Feeds:
Posts
Comments

Posts Tagged ‘Northwest League’

Booters notch All-Conference votes

Posted in Boys Soccer, tagged , , , , , on November 25, 2025| Leave a Comment »

Sage Arends rolls into action. (Julie Wheat photos)

It’s the premier pitch conference in Washington.

The Northwest 2B/1B League has produced four of the last five 2B/1B boys’ soccer state champs and taken 13 of 20 tourney trophies in that time.

So, when it comes time for coaches to pick their best players, it’s ultra-competitive.

This time around was no different, with Orcas Island — which has played in five straight state title games, winning three — having the league MVP in senior Joaquin Shanks Morales.

The Vikings also collected the Team Sportsmanship trophy, while Mount Vernon Christian leader Jeremiah Wohlgemuth was tapped as Coach of the Year.

Coupeville, which was in playoff contention until the final day of the season, landed two players on the Honorable Mention list, with juniors Sage Arends and Sam Richards earning props for their play.

Arends punched in seven goals for the Wolves, while Richards stood tall as a goalkeeper, fending off some of the most-potent offenses in the game.

Sam Richards gets his props.

 

First-Team:

Emilio Bayas – Senior – Friday Harbor
Isidro Churape – Junior – Friday Harbor
Anthony Conejo – Senior – Orcas Island
Junior Conejo Medina – Sophomore – Orcas Island
Zane Dahlberg – Junior – Mount Vernon Christian
Abdul Guzman – Junior – Friday Harbor
Timoteo Malo – Junior – Orcas Island
Andres Meissner – Senior – Lopez Island
Kaleb Otis – Junior – La Conner
Sean Russell – Senior – Mount Vernon Christian
Ryker Stewart – Senior – Grace Academy

 

Second-Team:

Ben Letsche – Junior – Providence Classical Christian
Mickael Mbuyu – Senior – Cedar Park Christian-Lynnwood
Connor Mounts – Sophomore – Mount Vernon Christian
Logan Mounts – Senior – Mount Vernon Christian
Elias Poole – Junior – Providence Classical Christian
Lauro Quintero Carrion – Senior – Orcas Island
Oliver Rick – Senior – Lopez Island
Angelo Vaccarella – Senior – Orcas Island
Sam Vaccarella – Sophomore – Orcas Island
Walker Wohlgemuth – Freshman – Mount Vernon Christian
Grady Woodmansee – Sophomore – Mount Vernon Christian

 

Honorable Mention:

Jayce Anderson – Senior – Grace Academy
Eric Apopei – Junior – Providence Classical Christian
Sage Arends – Junior – Coupeville
Forrest Goodremont – Junior – Friday Harbor
Huck Henderson – Sophomore – Lopez Island
Kaden Horn – Sophomore – Friday Harbor
Paul Kloss – Sophomore – Providence Classical Christian
Riley Miller – Junior – Friday Harbor
Kale Navarette-Higgins – Junior – La Conner
Lydia Negash – Junior – Cedar Park Christian-Lynnwood
Sam Richards – Junior – Coupeville
Lane Tenborg – Senior – Mount Vernon Christian
Nolan Wohlgemuth – Junior – Mount Vernon Christian

Read Full Post »

Coupeville league rivals rule state soccer tourney

Posted in Boys Soccer, tagged , , , , on November 22, 2025| Leave a Comment »

Coupeville’s Edmund Kunz (right) battles with Orcas Island captain Joaquin Shanks Morales for control of the ball. (Julie Wheat photo)

One conference towers above the rest these days.

Over the past five seasons, the Northwest 2B/1B League has collected 13 of the 20 state tournament trophies handed out to boys’ soccer teams, including four titles.

The premier pitch program in Coupeville’s nine-team league has been Orcas Island, which slipped past Spokane’s Saint George’s School 1-0 Saturday at Mount Tahoma High School to capture said crown.

That gives the Vikings back-to-back state 2B/1B titles, and three in five years, with runner-up finishes in 2023 and 2022.

NWL rival Mount Vernon Christian, which upended Orcas to win the District 1/2 title two weeks ago, lost to Saint George’s Friday in a shootout in the semifinals.

The Hurricanes then rebounded to drill Evergreen Lutheran 4-2 Saturday to bring home a 3rd place trophy.

It’s hard to believe now, but no NWL boys’ soccer teams earned a trophy in 2019.

The pandemic wiped out the 2020 state playoffs, but since then the conference has taken home three, three, two, three, and two trophies in the five years since.

Friday Harbor won the state title in 2022 and the only non-NWL team to triumph since Covid has been Upper Columbia Academy, which blanked Orcas 2-0 in 2023.

The Vikings crushed UCA 5-0 in a loser-out first round state game this season.

 

Between 2021-2025 the breakdown for state tourney trophies for NWL teams is:

Orcas Island (5)
Providence Classical Christian (3)
Friday Harbor (2)
Mount Vernon Christian (2)
Lopez Island (1)
Cedar Park Christian-Lynnwood (0)
Coupeville (0)
Grace Academy (0)
La Conner (0)

Read Full Post »

No trophies for NWL spikers

Posted in Volleyball, tagged , , , , , on November 14, 2025| Leave a Comment »

La Conner sniper Maeve McCormick (2) battles at the net with Coupeville defenders Dakota Strong (9) and Lexis Drake. (Julie Wheat photo)

It was a little rougher this time around.

Last year, the Coupeville High School varsity volleyball squad remained undefeated until the final day of the season and brought home a program-best 4th place trophy from the 2B state tourney.

While a rebuilding Wolves squad didn’t make it back to the big dance this fall, the Northwest 2B/1B League sent four squads to state, but none could match what CHS did last year.

All three 2B schools in action — Mount Vernon Christian, La Conner, and Orcas Island — went two-and-out at the Yakima SunDome.

MVC had the best showing of the trio, falling 3-1 to both Onalaska and River View, while Orcas lost 3-1 to Rainier and 3-0 to Tri-Cities Prep.

La Conner failed to win a set, being swept 3-0 by both Manson and Toledo.

In a fairly huge upset, #8 seed Northwest Christian (Colbert) won the state title, bouncing Freeman in the finale.

Overall, only three of the eight 2B schools which claimed a trophy last year earned more hardware this time around.

Freeman jumped from 3rd to 2nd, Manson tumbled from 1st to 4th, and Davenport finished 7th once again.

2025 trophy teams Adna, Coupeville, Rainier, Liberty (Spangle), and Colfax were replaced by Northwest Christian, Lind-Ritzville-Sprague, Toutle Lake, Tonasket, and River View.

Meanwhile, in the 1B state tourney, Darrington went 1-2 and got knocked out one match shy of playing for a trophy.

The Loggers, who were NWL champs this season with an 8-0 record in league play, opened state with a 3-1 loss to Almira-Coulee-Hartline, rebounded to beat Valley Christian 3-1, then were eliminated 3-1 by Taholah.

In another upset, #3 Garfield-Palouse won the 1B crown, while top-ranked Oakesdale didn’t make it to the championship tilt.

Read Full Post »

Wolf spikers denied playoff berth

Posted in Volleyball, tagged , , , , , , on November 6, 2025| Leave a Comment »

Haylee Armstrong pounds a winner. (Danica Strong photo)

A rebuilding season ended a few days too early.

One year after a veteran-dominated squad went undefeated to the final day of the campaign and brought home a program-best 4th place state trophy, the Coupeville High School volleyball team was denied a playoff berth.

The young Wolves, who had only one senior this time around, fell 25-17, 25-18 to Friday Harbor in a tiebreaker played on a neutral court in La Conner Wednesday night.

With the victory, the Wolverines earn the #4 seed for 2B schools from District 1 to the six-team District 1/2 tourney, which runs Thursday through Saturday.

Coupeville finishes its first season under new head coach Scout Smith at 5-10-1.

The tiebreaker was required because CHS and Friday Harbor finished in a stalemate, both going 2-8 in league play.

La Conner (8-2), Mount Vernon Christian (8-2), and Orcas Island (5-5) are the other playoff-bound 2B schools, while NWL champ Darrington (8-0) and last-place finisher Concrete (0-8), both 1B schools, have already begun postseason play.

Wednesday’s tiebreaker marked the end of the road for Wolf senior Teagan Calkins. A key contributor to last year’s trophy winners, she led Coupeville in kills and digs as a senior.

Teagan Calkins was a rock for the Wolves all season. (Jackie Saia photo)

“We are extremely grateful to our lone senior,” said CHS coach Scout Smith. “Her unwavering dedication and commitment to our program is unmatched and she will be dearly missed.

“However, she has undoubtedly left her mark on this program and has left it better than she found it.”

While she was hoping for a different outcome Wednesday, and a chance to take her squad to the postseason, Smith liked the continued growth she witnessed as a new group of varsity players began to make an impact.

“Obviously not the ending we hoped for, but still a lot of positives to take from this season,” she said. “We will continue to build to come back as an even stronger team next year.

“Hats off to Friday Harbor. They too were against the ropes fighting for a spot in districts and showed great composure in the moment.

“We are excited to have so many players returning for next year,” Smith added. “We will focus on and build off of all the positives from this year.”

 

Wednesday stats:

Haylee Armstrong — 3 kills, 2 digs, 1 assist, 1 ace
Teagan Calkins — 4 kills, 2 assists
Ari Cunningham — 2 digs
Lexis Drake — 1 block assist
Adeline Maynes — 4 digs, 2 aces
Dakota Strong — 1 dig, 1 assist, 1 block assist
Tenley Stuurmans — 4 kills, 3 digs, 7 assists

Read Full Post »

Blustery day, tough loss

Posted in Boys Soccer, tagged , , , , on October 29, 2025| Leave a Comment »

Aiden Wheat and Co. have one regular season game left to play. (Julie Wheat photo)

It was a blustery, unpleasant day.

Playing on the wind-ravaged pitch on Lopez Island Tuesday, the Coupeville High School boys’ soccer team took a hit to its playoff hopes.

Falling 4-0 to the host Lobos, the Wolves slide to 2-5 in Northwest 2B/1B League play, 4-9 overall, with a home game Thursday against La Conner the only remaining regular-season game on the schedule.

Coupeville sits a game out of the fifth, and final district playoff slot, trailing Providence Classical Christian, which is 3-4.

Defending state champs Orcas Island (7-0), Mount Vernon Christian (7-1), Friday Harbor (6-2), and Lopez (5-3) hold the top four postseason berths.

La Conner, Grace Academy, and Cedar Park Christian-Lynnwood bring up the rear of the nine-school league, each carrying a 1-6 record into their finales.

While the Wolves close out with a clash against the Braves, PCC faces Grace Academy Thursday afternoon.

The showdown with Lopez made for “an especially disappointing game,” said CHS coach Jim Kunz.

“Sizing up their style and ability we definitely have a team that should have beat them.”

The Wolves were stretched thin, however, only able to field the minimum 11 players due to illness and injury.

Add in a non-stop wind (but no rain!), and it was hard to move the ball, especially in the second half, when Coupeville had to play into the brunt of the storm.

Thursday’s home finale with La Conner is slated to kick off at 6:00 PM at Mickey Clark Field, and admission is free.

Read Full Post »

« Newer Posts - Older Posts »