Gaze upon the logo for Coupeville’s new league. (Photo courtesy Scott Sifferman)
We’re going home again. In a way.
After four years in the 1A Olympic League, Coupeville High School is reuniting with four old rivals (and one new one) to launch the 1A North Sound Conference when the 2018-2019 school year begins this fall.
The new league is comprised of refugees from the imploded 1A/2A Cascade Conference, where the Wolves spent eight years from 2006-2007 to 2013-2014.
Gone are the 2A schools (Archbishop Thomas Murphy, Lakewood and Cedarcrest), so on with the (slightly) more-balanced party.
Coupeville reunites with South Whidbey, King’s, Sultan and Granite Falls, while coming face-to-face with the school which replaced it in the Cascade Conference, Cedar Park Christian-Bothell.
But, since no current Wolf athlete ever played in a Cascade Conference game, it might be a good idea to offer a refresher on just who Coupeville’s new league mates will be.
The new league:
http://www.nscathletics.com/index.php?pid=0.60.0.0.200
Cedar Park Christian-Bothell
Location: Um … Bothell
Public or private: Private
Student body count (2016 WIAA counts): 249.38
Established: 1982
Mascot: Eagles
Colors: Blue and gold, purple, yellow
Team state titles: Girls Soccer – 2001, 2002, 2003; Softball – 2003
Fast facts: The main campus for a private Christian school (preschool-12th grade) which also has sites in Everett, Mountlake Terrace, Lynnwood and Mill Creek; affiliated with the Assembly of God church; one-year tuition for high school student – $9,992; hired former Bellevue football coach Butch Goncharoff, who won 11 state titles before a Seattle Times investigation forced WIAA to (very briefly) punish Bellevue for numerous alleged improprieties.
King’s:
Location: Shoreline
Public or private: Private
Student body count (2016 WIAA counts): 354.38
Established: 1950
Mascot: Knights
Colors: White, red
Team state titles: 51 spread across multiple sports. I’m not listing them all.
Fast facts: Before turning to education, site housed a tuberculosis sanitarium; rumors abound that “some of the damp tunnels connecting buildings are still haunted by the ghosts of TB victims;” was known as King’s Garden until ’79; one-year tuition for high school student – $15,950; 98% of its students go on to higher education, while other 2% are no longer welcome home for Thanksgiving.
Granite Falls:
Location: Um … Granite Falls
Public or private: Public
Student body count (2018 WIAA appeal): 367.25
Established: 1896
Mascot: Tigers
Colors: Black, orange
Team state titles: Baseball – 2006
Fast facts: Known as “The Gateway to the Mountain Loop;” originally used by Native Americans to portage their canoes between fishing grounds; had a gold rush in 1889; had runs as both a mining and logging town; celebrates Railroad Days first Saturday in Oct.; former Coupeville assistant Alex Heilig coached GF football for one season in 2015, went 1-9.
South Whidbey:
Location: Langley
Public or private: Public
Student body count (2016 WIAA counts): 358.38
Established: 1981 (*previously Langley High School)
Mascot: Falcons
Colors: Blue and white
Team state titles: Boys Cross Country – 2000; Girls Golf – 2016
Fast facts: Has lost four of last six football games to Coupeville, with one former Falcon coach (a two-time loser) purposefully denting The Bucket, the trophy which is held by the winner; the snarky chant “Drive home safely,” directed at rival fans after South Whidbey wins, is both kind of annoying and kind of funny; the part of the Island where all the weird murders happen (seriously, go do a Google search); admittedly, a pretty nice school, with several athletes and coaches who have been very generous to me — Maia Sparkman, Oliana Stange, Kody and Hayley Newman, Tom Fallon, Mark Hodson, Mary Zisette and Lewis Pope to name a few.
Sultan:
Location: Um … Sultan
Public or private: Public
Student body count (2016 WIAA counts): 347.13
Established: 1888
Mascot: Turks
Colors: Navy, white, Columbia blue
Team state titles: Girls Soccer – 2002
Fast facts: Town named (sorta) for Snohomish Indian chief Tseultd, whose name was changed to Sultan John by white settlers; hosted the Sky River Rock Fest and Lighter Than Air Fair in 1968, which brought Richard Pryor, The Grateful Dead, Santana and “20,000-plus hippies” to town; former Turk basketball player Cooper Beucherie, he of the white boy dreadlocks, once kicked a chair into about the 12th row of the stands after being ejected from a basketball game at Coupeville. I miss the dude – he was entertaining.
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