Ayden Wyman is rapidly climbing the CHS soccer career scoring chart. (Photo by JohnsPhotos.net)
Who’s in the mood to shatter some milestones?
Fall sports get going in eight days, with Coupeville High School football kicking off practice Aug. 16, followed by volleyball, soccer, and cross country starting Aug. 21.
The first game on the schedule is a home football contest with Klahowya, set for Sept. 1, and then we’re rolling strong for the next several months.
As we look ahead, here’s what could happen in September and October:
Cross Country:
Coupeville sent its entire girls’ team, plus Mitchell Hall and Carson Field to state last season.
From that group of eight, Erica McGrath, Noelle Western, Reagan Callahan, and Field are eligible to return, with eyes set on joining Wolf legends Natasha Bamberger (1985) and Tyler King (2010) as state champs.
Boys Soccer:
The booters have made it to state twice, with their last visit in 2010 when former Seattle Sounders star Paul Mendes was coaching.
The opening game of the season will be Robert Wood’s 35th at the helm of the program, and he should have four returning players who all have a shot to become the 11th Wolf boy to reach double digits in scoring.
Senior Nick Guay tops that group, sitting #13 all-time with eight goals, while Preston Epp (5), Cole White (4), and Cael Wilson (4) are a hot streak away from joining the club.
Sustained scoring would be necessary to topple program records, however, with Derek Leyva (24) and Abraham Leyva (45) holding season and career marks.
Football:
Coupeville is looking for back-to-back league titles and trips to the state tourney, after going 7-2 in Bennett Richter’s first go-round as coach.
The Wolf gridiron program has gone to the big dance two years in a row once before, in 1986 and 1987, but never won conference crowns in consecutive years.
Get to state, and CHS football aims for its first postseason victory after five losses between 1974-2022.
Win #3 of the season will put Richter in double figures, while his starting QB, Logan Downes, chases program marks for tossing touchdown passes.
The Wolf senior connected on 17 scoring strikes a season ago, including a school single-game record five in a game against La Conner, and has 19 for his career.
The school career record is 35 passing TD’s, set by Logan’s big brother, Hunter, while the single-season mark is 18, held by Joel Walstad.
Logan Downes aims for his big brother’s TD tossin’ record. (Brenn Sugatan photo)
Girls Soccer:
Former Wolf player Kim Kisch makes her debut as coach, and she and her squad will be chasing the program’s first-ever trip to state.
There’s a good chance the career scoring chart gets a shakeup, with junior Ayden Wyman opening the season already ranked #5 all-time in putting the ball in the back of the net.
She’s peppered netminders in her first two campaigns, racking up 13 goals, which puts her behind just Mia Littlejohn (35), Kalia Littlejohn (33), Genna Wright (20), and Lindsey Roberts (17).
Wyman torched the net for nine goals as a sophomore.
The last time a CHS girls booter cracked double digits in scoring was back in 2017, when both Wright (15) and Kalia Littlejohn (10) achieved the feat.
Volleyball:
The spikers have a streak of seven-straight winning seasons, all under coach Cory Whitmore, longest active streak of any fall Wolf program.
Coupeville has notched double-digit wins in all but one of those seasons, with the pandemic limiting the 2020 season to just nine matches.
Whitmore is 76-36 during his run at CHS, four wins shy of 80 and 13 matches short of 125.
That puts him #2 among active Coupeville coaches, regardless of season, trailing just softball guru Kevin McGranahan (97-44) in terms of victories and contests.
The Wolves have been to state five times, most recently in 2017 under Whitmore.
With two tickets available this year for District 1/2 teams, instead of just one as in recent years, Coupeville has its eyes set on the big dance.
Once there, the Wolves would seek to notch a win for the first time since Toni Crebbin’s squad thunked Zillah in 2004.
Wolf spikers Madison McMillan (14) and Lyla Stuurmans dream of state tourney glory. (Jackie Saia photo)
