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Posts Tagged ‘Jonathan Thurston’

Big heart, big motor!!

Posted in Baseball, Football, Happy birthday, tagged , , , , on July 15, 2016| Leave a Comment »

Jonathan Thurston

Jonathan Thurston deals the high, hard cheese. (John Fisken photos)

Thurston works

   Thurston (Batman shirt) brings the spirit along with running mates (l to r) Jimmy Myers, Uriel Liquidano and Aiden Crimmins.

grin

“I must destroy you.”

Don’t sleep on Jonathan Thurston.

The Coupeville High School senior, who celebrates a birthday today, may weigh about 17 pounds (after a big meal) but 16 pounds of that is heart.

He’s a rampaging beast on the football field, not afraid to hit (or be hit by) much heavier players, bouncing right back up after first holding on to the pass he went up to snag.

Thurston put together one of the better games I’ve seen by a Wolf in recent years.

It came in a JV game against 2A Anacortes last year, when he hauled in a pair of touchdown passes, pilfered an interception and spent much of the game backhanding the Seahawks, often times for real.

The visitors had a roster twice the size of Coupeville (at least) and some of their secondary tried to shove Thurston around.

Didn’t work, as he still made the snag on a throw over the top from Wolf QB Shane Losey, then shot up and knocked a pesky Seahawk on his butt as he strode back to the huddle, smiling all the way.

Thurston is an equal opportunity guy, also tossing some heat for the Wolf baseball squad and playing a vital role in the student cheering section at volleyball games.

Away from athletics, Jonathan seems like a pretty good dude, as well, smart, friendly and outgoing.

As he prepares for his final season on the gridiron, surrounded by his friends, we want to wish him all the best.

Happy birthday, Mr. Thurston. Keep on knockin’ fools on their butts.

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“They want to be the best!!”

Posted in Football, tagged , , , , , on June 1, 2016| Leave a Comment »

Wolf seniors-to-be (l to r) Clay Reilly, Jacob Martin, Uriel Liquidano, Ethan Marx and Jonathan Thurston. (Kalia Littlejohn photo)

   Wolf seniors-to-be (l to r) Clay Reilly, Jacob Martin, Uriel Liquidano, Ethan Marx and Jonathan Thurston. (Kalia Littlejohn photo)

Football’s back, at least for a few days.

Spring practice kicked off Wednesday, and returning Coupeville High School players were out on the practice field after school.

Without an official head coach, but with high hopes intact.

The Wolves, who open the season Sept. 2 at home against South Whidbey, will be playing for their third coach in as many seasons — once that coach is actually hired.

With the departure of Brett Smedley (he left after one season to take a coordinator job at Columbia River), players who will be a junior this fall will have played for a different head coach every year in high school.

After two years of playing twice against league rivals, they’ll also face a twist in the schedule, with the Olympic League and Nisqually League having formed a super league for football.

Coupeville will play three non-conference foes, then seven league games, with Port Townsend, Chimacum and Klahowya now joined by Cascade Christian, Vashon Island, Bellevue Christian and Charles Wright Academy.

But a new coach and the schedule are thoughts for tomorrow.

For now, the focus is on putting in work under assistant coach Ryan King (a candidate for the head job), and turning things around after last fall’s 1-9 season.

Some thoughts from day one:

Ryan King:

We had 27 kids show up today, not including the incoming freshman, and a few others who couldn’t make it due to legion baseball and what not.

But those kids are determined, they put in the work today and their mindset isn’t on who will be the next head coach but their focus is on game number one.

They want to be the best and they want to make a difference. They want to compete for a league title.

I have an amazing group of kids.

From the seniors to the juniors to the sophomores and I know a lot of the freshman coming up; I am so proud of what I saw today from them.

Whoever will be the next head coach is gonna have a great group of athletes.

If I get the position, awesome, I’m honored.

If not, then at least I got these kids ready.

Jonathan Thurston (senior):

We’re seniors and we’re gonna try to do better then last year.

I’m excited to play at home to win The Bucket; it’s gonna be a great game.

Going into this new league is gonna be interesting, but fun to play different schools than what we’re used to.

I could not ask for better players to be side by side with on that field and senior year is gonna be a blast!

Jacob Martin (senior):

We have strong returners from Clay, Uriel, Mitchell Carroll, me and Jon.

It’s all about the players, and how much work they’ve put in during the off-season.

No coach, no problem!

I personally think this team will be special, despite being delayed without a coach, or low expectations from others. We genuinely have seniors who will unite this team.

Uriel Liquidano (senior):

To start, I want to say that it’s going to be a great season and I have a strong feeling that we are going to do good.

It sucks we won’t have Smedley next year but who ever is going to be the new head coach I’m sure he’ll do good.

This coming football year I’m going to be a senior so I’m going to have to GIVE IT ALL I HAVE for my team, my family, my town.

It’s going to be a good year!

We’re going to lead this town together. Give it all we have. And yes, beat South Whidbey here on our game field and take that bucket back.

Clay Reilly (senior):

The goals I have in mind for this upcoming football season are beating South Whidbey at home, fighting until the end against every team we face and hopefully winning league.

I’m so stoked to play football as a senior and leading the team into every game.

With finding a new coach, I hope us seniors find common ground and excel with what he wants to do with this great program.

This new league is a whole bunch of new challenges and I think it will make us better individually and as a unit. I want this season to be one I can look back on throughout the rest of my life.

Gabe Eck (sophomore):

The goals for this year would be to definitely beat South Whidbey and improve and build on what we had from the season before.

With the league bigger we’re going to have to be in the weight room all summer and come out bigger, faster, and stronger.

Ethan Marx (senior):

I’d like to add, we play as a team, and that our team remains a family no matter what happens on or off the field!

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“A good season of growth for all involved!!”

Posted in Baseball, tagged , , , , on May 5, 2016| Leave a Comment »

Hardball guru Mike Etzell (Sylvia Hurlburt photo)

   That moment when hardball guru Mike Etzell realizes he’s left the book in the hands of the freshmen. Be afraid. Be very afraid. (Sylvia Hurlburt photo)

(Scott Losey photo)

The future of Wolf baseball. (Scott Losey photo)

Mike Etzell has seen a lot of things in his years on the diamond as a baseball coach.

When he looked at the book from Wednesday’s JV game in Klahowya, the Coupeville High School hardball guru discovered something new, however.

“As for the book – oh my,” Etzell said with a laugh. “The book was done by a committee of a few fellas who shall remain nameless to protect the not-so-innocent…”

It’s a work of “beauty” that starts in ink, ends in pencil, has batters listed for the ninth inning (in a seven inning game), and at one point just has a giant question mark scrawled in place of a play.

Still, look hard enough and you can decipher a 10-4 loss to the host Eagles, which brings the Wolf young guns to a final record of 5-3-1 on the season.

Coupeville jumped on Klahowya for two in the first, with Cameron Toomey-Stout (walk) and Ty Eck (single) both coming around to score.

The Eagles responded with four in the first and four more in the second, stringing together a “series of softly-hit ground balls,” while the Wolf offensive mojo faded a bit.

CHS rallied to plate two more in the fourth.

We know Nick Etzell and Eck scored, but I don’t care how long you look at the book, you ain’t figuring out how they scored.

Jonathan Thurston and Nick Etzell shared pitching duties for the Wolves in the JV season finale.

While the Wolves lost, Mike Etzell (who was worked with Chris Smith this season, who was back on Whidbey Wednesday for a varsity game) came away pleased with a lot of what he saw this season.

“Unfortunate ending to a good season of growth for all involved,” he said. “We wish we could suit ’em up for a few more…”

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Another lesson learned!!

Posted in Baseball, tagged , , , , on April 30, 2016| Leave a Comment »

Ty Eck was one of four Wolves to see mound duty Saturday. (Sylvia Hurlburt photo)

   Freshman Ty Eck was one of four Wolves to see mound duty Saturday. (Sylvia Hurlburt photo)

The Falcons got a bit of revenge.

Playing a hastily scheduled game Saturday to bulk up their schedules, South Whidbey and Coupeville’s JV baseball squads went toe-to-toe in Langley for much of the morning.

In the end, though, it was the hometown team’s bats that got hot last, as the Falcons scored nine unanswered runs across the fourth and fifth innings to nab an 11-7 win.

The loss dropped the Wolf JV to 5-2-1 on the season, with one game left on their schedule. That’s a proposed road trip to Klahowya Wednesday, May 4.

Facing off with the Falcons a day after the Wolf varsity won its first league title in 25 years, the Wolves scratched out an early run, before the two teams played hot potato with the lead.

South Whidbey went up 2-1, Coupeville responded with a four-run fourth to surge ahead 5-2, then thew floor fell out from beneath its feet when it surrounded four in the fourth and five in the fifth.

Fighting until the end, the Wolves scored two in the top of the seventh, but the late rally died out as quickly as it began.

Coupeville had a chance to stretch out its pitching, using four hurlers — Jonathan Thurston, Dane Lucero, Ty Eck and Nick Etzell — on the day.

Thurston was the most effective, tossing two scoreless innings and whiffing three Falcons to kick things off.

Jake Pease scored twice to pace the Wolf attack.

CHS coach Chris Smith was philosophical about the game, disappointed in a loss, but eager to use it as a teaching tool.

“Some good plays, some not so good. Some good plate appearances, some not so good,” was how the hardball guru summed it up.

Lessons learned, on to the next game.

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Breaking big plays? Kind of our thing!!

Posted in Football, tagged , , , , on October 12, 2015| Leave a Comment »

"Look into my eyes. My name is Cameron Toomey-Stout and I'm gonna score a touchdown tonight." (John Fisken photos)

   “Look into my eyes. Cameron Toomey-Stout is my name and scoring touchdowns is my game.” (John Fisken photos)

Shane LOsey

  Shane Losey connected with Jonathan Thurston on a pair of long bombs Monday night.

This is Port Townsend’s year on the gridiron.

That much is fact, as the RedHawks are running amuck at every level.

But, while the Coupeville High School JV football squad couldn’t derail Port Townsend Monday, falling 52-12 on the road, the young guns did put up some highlights.

Cameron Toomey-Stout torched the RedHawks for a touchdown on the ground, leaving would-be tacklers in his wake as he darted and cut his way to pay dirt.

The Wolves then added a second big play score, with freshman quarterback Shane Losey connecting with receiver Jonathan Thurston on a 55-yard touchdown strike.

The Losey to Thurston connection worked well all night long, as the duo also hooked up for a 35-yard pass-and-catch.

When Coupeville wasn’t slingin’ the ball air-borne, the Wolves had a pretty good one-two punch working on the ground.

“Teo (Keilwitz) ran lights out on their defense. He was a work horse,” said CHS coach Ryan King. “Tavian (Woolett) ran the ball pretty well for us, too.

“Overall, the boys played a really great game,” he added. “Couldn’t be more proud of them.”

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