Coupeville Sports

Led by its seniors, the CHS boys basketball team is 5-0 and averaging 72.4 points a night. (Photo by JohnsPhotos.net)

52 years later, still the gold standard.

It’s a great, but not legendary, start.

With high school hoops set to resume Tuesday, the Coupeville High School varsity boys basketball team will get a chance to continue its torrid start.

The Wolves, who are set to host La Conner, are 5-0 and have topped 70 points each time out.

With four players averaging double figures — and a fifth missing by just a single bucket — Coupeville is balanced, dangerous, and able to attack a defense from all sides.

Hawthorne Wolfe has rattled the rims for a team-high 67 points so far (13.4 a night), with a pack of teammates hot on his heels.

Fellow senior Caleb Meyer (61), junior Alex Murdy (52), and sophomore Logan Downes (50) are all producing 10+ points a game, with senior Xavier Murdy  just off that pace with 48.

But, these Wolves still have some work to do if they want to be legendary.

That’s because, 52 years down the road, a CHS team from back in the day of short-shorts and no three-point line, is still the standard-bearer.

While the 2021-2022 Wolf squad has opened with 70, 71, 75, 73, and 73-point performances — the program’s best start in more than a decade — the 1969-1970 Coupeville hardwood heroes were even more torrid.

That Wolf squad dropped 102 points on opening night — one of four times they topped triple digits in a 24-game season — then delivered a school-record 114 in game #5.

Through five games, the current team is singing the nets for 72.4 points a night, while the old-school warriors burnt the whole gym down at 85.6 through five contests.

The 69-70 team slowed down (a bit) after that, finishing with a school-record 1,836 points during a 20-4 season.

That translates out to 76.5 a game, and no CHS team has topped the mark since, even with the embrace of the three-ball.

That vintage squad, which featured Jeff Stone dropping a program-record 644 points, was the first Whidbey Island hoops team to win a district title, and the first CHS team to advance to the state tourney.

We still have a long way to go in this campaign — with the specter of the pandemic still threatening to upend things — but there is an unmistakable feeling that the current Wolves could accomplish something special.

Through five games, Brad Sherman’s team has shown a willingness to share the ball, getting it onto the fingertips of whomever has the hot hand that night.

That bodes well for the future.

Will it make for a historical season? Only time will tell.

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