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Posts Tagged ‘Klahowya’

“The team is peaking at the right time!!”

Posted in Volleyball, tagged , , , , , , on October 26, 2015| Leave a Comment »

Katrina McGranahan (John Fisken photo)

   Katrina McGranahan, seen here in an earlier match, had two aces, four kills and three blocks Monday. (John Fisken photo)

Huge leaps and bounds.

A year ago, the Coupeville High School volleyball squad went 1-11 and failed to make the playoffs.

Jump forward to this season, and the Wolves are postseason bound and now capable of pushing the league champs hard.

Coupeville did lose Monday, falling 25-15, 25-20, 26-28, 25-21 at Klahowya, which allowed the Eagles to officially clinch the 1A Olympic League title.

But the Wolves scrapped like a wild beast and are gelling as the stakes get higher.

“At times, played some of the best volleyball all season tonight,” said CHS coach Breeanne Smedley. “We battled and fought hard for every point.”

That was most evident in the third set, when the Wolves somehow battled back from being down 24-17, holding off match point after match point, before eventually winning the set.

“Klahowya is a strong team all around, and I’m pleased with the way we were able to not only hang with them, but take a game off them for the first time since we entered into this league,” Smedley said. “Players stepped up in key times and were playing smart by adjusting to their offense.

“It’s a great place for us to be in as we take on Port Townsend and head to post-season play,” she added. “The team is peaking at the right time.”

Coupeville (2-3 in league play, 4-9 overall) hosts the Redhawks (0-5, 1-10) Thursday in their regular season finale (6:45 start, no JV), while Chimacum (3-2, 8-7) faces Klahowya (5-0, 8-6).

A Wolf win and a Chimacum loss and Coupeville would finish in a tie for second place.

Since they split their two matches with the Cowboys, we’d then have to wade in to tiebreaker territory to decide postseason seeding.

Both the #2 and #3 teams from the Olympic League host their playoff opener, but #3 would have to play an additional loser-out game.

To see the brackets, pop over to: http://www.olympicleague.com/tournament.php?tournament_id=1690&sport=10

Regardless of who or when they play, the Wolves are hoping for the kind of effort they got Monday, when nearly everyone on the roster filled up the stat sheet.

Tiffany Briscoe (four aces, six kills, 14 digs), Sydney Autio (three aces, 12 assists, nine digs), Hope Lodell (four aces, four kills, five digs) and Katrina McGranahan (two aces, four kills, three blocks) paced Coupeville.

Valen Trujillo went low for nine digs, Ally Roberts soared for five kills and Lauren Rose doled out 11 assists.

Meanwhile, super sophomore Payton Aparicio (12/12 serving, two aces, seven digs) and fab frosh Emma Smith (three kills, one block) helped control the flow of the match.

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Just win, baby (or else)!!

Posted in Football, tagged , , , , , , on October 21, 2015| Leave a Comment »

Wiley

  Wiley Hesselgrave (10) caught a TD pass in a playoff game as a freshman. If Coupeville wins Friday, he can make it back to the postseason as a senior. (John Fisken photo)

There’s no two ways about it.

Seriously. There are four options, and only one works.

What we’re talking about is getting the Coupeville High School football team into the playoffs, and, while it’s become more of a long shot in the last week, it’s still possible.

Long story short, if the Wolf defense had not surrendered a touchdown with 1.6 seconds to play last Friday, losing 14-9 to Chimacum, we would not be having this conversation.

A Homecoming win and Coupeville would have punched its ticket to the postseason.

But, it didn’t happen and the Wolves and Cowboys now sit in a third-place tie at 1-4 in 1A Olympic League play, with one conference game left to play.

League champ Port Townsend and Klahowya are in, and the league’s final berth goes to whichever school claims third.

And, while the advantage was firmly Coupeville’s last week, that’s no longer the case.

If the two teams finish in a tie, the tiebreaker, which is point differential in head-to-head games, goes to Chimacum.

The Wolves won the first meeting 28-26, but their five-point loss Friday means they lose that tiebreaker by three points.

So, heading into Friday — Coupeville at Klahowya and Port Townsend at Chimacum — there are four possible finishes:

Option 1: Coupeville and Chimacum both win.

Option 2: Coupeville and Chimacum both lose.

Option 3: Chimacum wins, Coupeville loses.

Option 4: Coupeville wins, Chimacum loses.

In the first three scenarios, Chimacum goes to the playoffs and Coupeville, after a non-conference game against Concrete Oct. 30, will get a season-ending crossover game against another non-playoff team.

Or, option four hits and the Wolves are playoff bound Nov. 6 or 7 and will travel to face Cascade Christian.

Let’s face it, option 1 and 3 aren’t going to happen, because there is no way possible the Cowboys beat a Port Townsend team that is 7-0 and has outscored its opponents 342-12.

Even with big-time weapons Wesley Wheeler and Ezra Easley out with injuries, the RedHawks are going to roll. Bet the farm on that.

So, the ball is firmly back in Coupeville’s court.

Do what they could not do last year — beat Klahowya in a season finale with a postseason berth on the line — and the Wolves are a playoff team.

In the words of legendary former Raiders owner Al Davis … just win, baby.

Cause that’s your only option.

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Moving in for the kill!!

Posted in Girls Soccer, tagged , , , , , on October 17, 2015| Leave a Comment »

Kirsten Pelroy had the best slide of the afternoon, blowing up an Eagle and taking away the ball. (John Fisken photo)

   Kirsten Pelroy had the best slide of the afternoon, blowing up an Eagle and taking away the ball. (John Fisken photo)

The gap has narrowed.

Last year, as it romped to a 21-2 record en route to a 1A state title, the Klahowya High School girls’ soccer team drilled most of its opponents.

And, while they held up considerably better than Olympic League companions Port Townsend and Chimacum, Coupeville was firmly among the victims, falling 5-0 and 4-0.

Jump ahead a year, and, even though the Wolves lost a chunk of seniors and are a very young team, CHS held its own Saturday against the defending champs.

While it fell 2-0 on its home turf, Coupeville (3-5-3 overall, 1-1 in league play) was never out of the match, and Klahowya (8-3-1, 2-0) was nowhere near as dominating as before.

A shot goes in here, a loose ball takes a slightly different bounce, and the game goes in a different direction.

Seriously.

Klahowya’s first score was more luck and being in the right place than anything else.

The Eagles blasted a ball at Wolf goalie Lauren Grove, who knocked it down but couldn’t quite corral it.

As the ball popped off her arm, it took a perfect Klahowya bounce, threading two Wolves to land right on the foot of an enterprising Emily Peters, who banked it over the outstretched fingers of a now out-of-place Grove.

After that, the Coupeville junior, a first-year player, was on lock-down the rest of the first half, going to her knees and climbing a stairway to heaven depending on the situation, while coming away with a variety of saves.

The Wolves were aggressive — Kirsten Pelroy used a sliding tackle to upend an Eagle in the open field, then Coupeville almost got the goal back when May Rose tried to replicate Peters play.

Unfortunately, this time the rebound slid just a bit too far to the side, letting Klahowya escape unscathed.

The Eagles widened the lead early in the second half, when Peters popped a shot over diving Wolf defender Jenn Spark. Again, move a leg an inch or two, and the goal is a no go.

Desperate to get on the board, Coupeville pushed the attack in the second half, with leading scorers Kalia and Mia Littlejohn leading the charge.

The siblings got several looks at the net, but a pesky Eagle defense stayed strong and blunted their best efforts.

Afterwards, if you didn’t look at the scoreboard and just tried to read the mood of the upbeat Wolf team, you might have thought they had won.

The overwhelming feeling? Mark Oct. 26 on your calendar.

That’s the second meeting of the two squads, this time at Klahowya.

And it is, without a doubt, a game the Wolves think they can win, because the gap has really, truly narrowed.

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Get out the brooms!!

Posted in Boys Tennis, tagged , , , , , on October 9, 2015| Leave a Comment »

Joseph Wedekind, seen here during preseason practice, teamed up with John McClarin for a key doubles win Friday afternoon. (John Fisken photo)

   Joseph Wedekind, seen here during preseason practice, teamed up with John McClarin for a key doubles win Friday afternoon. (John Fisken photo)

The location changed, but the result was the same.

After beating Klahowya twice on the road, the Coupeville High School boys’ tennis team completed the season sweep with a hard-fought 4-3 home victory Friday afternoon.

Coming during the first time the Wolves have been allowed to play a match on their own courts, the win lifted Coupeville to 4-2 overall and a pristine 3-0 in league play.

Having dethroned the defending 1A Olympic League champs, Coupeville just needs to beat Chimacum before it can hoist its own title banner in the CHS gym.

First, though, the Wolves will have to find a way to actually play the Cowboys.

The first meeting of the season was postponed when Chimacum didn’t have enough players. The second was bumped by rain.

The two teams are scheduled to play Oct. 14 in Coupeville, and there has been no word yet on whether the first two matches will be rescheduled.

That will all work itself out, but Friday the focus was entirely on finishing off the Eagles.

And, after a few rough spots, the Wolves did just that, with their superior depth in doubles carrying them to the victory.

The match’s deciding point came via the duo of Jimmy Myers and Lilan Sekigawa, who made fast work of their foes at fourth doubles.

On a blustery, but thankfully rain-free day, the highlights were many for the Wolves.

First singles player Sebastian Davis spent much of his time on court working on crafting new shots.

The highlight was a fast-diving ball that managed to skip three times on the court before his befuddled foe, whose feet had been headed in the wrong direction, could finally come to a stop and simply applaud.

While Davis was being artful, Jared Helmstadter, teaming with brother Grey Rische for a win at #3 doubles, had the day’s best power show.

A left-hander who leans into his serves with authority, he ripped off one wicked slicer after another, thoroughly frustrating both of the guys on the other side of the net.

Helmstadter’s reward, after a quick win, though not the customary brother/brother chest bump usually seen, was a trip to Wendy’s for burgers, which earned a huge smile.

Food was a common theme as the Wolf players combined to choke down a mind-numbing amount of junk food before, during and after their matches.

Topping it all off was Aiden Crimmins, who, if you have a Twinkie, will eat said Twinkie, no matter where on your body you were previously storing it.

His parents are oh so proud of him…

Complete results:

Varsity:

1st singles — Sebastian Davis beat Parker Short 6-0, 6-1

2nd singles — Connor McCormick lost to Kyle Schoening 7-6, 5-7, 10-7

3rd singles — Nick Etzell lost to Spencer Winters 6-2, 3-6, 10-7

1st doubles — Joey Lippo/William Nelson lost to Taylor Fite/Caden Haga 6-1, 6-1

2nd doubles — Joseph Wedekind/John McClarin beat Spencer Short/Brycen Trask 6-2, 6-3

3rd doubles — Grey Rische/Jared Helmstadter beat Ben Cook/Logan Bronson 6-0, 6-1

4th doubles — Jimmy Myers/Lilan Sekigawa beat Nick Hytinen/Connor Swaney 6-0, 6-1

JV:

5th doubles — Nile Lockwood/Aiden Crimmins lost 6-2

6th doubles — Santiago Ortiz/Tiger Johnson won 6-3

7th doubles — Jakobi Baumann/Jaschon Baumann won 7-6

8th doubles — Nick Blalock/Garrett Compton won 6-0

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Stay classy, Klahowya!!

Posted in Football, tagged , , , , , , on October 2, 2015| Leave a Comment »

Mitchell Carroll had the biggest hit of the night, flattening Klahowya's QB for a teeth-rattling sack. (John Fisken photo)

   Mitchell Carroll had the biggest hit of the night, flattening Klahowya’s QB for a teeth-rattling sack. (John Fisken photo)

It was kind of classless, and sort of fitting.

Capping a chippy, flag-riddled game Friday night, the Klahowya High School football squad, the clubhouse leader in face mask and late hit penalties, chose the lesser of two paths in the final moments, opting to punch in a meaningless touchdown instead of taking a knee up by 10 with 25 seconds to play.

The move gave the visiting Eagles a 29-13 victory over Coupeville, and might give the illusion to those who weren’t at Mickey Clark Field that the game was a blowout.

Which is far from the truth.

And you know what? Whether you won 29-13 or 23-13, here’s a quick piece of advice, Klahowya. Port Townsend ain’t gonna be impressed, either way.

The Redhawks, who demolished winless Chimacum 58-0 Friday to run their record to 5-0 (they’ve outscored opponents 255-6) are rolling through the 1A Olympic League this season.

So the match-up between Klahowya (now 3-2 overall, 2-1 in league) and Coupeville (1-4, 1-2) was a consolation prize, with the winner taking the inside lane on the league’s #2 playoff spot.

As such, it was an orgy of hard hits, defensive gems from the Wolf secondary and a whole lot of tusslin’.

Flags dropped from the skies with more frequency than the third-quarter rain drops, and they stung both sides.

A whole lot of yappin’ and a whole lot of late and flagrant hits, from both sides, set the tone of the game.

And up until the final moments it was a game either squad could have won.

Zane Bundy’s second field goal of the night, a 32-yarder that he whacked about 42 yards, pulled Coupeville to within 17-13, a score that held until the game’s final six minutes.

Klahowya broke through for good when Eagle quarterback George Harris blasted in from two yards out with 6:01 on the clock, capping a drive that was greatly aided by a face mask penalty on the Wolves.

Catching a mini-break when Klahowya misfired on the PAT, Coupeville took over down by 10 and started to make things happen. And then didn’t.

The Wolves had four consecutive gains, highlighted by an 18-yard pass from Gabe Eck to Ty Eck, erased by penalties.

Every time they surged forward, they shot themselves in the foot in the next breath, finally sputtering out and turning the ball over on downs.

The Eagles mixed in two short runs with Coupeville burning its final timeouts, then Harris whipped a 45-yard pass to drive the ball down to the five.

With no way to stop the clock, the Wolves could do little else but watch Klahowya take a knee and run out the game.

Except that wasn’t in the game plan, apparently.

To their credit, the Wolf defense immediately stepped back up and resoundingly blocked the extra point, preventing the Eagles from cracking the 30-point barrier.

Still, it’s hard not to look at Klahowya’s coaching staff and say, “Really?”

The game, the first at home for Coupeville after four straight road trips, had kicked off with a true back-and-forth feel.

The Eagles opened the scoring on a safety when a bad snap left Wolf punter Clay Reilly a sitting duck in the end zone, but the Wolves jumped right back into things on a five-yard scoring run from Wiley Hesselgrave.

Hesselgrave, who powered his way to 102 yards on the ground by repeatedly slamming head-first into would-be tacklers, paced Coupeville’s best running attack of the season.

The Wolves collected 217 yards as a team, with Lathom Kelley gutting out a season-high 91 to back up Hesselgrave.

Klahowya retook the lead on back-to-back second quarter touchdowns, but the opportunistic Wolf defense refused to buckle.

Sophomore Hunter Smith made off with a pair of interceptions, running his season total to four, while Hesselgrave also had a pick and Jordan Ford returned a fumble 20+ yards.

Bundy hit a 27-yard field goal at the halftime buzzer to cut the lead to 17-10, then provided the only scoring in the third quarter with his second field goal.

Kelley (14 tackles) and Hesselgrave (11) led the Wolf tackling machine, while the game’s best play might have come courtesy Mitchell Carroll.

The Wolf junior came crashing around the left side of the line to decimate Harris for a first quarter sack that rattled the Eagle quarterback.

He suffered the first of his three interceptions on the very next play, as Smith went airborne to rip the ball away from a Klahowya receiver.

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