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Posts Tagged ‘Leavenworth’

Bring that title home!

Posted in Boys Basketball, tagged , , , , , on December 28, 2022| Leave a Comment »

William Davidson (left), Alex Murdy and friends are on a hot streak. (Andrew Williams photo)

Where’s the butter, cause they’re on a roll.

Crunching an Eastern Washington rival for the second straight day, the Coupeville High School varsity boys’ basketball squad end the 2022 portion of their season riding a hot streak.

Bashing Manson 64-42 in Leavenworth Wednesday, the Wolves nab their fifth victory in their last seven games and win the four-team Cascade Holiday Classic.

The host team claimed 3rd place, walloping Kittitas-Thorp 66-51 in Wednesday’s opener.

Basking in the glow of a tourney title. (Riley White photo)

Now 5-4 on the season, Coupeville is off for eight days, then kicks off Northwest 2B/1B League play.

The Wolves host their next three tilts, squaring off with Orcas Island (Jan. 6), Mount Vernon Christian (Jan. 10), and Darrington (Jan. 13).

While Brad Sherman’s squad will enjoy being back on The Rock, and off the ever-bouncing bus, Coupeville is a pristine 4-0 when playing away from Whidbey Island this season.

After holding off a scrappy Kittitas team in Tuesday’s tourney opener, the Wolves dropped the hammer on Manson.

The Trojans actually led 3-1 early, having drilled the first of 10 three-balls they would hit on the day.

After that, with pregame music from Nirvana still lingering in the air, it was all Wolves, almost all the time.

Cole White sliced down the baseline, jabbing inside for a layup to knot things at 3-3, and Coupeville was off on a 17-2 tear to end the first quarter.

Five different Wolves hit the bottom of the net in the frame, with Logan Downes flicking a pair of three-balls over the outstretched arms of Manson defenders to lead the way.

Coupeville’s defense spurred its offense, whether it was Alex Murdy cleaning the glass, White making off with steals, or Nick Guay sacrificing his body to draw a charge.

Once they had the ball in hand, the Wolves made smart passes, setting each other up for easy buckets and keeping the Trojans running all over the floor in a futile effort to slow things down.

Up 18-5 at the first break, CHS maintained its lead during a back-and-forth second quarter, doing the small things to key the big things.

“Loved the energy our guys played with today!” Brad Sherman said.

Dominic Coffman scrambled to put himself into position to draw yet another offensive charging foul on Manson, while Guay and White delivered note-perfect set-up passes, enabling Downes to bank home buckets.

Murdy slashed the defense to ribbons, rambling to the basket to slap home a layup and send the Wolves to halftime with a 32-19 lead.

Manson almost made a small move early in the third quarter, netting a pair of free throws to get back within 10, but then Coupeville put things on ice.

Getting points from Downes, Jonathan Valenzuela, Guay, and Murdy, the Wolves went on a game-busting 13-0 run and never looked back.

Up 53-28 heading into the fourth, Coupeville got the lead as high as 27 points before pulling its starters and giving quality floor time to the stars of the future.

One of those young guns, Quinten Simpson-Pilgrim, came up big in the paint, crashing through the defense to net his first-ever varsity bucket.

Quinten Simpson-Pilgrim stops ‘n pops. (Andrew Williams photo)

With the two points etched next to his name in the scorebook, he becomes the second member of his family to score at the varsity level for CHS.

Quinten officially joins older brother Jacobi in the hoops brotherhood and is the 412th Wolf boy I’ve been able to document scoring for a program which began in 1917.

Coupeville spread its offensive attack between seven players, with Downes banking in a game-high 24, while Guay (13) and Murdy (11) also reached double digits.

Valenzuela (6), White (4), Coffman (4), and Simpson-Pilgrim (2) scored, while Hurlee Bronec, Zane Oldenstadt, Chase Anderson, Hunter Bronec, Jermiah Copeland, and Ryan Blouin also saw floor time.

Wolf big man William Davidson, who started against Kittitas, was on a plane to Colorado Wednesday for a family visit, but the team honored his style of play by body-slamming fools while playing defense.

Here for work, here for fun. (Morgan White photo)

While the strong all-around team play and tourney win will rightfully draw much of the focus, several Wolves reached personal milestones in the win over Manson.

Pilgrim-Simpson became a made man, while Murdy and Downes continue to rise up the all-time CHS boys hoops scoring chart.

Alex Murdy is the third member of his family to crack the top 100, and now sits at #99 with 296 points.

Up ahead are Uncle Allen Black (305) and big bro Xavier Murdy (482).

Downes, who has cracked 20+ points in seven of nine games, is averaging 22.7 a night as a junior, and jumps from #63 to #58 all-time after his work against Manson.

Now with 428 points (204 this season), Angie and Ralph’s youngest passes Nick Sellgren (406), Casey Clark (407), Ben Biskovich (407), Mason Grove (414), and Caleb Powell (421) as he chases the chance to be just the 50th Wolf boy to reach 500.

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Go East, young man, and get a win

Posted in Boys Basketball, tagged , , , , , on December 27, 2022| 1 Comment »

Logan Downes knocked down 30 points Tuesday afternoon in Leavenworth, sparking Coupeville to a holiday tournament win. (Andrew Williams photo)

Halfway to a title.

Leading from start to finish Tuesday, the Coupeville High School varsity boys’ basketball squad held off scrappy Kittitas-Thorp at the Cascade Holiday Classic in Leavenworth.

The Wolves had to scale two mountain passes to get to their destination, and fueled by late-night pizza, they played strongly on both ends of the floor against their Eastern Washington foes.

Winning 54-49 in a game in which it led by as many as 15 points, Coupeville earned its fourth win in its last six games.

Now, the Wolves, who sit at 4-4 on the season, return to the Cascade High School gym Wednesday to play Manson (4-3) for the tourney title.

The Trojans toppled the tourney hosts 52-48 in overtime in Tuesday’s opener.

When Coupeville hit the floor, it ended a nine-day mini-vacation between games.

The last time the Wolves faced a rival, they bonked Forks back on Dec. 17, and the Whidbey Island gunners picked right back up where they left off.

Logan Downes, coming off a career-best 33-point performance, knocked down a layup to get things going Tuesday, and was off on what would turn into a 30-point game.

The Wolf junior, who is averaging 22.5 a night, threw down 13 points in the first quarter against Kittitas, sparking a 20-9 run.

Downes got some help along the way, with Jonathan Valenzuela and Cole White popping for buckets — the latter of those set up by a steal, drive, and dish from Alex Murdy.

Kittitas banked in a three-ball with mere ticks left on the clock in the opening frame, only to have Wolf freshman Chase Anderson promptly go Predator on their tushies.

Curling into the left corner, he pulled in a pass and let fly with a graceful trey of his own, the ball splashing home right before the buzzer, collectively ripping the spines out of all five defenders.

The Coyotes rep a program which has won two state titles, though, so they proved resilient.

Valenzuela opened the second quarter by snatching a rebound and muscling the ball back up and in, before Kittitas flipped the script during a 10-0 tear of its own.

Jonathan Valenzuela had several key buckets against Kittitas and played strongly on defense. (Chloe Marzocca photo)

Coupeville went close to four minutes without scoring, but never lost the lead, thanks to plucky defensive play.

White twice drew offensive charging fouls on rampaging Coyotes, sacrificing his body as his butt and back slammed into the floor as the ref screeched on the whistle.

“I need to buy that boy some padded underwear!” yelped Cole’s mom, Morgan, on her Facebook Live stream.

Later she changed that to, “I need to buy the WHOLE team some padded underwear!”

Which fit, as Coupeville took five charges in the game, with William Davidson and Downes also coming up big by sprawling on the defensive end of the floor.

With Kittitas back in the game and trailing just 22-19, the Wolves delivered their second spine-ripper of the day.

It came off of the fingertips of Ryan Blouin, a three-ball fired from the deepest, darkest corner of the left side of the court, ball hitting net, then dropping through in unison with the halftime buzzer.

Ramping up its defense even more in the second half — Murdy rejecting one shot with enough force to kick the ball all the way back to Whidbey — Coupeville started to pull away.

Back-to-back buckets from a rampaging Dominic Coffman, with both set up by Murdy, stretched the lead to double digits, before White sent the Wolves into the fourth quarter with a 41-26 advantage.

Pulling in a full-court heave from Downes, Morgan’s boy slipped through a forest of foes, nimbly slapping home a layup to earn a fist pump from dad Greg, bouncing on and off the bench in his role as an assistant coach.

Cole wasn’t done, opening the fourth quarter by nimbly mopping up a wet spot on the floor.

Twirling a towel like a pro, his extracurricular work earned approval from mom.

“I wish I could get him to clean the floor at home like that!”

Cole White, efficient with a basketball or towel. (Andrew Williams photo)

But then, in a twist of fate which made the hometown fans much happier than the road-weary Wolf supporters in attendance, Kittitas staged one final assault.

A pair of three-balls and an endless series of trips to the foul line triggered a 13-0 surge for the Coyotes, and Coupeville’s lead shrank all the way down to 41-39 with a hair over four minutes left to play.

Never fear, though, for Logan is here.

Downes found his groove one final time, banging in 10 points as Coupeville used a 12-4 run to seal the win.

Hitting from behind the arc, inside the paint, and at the charity stripe, he got assistance in crunch time from Zane Oldenstadt, who corralled a key rebound, and the ever-marauding Murdy, who terrorized the Coyote ballhandlers.

Kittitas did get a pair of three-point plays, one the hard way, in the waning seconds to make the final score seem a bit closer than reality.

But that was all it was — a mirage.

As he departed the locker room to see the sights (and taste the tastes) of Leavenworth, CHS hoops coach Brad Sherman retained his patented Zen calm.

“We’re starting to win some of the effort game,” he said. “Took charges that were really big for our momentum at key moments – showed a lot of toughness.

“A good team win.”

With his 30 points, Downes cracks the 400-point club.

Jumping from 374 career points to 404, he passes Don Cook (377), James Smith (382), Tom Logan (385), and Blaine Ghormley (393), rising from #67 to #63 on the all-time scoring list for a program launched in 1917.

Murdy (5), Valenzuela (5), Coffman (4), White (4), Anderson (3), and Blouin (3) also scored for Coupeville, with Oldenstadt, Davidson, and Nick Guay putting in quality floor time.

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Wolves prep for Kodiak invasion

Posted in Football, tagged , , , , , on October 18, 2021| Leave a Comment »

Dominique Coffin and his team are travelling 142 miles to play Coupeville. (Photo property Cascade School District)

Let the wild animals come out to play.

It’ll be a wolf vs. Kodiak bear rumble this Friday night at Mickey Clark Field, as Coupeville welcomes an unfamiliar foe to town for Homecoming.

The opponent in question is Cascade (Leavenworth), which is traveling 142 miles from 10190 Chumstick Highway down to 6 S. Main Street and the football field which resides there.

So forget about your Friday Harbor’s and La Conner’s for a moment and meet the new kids in town (for a day at least).

The first bit of info about Cascade (Leavenworth) is that you shouldn’t confuse it with Cascade (Everett), which used to be a regular rival of Oak Harbor and often traveled to Whidbey.

Or with Cascade Christian, which Coupeville used to play every once in awhile.

No, this Cascade is in the 1A classification, and plays out of the Caribou Trail League in Eastern Washington, where it’s joined by Cashmere, Quincy, Chelan, and Omak.

This year’s version of the Kodiaks, who sit at 3-3 after winning back-to-back games, have 44 players on their roster — about double of what the Wolves have to offer — and rep a student body which outnumbers 2B Coupeville 439-275.

Cascade opened with 21-18 and 43-12 losses to Naches Valley and King’s, respectively, then rebounded to drill Brewster 42-22.

After a 55-54 heartbreaker against Chelan in their league opener, the Kodiaks have polished off Quincy (42-0) and Cashmere (24-19) to arrive at this point.

Playing in scarlet and grey, their 44-man roster contains no names I recognize way over here on the opposite end of the state.

That being said, Will Beibesheimer and Gunnar Balzer are just fun to say, so they have that going for them, which is nice.

I do know the Kodiaks have a strong history, having advanced to state 13 times, with the most-recent trip being in 2014.

Cascade is 12-13 in state gridiron playoff games, with its best showing coming back in 1995, when it won three games before falling 44-30 to Ridgefield in the 1A state title game.

And one last intriguing note about the Kodiaks.

Their coach, Dominique Coffin, pictured above, is also the school’s Athletic Director, having returned to his alma mater around 2015.

What’s intriguing – to me, at least — is how close his name is to one of Coupeville’s players, junior Dominic Coffman, who’s scored five touchdowns for the Wolves this season.

So, Friday night, Dom Coffin meets Dom Coffman.

Two Doms enter, one exits with a win. Who will be the true … Dominator???

Yes, I’m easily amused. Why do you ask?

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