Fresh off an outstanding football season, Joel Walstad is one of four seniors who will lead this year’s Wolf hoops squad. (John Fisken photos)
Ryan Griggs drives on Matt Shank.
Aaron Trumbull is the only Wolf who has been a varsity player in each of Anthony Smith’s four seasons as CHS coach.
“Our goal is to put a flag on the gym wall.”
As he enters his fourth year at the helm of the Coupeville High School boys’ basketball squad, Anthony Smith is thinking big.
Having endured three years of growth in the tough 1A/2A Cascade Conference after inheriting essentially an all-freshman team his first year, Smith sees the upcoming season as a potential breakout year for the Wolves.
Coupeville has increased its win total the past three seasons, from zero to one to three, and is leaving behind juggernauts like King’s and ATM as it opens play in the new 1A Olympic League.
Facing off with Port Townsend, Klahowya and Chimacum puts CHS on a more level playing field, and the Wolves want to return to the days of hoisting league championship banners.
And why not this season, as a reward to the seniors who have been with Smith since day one and taken their lumps to rebuild the program.
“I want it for those guys,” Smith said. “Those kids have worked hard all the way, have bought into the program we put in and have believed. They put in a solid foundation and they deserve to go out strong.”
The core of the Wolf team is comprised of three of those seniors — Aaron Trumbull, Joel Walstad and Aaron Curtin — in addition to junior Wiley Hesselgrave and senior Matt Shank, who transferred from Utah before his junior year.
Curtin is returning after taking his junior year off, but, even when he didn’t play, he showed up for every game and remained close to his teammates.
Now he’ll slide back in alongside Trumbull, who has been a rock every step of the way for four years.
The Wolves lost their biggest scorer when Anthony Bergeron graduated (they’ll also have to replace big man Nick Streubel, sweet-shooting Gavin O’ Keefe and the always-hustling Morgan Payne).
But, while Coupeville may not immediately seem to have a 20-point-a-night guy, the Wolves will be able to kill you a thousand different ways.
“We may have a different guy going every night and we’ll get that guy the ball,” Smith said. “I’m pretty excited. We came together close in the summer time, played big-time teams and we were very, very productive.”
The hallmark of the team will be defense, which should open up the offensive end of the court, as well.
“We will get after it on ‘D’, especially in the half court setting,” Smith said. “We have good athletes and we will compete.
“We have a tight-knit group on the varsity and they are taking things seriously,” he added. “There won’t be much of a drop in production when we go to the bench, and everyone has a chance to be productive.”
The core five will be backed by a mix of players all fighting for prime playing time.
Sophomore Gabe Wynn saw varsity action as a 9th grader, while junior Dalton Martin started last season on the varsity but missed most of the year with injuries. If he’s healthy, he should be a big contributor.
Junior Ryan Griggs, who played for the Wolves as a freshman before a family move to Arizona took him away for his sophomore year, is back and bigger.
Toss in junior Jared Helmstadter, who was the leading scorer on the Wolf JV a year ago, speed-demon junior CJ Smith, who is in his first full basketball season for CHS and junior Risen Johnson, a transfer from Oak Harbor, and the battle for playing time will be intense.
And don’t sleep on freshmen Hunter Smith and Ethan Spark, both tabbed as young players to watch by their coach.
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