Sean Toomey-Stout led Coupeville football in rushing, and was among state leaders in tackles when an injury prematurely ended his sophomore season. (Photo by JohnsPhotos.net)
It’s a whole new world.
Quite a lot is radically different for Coupeville High School football, as the Wolves enter the 2018 season with a new coaching staff, a new league and new leaders on both sides of the ball.
Record busters like Hunter Smith and Hunter Downes have graduated, Marcus Carr has replaced Jon Atkins as head coach, and CHS is reuniting with former foes in the brand-new North Sound Conference.
After four years of life in the Olympic League, and two seasons of a joint venture with the Nisqually League for football, the Wolves will line up against “new” foes in King’s, Sultan, South Whidbey, Granite Falls and Cedar Park Christian.
The last one of those schools really is a new rival, as CPC joined the Cascade Conference as Coupeville’s replacement when the Wolves bolted in 2014.
The Eagles football program is run by Butch Goncharoff, who built Bellevue into a 3A powerhouse before being run out of town in the aftermath of WIAA troubles.
Carr, who takes over Coupeville’s gridiron team after two very successful seasons in Concrete, points to CPC as one of two schools who will carry the biggest rep into the new league.
“I think all the teams in our league will be tough,” he said. “But I would have to say King’s, just for the amount of bodies they can sub in and out to keep players fresh, and Cedar Park Christian, because of their head coach.
“Despite the off-the-field things, he has won 11 state championships on the field.”
Not that Coupeville’s new head man is willing to concede anything.
“No matter what, we will be ready to play and beat them all!,” Carr said. “GO WOLVES!!”
Carr, who is joined by five assistants who are new to CHS — Nathan Bellamy, Tyson Boon, Kwamane Bowens, Robert Carr and Bennett Richter — is putting a laser-focus on his new players “becoming tougher, mentally and physically.”
The line, which includes returning players such as seniors Dane Lucero, Jake Pease and Ryan Labrador and junior Gavin Knoblich, is bolstered by the addition of senior Alex Turner.
A transfer from South Whidbey, Turner, who played for Coupeville in middle school, was a First-Team All-Conference pick by Cascade Conference coaches as a sophomore.
The Falcons played an independent schedule last season, preventing a repeat of league honors, but Turner showed a knack for catching TD passes from the tight end position.
Coupeville will have a new quarterback throwing those passes, with Downes, the school career leader in scoring strikes, having graduated.
After an injury ended his sophomore year early, he returned to lead the Wolf offense the past two seasons, firing passes primarily to Hunter Smith and Cameron Toomey-Stout, both also now departed.
Replacing Downes under center will likely be either junior Dawson Houston or senior Shane Losey, though Lucero is also in the mix in the early days of practice.
That trio has combined to throw three varsity passes entering 2018.
While Coupeville’s passing game will be new-look, its running game retains almost every contributor from last season, one reason Carr hails it as a key strength.
Junior Sean Toomey-Stout is healthy again after a devastating injury ended his breakout sophomore campaign at the halfway point, and “The Torpedo” is primed to slice through defenses.
When he went down during week #5 at Vashon, it changed the direction of the season.
Toomey-Stout was Coupeville’s top rusher and among the state leaders in tackles from his defensive back position, before taking a blow to his leg as he headed out-of-bounds.
While the Wolves hung on to beat the Pirates, improving to 3-2, CHS dropped its final five games.
Injuries tore through Coupeville’s roster in 2017, and by the season finale against Cascade Christian, almost every major offensive contributor was on the sideline in street clothes.
Seniors Matt Hilborn and Chris Battaglia (both coming off of injuries) and junior Andrew Martin also ran strong a year ago and could help Toomey-Stout.
Battaglia’s status for the season is a question mark, though, as he continues to recuperate.
As the Wolves plow through the first days of practice (the season opener, a non-conference game at Port Townsend, is Aug. 31), the lineup will shift and change.
Whomever ends up lined up for that first kickoff will carry the weight of the past, and the hope of the future, with them.
Coupeville hasn’t posted a winning record on the gridiron since 2005, but bolstered by “an ability to run the ball on offense and a swarming, ball-hawking defense,” the Wolves are ready to surprise people.
The mission? To live up to the mantra preached by their new head coach.
“Our goal is always to win league and make the playoffs,” Carr said. “Always.”
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