squad has wins over 1A schools Klahowya and Sultan to its credit.

The only loss on the record came to another 1A school, South Whidbey, which is 4-0 and ranked #4 in its classification by Newman.

The work of Evans Rankings doesn’t officially impact the Washington Interscholastic Activities Association and its own RPI rankings, but it should, as the former often turns out to be much more realistic than the latter.

All hail our computer overlords! Now get back to practice.

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Howl all night long

Posted in Football, tagged Bennett Richter, CHS Wolves, football, Klahowya Secondary School, season opener on September 2, 2022| 1 Comment »

Tim Ursu and Coupeville rocked Klahowya, hard. (Nikki Breaux photo)

Hello, Klahowya. Miss us?

Opening a new season with a thunderous roar, the Coupeville High School football squad romped to a 41-21 win Friday in Silverdale.

Coming in Bennett Richter’s debut as Wolf head coach, the non-conference road victory was a landmark for several reasons.

Maybe none bigger than it breaks a seven-game losing streak against Klahowya and gives Coupeville its first-ever football win over their former Olympic League rivals.

The Wolves, who play four of their next five games at home, starting with a rumble with South Whidbey for ownership of The Bucket, endured two separate ferry rides, and a long bus trip, just to get to Silverdale.

The trip home is going to be a joy ride.

Coupeville never trailed, unleashing a run of 27 unanswered points to turn a 14-14 tie into a dominant victory which hushed the Klahowya fans.

The Wolves weren’t perfect, maybe — it was the season-opener, after all — but they were very good when it mattered most.

Three touchdown passes off the fingertips of junior gunslinger Logan Downes, barely missing tying Coupeville’s single-game record of four, jointly held by Corey Cross, Brad Sherman, and big bro Hunter Downes.

Two more scores came on the ground, while Tim Ursu delivered the lightning bolt which fried the Eagles, bolting to daylight on a 75-yard kickoff return which ended with the Wolf senior hitting paydirt in the end zone.

Toss in three interceptions on defense, plus a fumble recovery for Dominic Coffman and a ferocious batted-down pass by William Davidson, and Coupeville was clicking.

And right from the start, as Daylon Houston snapped up the game’s opening kickoff and brought it back almost 80 yards, only getting brought down at the Klahowya six-yard line.

The Wolves seized the early advantage, with Logan Downes rolling to his right three plays later, pegging a touchdown pass to a wide-open Ursu.

Houston drilled the PAT through the uprights, Coupeville held Klahowya to nothing of value on its first possession, and the Wolves looked like they were going to make it two-of-two until one of their few real miscues of the night.

A bad snap on fourth and two from Klahowya’s 30 turned into a loss of 18 yards, and the Eagles responded with their own touchdown to knot things at 7-7.

After that the two teams scuffled for a bit, exchanging defensive stands.

Downes picked off his rival quarterback to stop one Eagles drive, and, for a hot second, the game seemed to be trending towards being a low-scoring affair.

Well, forget about that.

In less than a minute, the rivals combined to score three touchdowns (on just four plays), and the scoreboard started jumping.

Wolf senior Scott Hilborn began the ruckus by blowing through Klahowya’s line en route to a 26-yard jaunt down the left sideline for one touchdown.

Two plays later, Klahowya’s QB threw up a prayer, and had it answered.

Downes almost picked off the long, looping wobbler, but the ball (maybe?) caught a gust of wind and cleared his fingers by a smidge, before dropping in between two other CHS defenders.

Landing, somehow, against all the laws of man and God, on the fingertips of an alert Eagle receiver, it turned into a 68-yard gut-punch of a touchdown.

The game could have gone in either direction at that point. The score was knotted 14-14, the home team had an emotional boost, and…

Enter Tim Ursu.

Goodbye to all your hopes and dreams, Klahowya. Enjoy the nightmares this weekend, and beyond.

On the ensuing kickoff, Ursu snatched the ball off the swanky turf field, stumbled, ever so slightly, then punched the pedal through the metal, leaving 11 Eagles in his wake.

They gave chase, but no one was catching him. And no one was bringing him down.

That immediate payback, turning a 14-14 tie into a 21-14 lead, lit a fire under Coupeville, and the Wolves exploded.

Downes peppered the Klahowya defense, sliding passes into small openings, and the Eagles had no answers for Ralph and Angie’s youngest son.

He dropped a pass over the middle to Coffman, who turned it into a catch-and-destroy 44-yard scoring strike, then came back around to team up with Houston on a 26-yard bonanza.

That stretched Coupeville’s lead out to 35-14, before the Wolf defense slapped a punctuation mark on things right at the end of the first half.

Klahowya was scrambling against the clock and tried to plunge in for a score on the final play before halftime.

Instead, Coupeville’s scrappy gladiators brought the Eagle runner down just short of the goal line, causing Richter and his assistant coaches to punch the air like they were all auditioning for the next Creed movie.

Defense was the word in the second half, with Coupeville picking off two more passes, forcing a fumble and not allowing Klahowya to score again until the clock was under two minutes in the fourth quarter.

On offense, the Wolves rammed the ball up the field, using a variety of runners to pick up yardage and first downs while draining the clock.

Downes kept the defense honest with a few more pass completions, including one to freshman Chase Anderson, but it was the running game which kept Klahowya at bay in the final moments.

Sophomore Johnny Porter tacked on Coupeville’s sixth and final touchdown, turning a two-yard run into a 48-yard romp, shedding would-be tacklers in his wake.

1-0 and headed home. (Photo by JohnsPhotos.net)

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Two coaches, one house

Posted in Wedding of the Century, tagged Bennett Richter, CHS Wolves, Megan Smith, wedding, Willie Smith on August 7, 2022| Leave a Comment »

Coupeville High School athletic legend turned Wolf coach Megan Smith prepares to become Mrs. Bennett Richter. (Dina Ginn photos)

Two empires unite.

Coupeville High School girls basketball coach Megan Smith and Wolf football guru Bennett Richter were wed Saturday, and we have pics.

They’re shot by Dina Ginn, come to us courtesy of the former Ms. Smith (now Mrs. Richter), and continue a tradition started when Megan’s brother Ian wed in 2013.

That tradition?

As shown here and at https://coupevillesports.com/2013/06/29/ian-smith-weds-thousands-of-women-cry-in-the-streets/ it’s apparently my burning desire to be Coupeville’s answer to People magazine.

Coupeville’s new head football coach joins the family.

Tasty treats, artfully plated.

CHS Athletic Director (and proud papa) Willie Smith walks the bride in.

Welcome to a woodsy wonderland.

The “I do” portion of the festivities.

Smoochy-boochies makes it official.

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What’s the story, morning glory?

Posted in Ranting and Raving, tagged 2022-2023 school year, Bennett Richter, Boys Basketball, CHS Wolves, Maddie Georges on August 2, 2022| Leave a Comment »

Logan Downes has two more years to slap home buckets. (Photo by JohnsPhotos.net)

Gaze into our cracked crystal ball.

Looking ahead at the 2022-2023 school year, we can make some educated guesses as to which storylines will dominate conversation in the prep sports world.

Then again, there’s always surprises, whether it’s a worldwide pandemic suddenly surfacing or a team (or athlete) catching fire in an unexpected manner.

You need to stay nimble, remain on your toes, and be ready to have things crash apart in unforeseen ways.

That’s life.

While we wait for those sudden veers, however, here’s some guesses on things which I think will be part of the conversation, stretching from fall out to next spring.

1 — There will be at least one new head coach at Coupeville High School, as Bennett Richter takes the reins of the Wolf football program.

The former CHS Defensive Coordinator, who’s also getting hitched to Wolf girls basketball coach Megan Smith this weekend, replaces Marcus Carr, now calling the shots at Inglemoor.

Richter is the sixth Wolf head gridiron coach in the past 13 seasons, after Ron Bagby retired in 2009 with 26 campaigns in the record book.

2 — Meanwhile Cory Whitmore enters his seventh year as CHS varsity volleyball coach.

He’s posted a winning mark each time out, and his teams have nabbed at least 11 wins in every season except 2020 — when Covid limited the schedule to just nine matches.

Whitmore can post some milestones this time around, as he’s 66-30 at the helm of the Wolves.

His 100th match on the CHS bench is all but guaranteed, a 75th win very likely, and a second trip to state the goal.

3 — Ken Stange is the current dean of Wolf coaches, with long runs with the school’s two tennis programs.

But the pandemic and Coupeville’s move from 1A to 2B, which sent boys soccer from spring to fall, has made it difficult to field a boys tennis team.

After two years of the Wolf male netters being AWOL, will the program return, or will the competition for athletes with cross country, football, and soccer remain a stumbling block?

4 — Helen Strelow, Claire Mayne, and Mitchell Hall will chase a second-straight trip to state once cross country hits the trail, while Strelow also looks to defend her individual Northwest 2B/1B League title.

As year five of the harrier rebirth dawns, what new heights will the Wolves reach?

Alex Murdy (left) and Aidan Wilson sandwich a rival. (Photo by JohnsPhotos.net)

5 — With boys and girls soccer sharing the same field in the same season, I’ll have plenty of opportunities to watch pitch action.

Will I ever stop being a heathen and develop a greater appreciation for the “beautiful game?”

You never know…

6 — Winter means basketball, AKA God’s chosen sport, and the return to the hardwood should have storylines aplenty.

Wolf girls coach Megan Smith will be in season two at the helm of the program she once played for, and the Class of 2023 — which went undefeated as 8th grade hoops stars — get a final run.

It’s a deep, talented, tight-knit group, but point guard Maddie Georges gets an extra bit of hype since she’s got a chance to crack an elite group.

The fiery three-ball ace has tossed in 253 points in three seasons of high school ball and sits at #43 on the all-time scoring chart for a program which launched in 1974.

Depending on how much of the scoring she takes on as a senior, Georges has a solid shot at finishing in the top 20, where Maureen Wetmore (438 points) is currently holding down the final slot.

On the boys side of the court, the Wolves are coming off their best season in decades, opening 16-0, winning league and district titles, and advancing to the state tourney for two games.

Head coach Brad Sherman lost a large senior class, though young(er) gunners Logan Downes and Alex Murdy can return.

Downes (224 career points through his sophomore year) and Murdy (206 through his junior season) are #127 and #134 all-time for a program which began in 1917 and are primed to make large leaps up the scoring chart.

Will either one rise as far as the recently departed Hawthorne Wolfe (800) or Xavier Murdy (482)? Only time will tell.

Sluggers (l to r) Jada Heaton, Mia Farris, and Taylor Brotemarkle are part of a bright future for CHS softball. (Photo courtesy Jennifer Heaton)

7 — Wolf softball is the King Kong of NWL softball, but Kevin McGranahan and Co. are aiming bigger and want a return to the state tourney.

Izzy Wells, who was the team’s #1 pitcher since her freshman season, graduated, and lil’ sis Savina moved to Florida with three years of eligibility left, so the hunt for a new hurler is job #1.

Even with the 2020 season completely erased by the pandemic, McGranahan has six years and 83 wins in the bank at CHS, and a return to state would all but guarantee lighting up the scoreboard for win #100.

8 — Baseball also won a league title this past spring, in coach Will Thayer’s second season, though the Wolves fell a hair short of earning a trip to state.

Coupeville lost a good batch of seniors, but a huge chunk of the core of the team will be back, with Scott Hilborn, Jonathan Valenzuela and friends primed for a sweet swan song.

9 — Girls tennis has the most league titles of any sports program at CHS, and Helen Strelow tops a strong group of potential returnees.

Ken Stange enjoys making trips to Eastern Washington when it sizzles, so another jaunt to state for a Wolf netter or two could put a nice cap on his 237th season as CHS net coach.

10 — Speaking of state championship events, the biggest of them all got back on track after two pandemic-marred springs, with track and field athletes making the wheels on the bus go round and round all the way to Cheney.

Coupeville’s boys claimed 7th in the team standings, while Wolf athletes earned four second-place finishes during the big show.

Several top Wolves graduated, but medal-winners Aidan Wilson (2), Reiley Araceley (1), Ryanne Knoblich (1) and Dominic Coffman (1) all can return, while young phenoms like Lyla Stuurmans are primed to break-through to glory.