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Posts Tagged ‘Island rivalry’

Sweet sweep in rivalry rumble

Posted in Boys Basketball, Middle School, tagged Boys Basketball, CMS Wolves, Diesel Eck, Island rivalry, Kamden Ratcliff, South Whidbey on December 4, 2024| Leave a Comment »

Liam Stoner is a dangerous man in the open court. (Photos by JohnsPhotos.net)

Round one in the hardwood rivalry wars goes to Cow Town.

Traveling to South Whidbey Tuesday, the Coupeville Middle School boys’ basketball teams snagged three wins in as many games, firing a dramatic opening shot.

Next up in the battle for Island superiority are high school games Friday in Langley, before the middle school programs reunite in Coupeville Dec. 16 for their season finales.

How Tuesday played out:

Level 1:

Winning its second straight game, Coupeville’s top squad rolled to a 37-27 victory.

The Wolves, now 2-3 on the season, got balanced scoring, with seven different players scorching the nets in Langley.

Jonathan Kappes knocked down a team-high eight points to pace the attack, with Kamden Ratcliff and Diesel Eck hot on his heels with seven apiece.

Calvin Kappes (4), Chayse Van Velkinburgh (4), Xander Beaman (4), and River Simpson (3) finished the scoring, with Beaman notching his first points of the season.

Rounding out the roster were Trey Stewart, Trenton Thule, Darius Stewart, Maverick Walling, and Colton Ashby.

Darius Stewart makes it rain.

Level 2:

Claiming their first victory in five games, the Wolves romped to a 27-18 advantage by game’s end.

Cyrus Sparacio and Gracen Joiner had the hot hands, contributing eight and seven points to the cause, respectively.

Ashby (6), Darius Stewart (4), and Cole Van Dyke (2) also made the net jump, with Jacob Lujan, Mario Martinez, Xander Flowers, Aiden Wheat, and Jonah Meek seeing floor time for CMS.

Level 3:

Les Queen was on a rampage, burning down the gym with a torrid 27-point performance as Coupeville thunked South Whidbey 37-10.

Queen, who leads all CMS scorers this season with 62 points, went off for 13 in the first quarter, before coasting in with six more in both the second and third frames.

With the win, the Wolf third team, which has played one less game than its counterparts, gets to 2-2 on the season.

Liam Stoner rattled the rims for six points in support of Queen, while Jack Bailey and Henry Jackson dropped in their first buckets of the year.

With three first-time scorers Tuesday, the number of Coupeville players who have tallied a basket in 2024 rises to 22 and counting.

Talon Gamble, Kion Tellery, Carson Marley, and Oliver Miller also hit the hardwood for the Wolves as they ran away with the win.

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Battle today, build for tomorrow

Posted in Middle School, Volleyball, tagged CMS Wolves, Island rivalry, Kennedy O'Neill, Rhylee Inman, season finale, volleyball on October 21, 2024| Leave a Comment »

Tomorrow’s volleyball stars are already making names for themselves on the court. (Photo by JohnsPhotos.net)

The matches end, but the work goes on.

The Coupeville Middle School volleyball season came to a close Monday, with the Wolves waging a fierce, if good-natured, war with next-door neighbor South Whidbey.

Now, the next question will be which Wolf spikers will seize opportunities to fine-tune their skill set and deepen their passion for the sport.

Some of the girls in red and black uniforms Monday will move on to high school next year, while others will be back in the CMS hallways a year from now.

Where will they be in their volleyball journey?

Will they listen to the many lessons imparted by coaches Cris Matochi and Kristina Hooks this time around, accept the challenges available, commit themselves to growth, and continue to build towards a bright future on the court?

One hopes so, but only time will tell the tale.

For now, this is how the 2024 campaign ended:

Level 1:

Coupeville’s top squad put up a spirited fight, but fell just short in a 25-21, 25-21, 15-12 loss.

The Wolves started strongly, jumping out to a 5-1 lead in the first set behind precision serving from Cameron Van Dyke.

South Whidbey battled back, however, forcing three ties before sliding out in front for good at 9-8.

Kennedy O’Neill and KeeAyra Brown scored winners — the first by flipping the ball between defenders, the second by dropping a slicing overhead — but the visitors got the lead up to five points and never relented.

Van Dyke kept her rivals honest with a few more nasty serves and Rhylee Inman stood tall, dropping an emphatic kill, but Coupeville could never quite get completely back over the hump.

The second set was a donnybrook, with 12 ties, including a final one at 19-19.

Emma Leavitt had the hot hand at the service stripe in this frame, peppering South Whidbey with balls which tore off fingertips and skidded away.

Down 23-19, the Wolves got back-to-back winners from Inman — one via a tip, one via a well-crunched kill — but once again the visitors slipped away at the last second.

While the third set was for practice and little else with the match already decided, the two teams still put together another titanic tango.

Van Dyke, Inman, and O’Neill all offered strong work at the service line, while Inman also delivered on several of her team-high seven kills.

Stats:

Zariyah Allen — 4 digs, 1 ace
KeeAyra Brown — 1 kill
Laurel Crowder — 2 digs
Rhylee Inman — 7 kills, 7 digs, 2 aces
Emma Leavitt — 1 dig, 1 ace
Kennedy O’Neill — 1 kill, 2 digs, 1 ace
Cassie Powers — 2 kills, 1 dig, 3 assists, 1 ace
Scarlett Spencer — 1 kill, 1 dig
Sage Stavros — 3 digs, 2 assists
Cameron Van Dyke — 1 dig, 4 assists, 3 aces

Level 2:

The closest match of the day, except for the first five minutes.

Coupeville fell behind 11-1 in the opening set, then roared back to life, outscoring the Falcons the rest of the way in a razor-thin 26-24, 25-21, 14-16 loss.

The turn started with Scarlett Spencer, Emma Leavitt, and Emily Rains catching fire on their serve, then really got interesting with Laurel Crowder and Olivia Martin going bonkers at the stripe.

Crowder, just a 6th grader, smoked a particularly sweet ace before Martin, having her best performance of the season, started dropping bombs on South Whidbey from all angles.

From 10 points down, Coupeville got all the way back to holding a 23-21 lead.

And while the Falcons proved to be a hard target to take down, the Wolves did hold off a set point, forcing the frame beyond the standard 25-point finish line.

Properly warmed up by that point, CMS came out swinging in the middle set.

Up 4-1 after Leavitt dropped a winner over her shoulder while her back was to the net, the Wolves set off a yo-yo effect.

South Whidbey jumped out in front at 11-7, Crowder brought the Wolves back to a 12-11 advantage on her serve, then the Falcons reclaimed control at 19-14.

Except Coupeville wasn’t done.

Savannah Coxsey strolled to the service stripe and pounded out a pristine run of five straight points, with two of them coming on unhittable aces, pushing the Wolves back in front.

While CMS ultimately couldn’t quite close out the middle set on top, it did complete the KO in the third frame.

Rains proved to be the difference in the finale, matching Coxsey with her own five-point surge on her serve, while Spencer nailed a key tip winner to help close things out.

Level 3:

The final moments of the 2024 season went in South Whidbey’s favor, with the Falcons winning 25-14, 25-23, 15-8, but again a scrappy Wolf squad refused to exit the floor without first putting up considerable resistance.

Autumn Rubin, Maja Govorcin, and Sabrina Junich picked up points on their serve in the first set, with Junich dropping an ace which caught the sideline and skidded away, leaving the Falcons flat-footed.

The second set showcased the Wolves at their grittiest.

While it trailed for most of the frame, Coupeville steadily chipped away at the deficit, with Emma Green, Bella Sandlin, Rubin, Amira Anunciado, Reagan Green, and Govorcin all picking up points.

Sandlin was an equal opportunity assassin, scoring both on her serve and with a variety of flips and lobs in the open court, while Rubin finally pushed the Wolves ahead at 21-20.

A tense tussle which included a ball being launched skyward, where it got trapped (possibly forever) in the curtain which can be used to divide the court, ended in favor of the Falcons.

But, like the third set, which featured spotlight-worthy plays from Milly Somes and Diana Herrera, there were many bright spots for a still-developing pack of Wolves.

Jade Peabody, Annabelle Cundiff, Addison Jacobson, Kaylee Moore, and Kaylee Beshear round out a roster full of potential.

The matches are done (for now). The uniforms to be returned shortly.

But the future is right there, waiting to be claimed.

Which of these Wolves makes the commitment to become the next Teagan Calkins?

She’s currently a junior kill machine for an undefeated high school squad, and a positive role model who devotes a chunk of her time to helping the middle school coaches.

And which of these bright and whip-smart young women comes for the mantle currently held by CHS senior Katie Marti?

She’s the sublime setter who drives her team’s attack, and the saint who gave me a free hamburger after I endured almost four hours on rock-hard bleachers.

To the CMS spikers — this is your moment, ladies. This is your time.

Make it all you can.

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Bucket battle a barnburner

Posted in Football, tagged Chase Anderson, CHS Wolves, football, Island rivalry, SWHS Falcons, The Bucket on October 12, 2024| Leave a Comment »

Jack Porter snagged two fourth-quarter touchdown passes against South Whidbey. (Photos by JohnsPhotos.net)

They almost made Al Micheals lose his freakin’ mind.

The Coupeville High School football team came within one broken tackle of pulling off its second miracle comeback in three weeks.

But it wasn’t to be, as visiting South Whidbey swarmed Wolf QB Chase Anderson at midfield as time ran out Friday, escaping with a 30-26 win.

The non-conference loss, in which Coupeville rallied to score the game’s final 19 points, drops CHS to 4-2 on the season.

South Whidbey, which is 2-3, retains possession of The Bucket and has won six straight in the Island rivalry series after the Wolves won four of the previous six games.

Two weeks ago, Coupeville, trailing by 21 points with nine minutes to play against Cedar Park Christian-Bothell, stormed back to win 55-49 on a defensive touchdown on the game’s final play.

Friday night, having fallen behind 30-7 with five minutes left in the third quarter, the Wolves needed another epic rally. And got most of it.

Anderson banked a touchdown pass to Davin Houston, with the ball ricocheting off a defender first, to cut the margin to 30-14, before the Wolf defense stiffened.

Jack Porter stuffed South Whidbey’s QB on the next possession, forcing a punt, and Coupeville immediately made the Falcons pay for their failure.

Anderson airmailed a pass to Porter, who snagged the ball, sliced between defenders and was off to the races for a 52-yard touchdown to open the fourth quarter, pulling CHS to within 30-20.

A two-point conversion attempt came up short, but the Coupeville defense was in lock-down mode and got the ball back with a little over six minutes left to play.

Senior Marcelo Gebhard crashed through the Falcon line for a key sack on third down, before freshman Liam Blas denied South Whidbey on fourth-and-15, and there was hope lingering in the prairie air.

Especially when four plays later Anderson and Porter hooked up for another score, this one a 59-yard heave in which the elusive Wolf QB pump-faked the entire defense out of its shoes before lofting a laser.

South Whidbey got a bit of redemption when it blocked the PAT, keeping the lead at four and ensuring Coupeville would need a touchdown and not just a field goal to keep things going.

The Falcon offense, which basically consisted of Cody Redford and Cohan Criswell alternating carries all night, couldn’t score on its final drive, but managed to burn a lot of clock.

While South Whidbey sputtered out on fourth-and-14, with Marquette Cunningham dragging Redford to the turf short of the first down, that left CHS very little time for a final miracle.

Criswell chased down Anderson for a sack as the clock ran dangerously low, setting up one last play with everything riding on it.

Needing to go almost the full length of the field, Anderson got to the left sideline, shedding tacklers and trying to find one final burst of speed.

Crashing hard, he carried several Falcons with him, before the visitors managed to group-tackle the Wolf QB, forcing him out of bounds at midfield and setting off a celebration on the far side of the field.

The wild finale capped a game which started as a shootout, turned into a defensive stalemate, then veered back and forth.

The Wolf defense swarms to the ball.

Redford ran for one score and threw for another to stake South Whidbey to a 14-7 lead at the end of the first quarter, while Anderson netted Coupeville’s first score on a 52-yard run in which he spun several defenders around while busting free on a fourth-down sprint.

Coupeville had a chance to pile up points in the first half but was hurt when back-to-back drives deep in South Whidbey territory ended prematurely thanks to lost fumbles.

One came inside the 20-yard line, the other inside the 35, and stymied the Wolves in a game in which their rivals didn’t have any turnovers.

Neither team scored in the second quarter, with Coupeville getting big-time defensive plays from Hunter Bronec.

The senior stuffed Redford on fourth-and-three to end one drive, while coming up with a crucial sack right before halftime to throw a wrench in another South Whidbey effort.

The Falcons broke through in the third quarter, however, with battering ram Criswell punching in a pair of touchdowns in a two-minute-plus stretch.

Packaged around Coupeville turning over the ball on downs, that put the Wolves in a major hole — one which they almost made it all the way back out of again.

CHS, which has played five of its six games against 1A schools this season, gets a chance to play a fellow 2B school next week when it travels to Adna to face a 3-3 Pirates squad in another non-conference game.

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“The girls had great energy”

Posted in Middle School, Volleyball, tagged CMS Wolves, Island rivalry, season opener, South Whidbey, volleyball on September 26, 2024| Leave a Comment »

CMS spiker Emma Leavitt is ready to flex on some fools. (Leann Leavitt photo)

And so it begins.

The Coupeville Middle School volleyball teams kicked off their eight-game schedule with a road trip to South Whidbey Thursday, picking up valuable experience.

While the Wolves fell to the Falcons, they went down swinging, and showed great promise.

“The girls had great energy, and I think anyone in the gym could see that,” said CMS coach Cris Matochi.

“Our team chemistry started great, so I’m hoping that this amazing synergy will help us make the fixes that we need to make and get where we need to be.”

The young Wolves get a chance to work on things in front of their home fans, with their next three matches in their own gym.

Coupeville hosts Lakewood (Sept. 30), Sultan (Oct. 2), and King’s (Oct. 7) as part of a homestand.

How the season openers played out:

Team A:

Coupeville dropped the first two sets 25-14 and 25-17, before rebounding to take the finale 15-12.

“We are learning a new rotational system, so things were a little chaotic today,” Matochi said.

“However, I have faith that once the girls are comfortable with it, our game is going to flow so much better.”

Cami Van Dyke peppered South Whidbey with five service aces, while Zariyah Allen picked up three.

When the ball was in play, Coupeville’s biggest hitter was Rhylee Inman, who pounded a team-high three kills.

Rounding out the varsity roster in the opener were Cassie Powers, KeeAyra Brown, Sage Stavros, Kennedy O’Neill, Jade Peabody, Laurel Crowder, and Emma Leavitt.

Team B:

South Whidbey claimed the first two sets 25-11 and 25-13, with Coupeville dominating the third set to a 15-6 tune.

“This team was able to improve every set and was able to win in the third set,” said Wolf coach Kristina Hooks.

“We had a lot of newcomers on the team, but they played well and had some great serves.”

Hooks was also pleased to see the growth of her veterans.

“We had a lot of great passing from some returning players, which I was happy to see their improvement since last season,” she said.

As the Wolves move forward, they plan to work on their skill sets, and the players themselves are contributing to the assessment process.

“Something they brought up after the game and even during the game was that the other team had a lot tougher serves than they were used to,” Hooks said.

“So, practicing serve receive with tougher serves is something that we will definitely be practicing more.”

Team C:

The Wolves put up a good fight but were swept in three sets.

“There’s still a lot of work to be done with the C team,” Hooks said.

“But I am impressed with how they played considering it was the first volleyball game for a lot of them.”

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Back to aces, back to volleys

Posted in Girls Tennis, tagged CHS Wolves, girls tennis, Island rivalry, SWHS Falcons, Tenley Stuurmans on April 10, 2024| Leave a Comment »

Coupeville’s Tenley Stuurmans, just an 8th grader, and already an ace. (Photos by JohnsPhotos.net)

It’s been a while, but they’re back.

Returning to the court after nearly three weeks off, the Coupeville High School girls’ tennis team slugged it out with host South Whidbey Wednesday afternoon.

While the high-flying Falcons cruised to a 5-0 varsity win, the plucky, rebuilding Wolves did win two JV matches.

In a season where every match will be on the road for the Coupeville netters, as they wait for new courts to be finished, the Wolves are 0-3 but gaining valuable experience with every set.

CHS is slated to play six more matches, with their next road trip to Friday Harbor April 17.