Seniors Lathom Kelley (left) and Ryan Griggs will be called on for big yards and big leadership. (John Fisken photos)
Brett Smedley will make his debut as Coupeville’s head football coach this Friday, when the Wolves travel to Langley.
Change is in the air.
Coming off a 5-5 season that snapped a streak of eight straight losing seasons, the Coupeville High School football squad lost its head coach and seven seniors, including the inaugural 1A Olympic League MVP.
After three seasons at the helm of the Wolves (and two wins over arch-rival South Whidbey), Tony Maggio turned the keys over to assistant coach Brett Smedley.
As he prepares to kick off his first season as head coach this Friday, the first-year man will have to do so without that departed MVP (Josh Bayne) and record-setting QB Joel Walstad, now both off to play college ball.
The cupboard is far from bare, however, as the Wolves seek their first winning season since the 2005 squad went 6-5.
Nine seniors, all of whom have seen substantial playing time in the past, will anchor Coupeville’s attack.
Leading the way are Wiley Hesselgrave, a First-Team All-League pick at linebacker as a junior, and hard-hitting Lathom Kelley, who both can become four year letter winners this season.
Joining them are linemen Brenden Gilbert, Josh Lord, JR Pendergrass and Jake Lord as well as multi-talented weapons CJ Smith, Ryan Griggs and Mitchell Losey.
Rounding out the key returning players are juniors Mitchell Carroll, Dominic Dausey, Jacob Martin and Clay Reilly and sophomores Hunter Downes, Hunter Smith, Cameron Toomey-Stout, James Vidoni and Julian Welling.
On a list dominated by seniors, Hunter Smith was the lone freshman named to the All-League team last year, earning Honorable Mention consideration.
While the loss of Bayne, a two-way All-State player, leaves a big hole to fill, the Wolves do return almost all of their offensive weapons.
Seven of their top eight receivers are back, led by Griggs, who topped the Wolves in 2014 with 485 yards on 29 catches.
Coupeville also brings back three backs who rang up yards on the ground in Hesselgrave (52 carries for 430 yards), Kelley (46-407 despite missing a chunk of the season with an injury) and Martin (57-295).
The hope is that one, or more of them, will step up and make a run at posting Bayne-like numbers (143-1,528).
Walstad threw for 18 touchdowns and nearly 1,600 yards as a senior, and, at least in the early days of practice, the battle to replace him at QB was wide-open, with Downes, the Smith brothers and freshman Gabe Eck in the mix.
Eck and twin brother Ty (WR/DB), sophomore Jake Hoagland (TE/LB) and seniors Zane Bundy (WR/DB) and Jordan Ford (WR/DE) are among the newcomers who have caught the eyes of coaches.
Hoagland and Bundy are making their high school football debuts, while Ford is a transfer student who has come home to the school where many of his relatives, including his dad and grandfather, have been athletic stars.
However the lineup shakes out, in true small-school style, many of the players will go both ways.
“We at CHS play a certain brand of football, and that’s an “Iron man” style of football,” Smedley said. “A few kids are going to be on the field all game everyday.
“We continue to develop this mentality in our players!”
While Port Townsend is the defending league champs, they also lost a chunk of key players.
Coupeville, which finished third at 3-3, was the only league school to beat the Redhawks last year, and came agonizingly close to upending Klahowya to earn a playoff berth.
Smedley sees no reason the Wolves can’t fight for a league title.
“This is a very strong league,” he said. “Any given night anyone has the ability to win the game.”
Coupeville opens with four straight games on the road, not playing at home until Oct. 2, but having veteran leadership should make that easier to handle.
“We have a lot of players that have been in the program for four years, and they will be the true leaders of this program,” Smedley said. “Their leadership on and off the field is one of our huge strengths.”
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