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Posts Tagged ‘Pete Petrov’

Three-balls a-droppin’!!

Posted in Boys Basketball, tagged , , , , , , , on January 31, 2016| Leave a Comment »

Kramer O'Keefe (John Fisken photo)

   Kramer O’Keefe (right) rained down 71 three-balls during his days as a Wolf sniper. (John Fisken photo)

Brad Sherman (Sherry Roberts photo)

   Between 1991-2011, there was no better trey launcher in Coupeville than Brad Sherman (right), seen here with dad Don. (Sherry Roberts photo)

It is the ultimate weapon in high school basketball.

Capable of sending a crowd through the roof or deflating them just as quickly, the three-point shot is the dagger.

A dunk can set off a gym, yes, but there are so few, at least in this neck of the woods, that you can go an entire season without seeing more than a handful, at best.

Even then, most of them are just straight on, two-hands-on-the-ball jams, promptly followed by coaches lecturing the player to “just lay the dang ball up already and stop giving me angina, son!”

But the trey, the three-ball, is here to stay. It’s a part of the fabric of the game, and a crowd-pleaser at that.

As I’ve been going through the score-books from Randy King’s 20-year run as varsity coach at Coupeville High School (1991-2011), I’ve been writing about a variety of things.

Sunday, I decided, on a whim, to see who made the most treys during those two decades. To set the record straight.

Well, almost, as I have 17 of the 20 books, with 2001-2002, 2003-2004 and 2009-2010 AWOL. But it’s a pretty good start.

So, what did I learn?

The most astonishing piece of info was this: Gavin Keohane, who scored nearly 700 points during his run at CHS, the same man I watched win the three-point shooting contest at this year’s alumni game by a WIDE margin, never hit a trey during a high school varsity game.

Ever.

Which means he hit exactly one less than six-foot-seven Hunter Hammer, who capped his 759-point prep career by draining a three-ball in the fourth quarter of his final game.

So, now you have a great piece of trivia. You’re welcome.

Anyway.

Keeping in mind that we’re missing three seasons (which greatly impacts the numbers of accomplished gunners like Brad Sherman, Mike Bagby, Brian Fakkema and Tyler King), here’s 85% of what dropped through the nets during Randy King’s reign.

Let the boasting begin.

Single game high:

Brian Fakkema (6) vs. Mount Vernon Christian on 12-6-02
Brad Sherman (6) vs. Archbishop Thomas Murphy on 2-7-03

Single season high:

Brad Sherman (62) in 02-03
Rich Morris (50) in 96-97
Pete Petrov (50) in 95-96
Brian Fakkema (46) in 02-03
Ty Blouin (39) in 99-00
Brad Sherman (39) in 00-01
Mike Bagby (38) in 04-05
Blake Day (32) in 04-05
Alex Evans (31) in 07-08
Tyler King (31) in 10-11

Career three-balls:

Brad Sherman (101) **Sophomore and senior seasons — junior year is one of the missing books**
Pete Petrov (101)
Mike Bagby (80)
Ty Blouin (80)
Rich Morris (78)
Kramer O’Keefe (71)
Alex Evans (48)
Brian Fakkema (46)
Zepher Loesch (42)
Caesar Kortuem (41)
Blake Day (35)
James Smith (35)
Tyler King (34)
JJ Marti (33)
Troy Blouin (28)
Casey Clark (27)
Cody Peters (27)
Trevor Tucker (25)
Greg White (22)
Geoff Wacker (21)
Joe Donnellon (15)
Boom Phomvongkoth (15)
JD Wilcox (13)
Arik Garthwaite (12)
Matt Ortega (12)
Jason Bagby (11)
Jason Fisher (11)
Bryan Hamilton (11)
Casey Larson (11)
Ben Hancock (10)
Ian Smith (10)
Michael Vaughan (10)
Keith Dunnagan (9)
Erick Harada (8)
James Jorgenson (7)
Joe Kelley (6)
Dalton Engle (5)
Andrew Mouw (5)
Geoff Hageman (4)
Jason McDavid (4)
Virgil Roehl (4)
Nick Sellgren (4)
Ross Buckner (3)
Matt Frost (3)
Matt Helm (3)
Kit Manzanares (3)
James Meek (3)
Trevor Mueller (3)
Matt Douglas (2)
Ben Hayes (2)
Jerry Helm (2)
Travis Hooker (2)
Ryan McManigle (2)
Nevin Miranda (2)
Mitch Pelroy (2)
Matt Petrich (2)
Tony Prosser (2)
Joe Rojas (2)
Scott Stuurmans (2)
Nic Anthony (1)
Rob Blouin (1)
Chris Cox (1)
Scott Davidson (1)
Mike Duke (1)
Eddie Fasolo (1)
Hunter Hammer (1)
DJ Kim (1)
Erik King (1)
Gabe McMurray (1)
Brian Miller (1)
Tim Walstad (1)
Zeb Williams (1)

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The game of the century (maybe)!!

Posted in Boys Basketball, tagged , , , , , , on January 29, 2016| Leave a Comment »

Rich Morris banged home a team-high 21 the night the Coupeville JV boys' basketball squad almost broke 100 points. (Photo courtesy Kristina Morris)

   Rich Morris banged home a team-high 21 on the night in question. What night that is, we’re not really sure. (Photo courtesy Kristina Morris)

The game time forgot.

The game time forgot. (David Svien photo)

It’s the game everyone would be talking about, if they even remember it happened.

The night Coupeville got torched for 36 points by a future D-1 hoops star, yet still won by double digits and almost broke 100 points.

It’s the stuff of legend, buried deep in the back pages of an old score-book from decades ago, unearthed by a guy with too much time on his hands and a burning desire to explore the hidden stories of Central Whidbey sports.

So, at this point, you’re either on the edge of your seat or I already lost you.

Let me explain.

Having forced former Coupeville High School boys’ basketball coach Randy King to momentarily part with 20-years of score-books (1991 to 2011), I’ve been poking through them and seeing what popped out.

In the back of his first book, in between a bunch of blank pages, there’s a game that doesn’t fit.

There’s no date listed, but it couldn’t be from ’91-’92, because the players involved would have still been in middle school.

We’re talking guys who were some of the greatest scoring machines in school history — Pete Petrov, Rich Morris, Arik Garthwaite, Greg White, Nick Sellgren.

So, when was this game played and was it a varsity or a JV game?

By process of elimination, it seems unlikely to be a varsity contest.

The players on the roster are wrong for a varsity game from Petrov’s first two years in ’93-’94 or ’94-’95 (the stars of those teams, Gabe McMurray and Brad Miller, are nowhere to be found).

The players fit better with the next two years, but the uniform numbers listed for this game don’t match whatsoever with what is listed for EVERY varsity game in the ’95-’96 book.

To top things off, the ’96-’97 book has a gorgeous (and rare, I might add) complete game-by-game rundown with scores in the front of the book, with no appearance by Ritzville.

So, unless everyone switched out uniforms — for ONE game — the most likely scenario is it’s a JV game (or, for that matter, a C-team game, since the Wolves fielded a freshman team for a bit way back in the day) from ’93-’94.

And someone chose to record it in the last couple of pages of the first spare book they could find.

Once you get past all that, the next thing that jumps out is the huge scrawled numbers telling you Coupeville beat Ritzville 96-73.

Which is not true, since whomever did the books (there’s no name listed like on most games) can’t add right. Their own stats equal up to 95-74.

Still, that’s a heck of a lot of points for a JV or C game (if it was one), and that’s when your eyes slide to Ritzville’s side of the book and you see a guy named John Galbreath went off for 36 points.

He made 11 field goals and 11 free throws, and with that second number beat Coupeville by himself.

The Wolves stunk up the joint at the line that night, netting just 8 of 24 (Ritzville was 25-39), yet still rolled to a win.

A little research on the internet and you find out Galbreath was a pretty dang good player, and the Wolves were not the only team he torched during his career.

By the time he was a six-foot-five senior point guard, he led Ritzville to the Class B state semifinals, where they lost a heart-breaker in overtime to Darrington.

After that came a stint at Big Bend Community College, a two-year LDS mission, then two years of D-1 ball in California.

In 2011 he resurfaced as a JV girls coach at his alma mater, where he led his first Ritzville squad to an 18-0 record.

But while Galbreath was on fire that mysterious night against the Wolves, he wasn’t the only one.

Coupeville dropped 31 points in the first quarter, with Morris hammering home 10, and never looked back.

Up 13 at the half, the Wolves sealed the deal with a 29-19 third quarter — White and Garthwaite each knocked home seven points in the span — then coasted home for the win.

Ten players scored for CHS, led by Morris, who popped for 21 before fouling out.

Petrov added 15, Sellgren and White 14 apiece (the score-keeper listed White with 15, but his stats say otherwise) and Garthwaite 13.

Mike Vaughan (6), Jeremy Staples (4), Scott Stuurmans (4), Keith Dunnagan (2) and Jerry Helm (2) rounded out the Wolf attack, with Christian Townsdin, Gary Boyke and Dan Palmquist seeing floor time.

Palmquist, a player who doesn’t appear in any varsity games that I saw in the other books, would seem to seal the deal on the game being a JV or C game.

Part of me wants an answer, to know when the game was played, and at what level.

The other part of me likes the idea of a long-forgotten game just buried, by choice or accident, deep in the back of a random score-book, a small riddle never to be solved.

One small, mysterious moment in the long, rich and often confounding history of Coupeville athletics.

UPDATE: Garthwaite was a varsity player for all four years, so now we’re back to thinking it was a varsity game. Only, the actual 95-96 book has a full 20-game regular season schedule and five playoff games in it, with no mention of Ritzville.

The 96-97 book has 19 games in the official book, with all the game scores listed in the front of the book. But, if it’s a missing game from that year, where’s Dennis Terrell, who appears in every one of those 19 games?

Plus, what’s up with Palmquist? Was this his only varsity game ever?

The mystery rolls on.

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They scorched the nets!!

Posted in Boys Basketball, tagged , , , , , on January 23, 2016| Leave a Comment »

Gavin Keohane (John Fisken photos)

Gavin Keohane is one of only three Wolves to score 300+ points in two separate seasons in the last 25 years. The other two are Rich Morris and Mike Bagby. (John Fisken photos)

Mike Bagby, your CHS single game and career scoring leader -- at least over the past 25 years.

   Mike Bagby, your CHS single game and career scoring leader — at least from 1991 to present.

Twenty years and no one has touched Pete Petrov.

Way back in the 1995-96 high school basketball season, the Coupeville High School gunner, who was a junior at the time, threw down 442 points over 25 games.

Petrov, who rang up 917 points in four years as a Wolf, was remarkably consistent that season, scoring in double figures in every single game, with highs of 29 against Nooksack Valley and 27 against Sultan.

And those two games? Both playoff contests, reinforcing his rep as a big-game performer.

Why do I bring this up?

Mainly because I spent a good chunk of Saturday buried in old score-books, thanks to former CHS hoops guru Randy King.

The school doesn’t have any kind of glossy record board for basketball, like it does with track, football or volleyball, and the records are just floating out there in the haze.

King, after much harassment from me, managed to find 17 score-books from his 20-year career as the head coach of the Wolf boys’ program (1991-92 to 2010-11).

Thanks to Jim Waller at the Whidbey News-Times, we’ve since added one of the missing seasons.

And what I did learn after crawling through page after page of handwritten history?

Well, that my eyes may never uncross, but also that I now can rattle off all sorts of scoring stats until your eyes cross as well.

While we have to hedge our bets slightly with the two missing score-books, I can pretty confidently state that:

Petrov has the single best single-season scoring totals in the last 25 years, but Mike Bagby has the single-best game (34 at Orcas on Jan. 6, 2006) and the most career points.

Technically, if we go off only the 17 books I have, Petrov edges Bagby 917-915, with Arik Garthwaite hot on their heels at 867.

But, and it’s a huge but, one of the missing books is from 2003-2004, Bagby’s sophomore season.

And, since I know from previous research he was a First-Team All-Northwest League pick that year, it’s safe to say he scored more than the necessary three points to overtake Petrov.

But hey, it wouldn’t be Coupeville if at least part of the school’s athletic history wasn’t lost or missing.

So, keeping in mind this is close, but not 100%, marinate in some Wolf hoops history, one bucket at a time.

Best single game performance (1991-present):

Mike Bagby 34 vs. Orcas (04-05)
Gabe McMurray 33 vs. Sultan (94-95)
Mike Bagby 32 vs. Mount Vernon Christian (04-05)
Mike Bagby 32 vs. South Whidbey (05-06)
Arik Garthwaite 32 vs. Mount Vernon Christian (97-98)
Gavin Keohane 32 vs. Granite Falls (98-99)
JJ Marti 32 vs. Darrington (05-06)
Mike Bagby 30 vs. Shoreline Christian (04-05)
Brad Sherman 30 vs. Bush (02-03)

Best single season performances (1991-present):

Pete Petrov 442 (95-96)
Arik Garthwaite 423 (97-98)
Mike Bagby 414 (04-05)
Brad Sherman 396 (02-03)
Cody Peters 380 (08-09)
Gavin Keohane 374 (97-98)
Mike Bagby 364 (05-06)
Gabe McMurray 355 (94-95)
Virgil Roehl 341 (92-93)
Pat Bennett 340 (99-00)

And (pretty much) everyone who scored during the Randy King era:

1991-1992:

Virgil Roehl 189
Troy Blouin 115
Kit Manzanares 92
Brandon Huff 84
Jason McManigle 70
Jason McDavid 62
Ross Buckner 52
Danny Bonacci 36
Scott Sollars 28
Matt Douglas 20
Boom Phomvongkoth 18
Erik Anderson 8
Tracy Wilson 3
Jeremy McCormick 2

1992-1993:

Virgil Roehl 341
Brandon Huff 161
Troy Blouin 141
Brad Miller 66
Kit Manzanares 60
Boom Phomvongkoth 55
Ryan McManigle 39
Jason McManigle 31
Ross Buckner 25
Chris Cox 20
Gabe McMurray 2

1993-1994:

Brad Miller 238
Gabe McMurray 235
Chris Cox 157
Virgil Roehl 141
Kit Manzanares 123
Boom Phomvongkoth 100
Matt Ortega 75
Ryan McManigle 65
Pete Petrov 13
Bill Hamilton 5
Michael Vaughan 4
Chris Locke 2
Dennis Terrell 2

1994-1995:

Gabe McMurray 355
Brad Miller 222
Pete Petrov 188
Arik Garthwaite 109
Boom Phomvongkoth 102
Mike Vaughan 62
Ryan McManigle 44
Jeremy Staples 23
Keith Dunnagan 19
Greg White 18
Bill Hamilton 6

1995-1996:

Pete Petrov 442
Rich Morris 328
Greg White 194
Nick Sellgren 190
Arik Garthwaite 176
Mike Vaughan 162
Bryan Hamilton 43
Jeremy Staples 39
Keith Dunnagan 23
Christian Lyness 18
Gary Boyke 17
Christian Townsdin 5
Teo Benson 2
Scott Stuurmans 2

1996-1997:

Rich Morris 309
Pete Petrov 274
Nick Sellgren 216
Arik Garthwaite 159
Greg White 131
Mike Vaughan 109
Christian Lyness 77
Dennis Terrell 55
Christian Townsdin 25
Scott Stuurmans 13
Gavin Keohane 3
Jerry Helm 1

1997-1998:

Arik Garthwaite 423
Gavin Keohane 374
Greg White 261
Scott Stuurmans 173
Christian Townsdin 86
Bryan Hamilton 56
Caesar Kortuem 52
Jerry Helm 47
Andrew Cashen 8
Pat Bennett 6
Ben Hancock 5

1998-1999:

Gavin Keohane 300
Pat Bennett 201
Matt Frost 108
Caesar Kortuem 98
Ty Blouin 94
Andrew Cashen 76
Ben Hancock 58
Jim Marti 35
Joe Donellon 26
Chris Good 21
Noah Roehl 11
Joe Kelley 2

1999-2000:

Pat Bennett 340
Caesar Kortuem 219
Matt Frost 182
Ty Blouin 163
Noah Roehl 129
Joe Donellon 75
Jason Fisher 71
Chris Good 43
Marvin Mitchell 18
Travis Hooker 10
Geoff Hageman 8
Andrew Cashen 3
Matt Helm 1

2000-2001:

Chris Good 305
Brad Sherman 203
Noah Roehl 161
Pat Bennett 112
Ty Blouin 112
Sean Callahan 98
Geoff Hageman 56
Matt Helm 56
Joe Kelley 47
Erick Harada 40
James Meek 39
Rob Blouin 18

2001-2002:

MISSING

2002-2003:

Brad Sherman 396
Brian Fakkema 271
Casey Clark 256
Mike Bagby 137
James Jorgenson 40
Daniel McDonald 28
Joe Rojas 28
Scott Fisher 19
Blake Day 18
JJ Marti 12
Daniel Graham 9
JD Myers 5
Eric Taylor 3

2003-2004:

MISSING

2004-2005:

Mike Bagby 414
Blake Day 188
JJ Marti 174
Andrew Mouw 173
Trevor Tucker 113
Trent Diamanti 23
Trevor Mueller 22
Brad Rogers 15
Ryan Kelley 7
Mike Duke 3
Eddie Fasolo 3
Stephen Stietenroth 2

2005-2006:

Mike Bagby 364
JJ Marti 190
Kramer O’Keefe 186
Brian Miller 157
James Smith 93
Casey Larson 83
Ryan Kelley 26
Mike Duke 24
Tony Prosser 20
Kyle King 9
Alex Evans 5

2006-2007:

Brian Miller 251
Kramer O’Keefe 215
James Smith 178
Casey Larson 164
Alex Evans 93
Trevor Tucker 81
Quinten Farmer 75
Tony Prosser 50
Jordan Emerson 20
Zepher Loesch 12
Geoff Wacker 8
Brian Folkestad 7

2007-2008:

Kramer O’Keefe 235
Brian Miller 189
Alex Evans 174
Zepher Loesch 151
Cody Peters 138
James Smith 111
Geoff Wacker 49
JD Wilcox 36
Jason Bagby 18
Zeb Williams 7
Hunter Hammer 4
DJ Kim 3

2008-2009:

Cody Peters 380
Hunter Hammer 208
Jason Bagby 193
JD Wilcox 176
Zepher Loesch 111
Geoff Wacker 97
Tim Walstad 59
Zeb Williams 28
Tyler King 20
Matt Petrich 19
Chad Brookhouse 16
DJ Kim 10
Ian Smith 9
Erik King 7

2009-2010:

Hunter Hammer 302
Jason Bagby 288
JD Wilcox 161
Chad Brookhouse 147
Ian Smith 119
Tim Walstad 109
Erik King 54
Tyler King 48
Ben Hayes 19
Nevin Miranda 2
Dalton Engle 2

2010-2011:

Ben Hayes 287
Hunter Hammer 245
Tyler King 202
Ian Smith 196
Dalton Engle 46
Nevin Miranda 38
Mitch Pelroy 14
Nic Anthony 5
Scott Davidson 5

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Excellence, in any decade!!

Posted in Hall o' Fame, tagged , , , , , , , , on December 27, 2015| Leave a Comment »

Amanda Fabrizi is joined by fellow Hall o' Fame inductees (l to r) Chad Gale, Pete Petrov, Gavin Keohane and Eldon Jenne.

   Amanda Fabrizi (top) is joined by fellow Hall o’ Fame inductees (l to r) Chad Gale, Pete Petrov, Gavin Keohane and Eldon Jenne.

Speed. Size. Grit and tons and tons of talent.

The five members of the 27th class to be inducted into the Coupeville Sports Hall ‘o Fame left a lasting impact on the town, even though one made his greatest mark a world away.

So, let’s fling open the doors to these hallowed digital walls and welcome Chad Gale, Amanda Fabrizi, Petar Petrov, Gavin Keohane and the late, great Eldon Jenne.

From this point on, you can find them living up at the top of the blog under the Legends tab.

Our first inductee, Gale, remains one of the quickest guys to ever stroll the hallways at Coupeville High School.

A state meet veteran, two of his marks still sit on the CHS track record board more than 25 years after he originally set them.

Gale’s marks in the 110 hurdles, set in 1988, and the 300 hurdles, slapped down in ’86, have withstood every challenge since then. They remain as two of the longest-standing records in school history.

From Mitch Pelroy to Lathom Kelley, fleet-footed Wolves have come gunnin’ for Gale over the years, but none have been able to take his legacy down yet.

Though, truth be told, if someone one day does eclipse his stats, they won’t begin to dim how brightly his star shone.

Our second inductee is our most recent CHS grad.

Fabrizi was a basketball gunner, a volleyball jack-of-all-trades and a loud ‘n proud cheerleader during her days as a Wolf, and the Class of 2014 grad worked her tail off to achieve greatness.

Off the court, she was as sweet a person as you will meet, a proud big sis and a devoted animal lover.

On the court, she would tear your arm off and hit you with it, bringing a nice touch of grittiness to her game.

Time and again, she and running mate (and fellow Hall ‘o Famer) Breeanna Messner would be underestimated by other teams because they didn’t shout and pound their chests and seemed like genuinely reasonable people.

But poke them and the steel in their spines would come out on full display.

Fabrizi, especially in her stellar senior season, never backed down from taking a big shot and she was good at it, continually dropping her little running hook that, as her coach, David King, joked, looked like someone playing the game Barrel of Monkeys.

Was it a textbook shot? Perhaps not. Was it deadly effective and carried the Wolves to big wins? Without a doubt.

The ultimate testament to Fabrizi?

Regardless of the sport, over the years every single one of her coaches I spoke to her praised her. That universal acclaim was rare, and well-deserved.

Our next two inductees, Petrov and Keohane, go in together a day after leading the Red Pride to a win in the Tom Roehl Roundball Classic.

Both are charging hard at their 20-year reunions (Pete left CHS in ’97, Gavin in ’99) but they are still two of the best basketball talents to ever grace the hardwood in Cow Town.

They were beasts back in the day, went on to play college ball (Olympic College and Occidental College, respectively) and can still turn it on at a moment’s notice in their mid-thirties.

Keohane, tall and bearded like the fishing boat captain he is in the real world, still has the silkiest shot known to man, something he proved by scorching the field in the mid-tourney three-point shooting contest Saturday.

Petrov, ripped as ever and now competing as a weight lifter, made his Roundball debut Saturday and it was like he never left.

Crashing through the paint, knocking defenders back five feet with just a flex of his chest, draining jumpers from all angles, he was the tourney’s unofficial MVP and seemed to be enjoying himself as much as his enthusiastic fan section (led by teammate Mike Vaughan’s parents) was.

Watching them baffle the young guns and flawlessly run and gun to another title Saturday was a potent reminder of how good they were back in the old days.

And jumping back to the really old days, we honor our final inductee, who may be the only Coupeville native to ever compete in the Olympics.

Jenne popped in to the world in 1899, progeny of Edward and Agnes Jenne, and while his athletic exploits came off Island (he went to Mount Vernon High School), he remains, by birthright, one of ours.

First came his time at Washington State University (he’s in their Hall of Fame), where he was an All-American track and field athlete while also lettering in football.

A member of the US team at the 1920 Olympic games in Antwerp, Belgium, Jenne claimed seventh there in the pole vault, then returned to Wazzu and won the NCAA Championships in ’21.

After college, he was a successful coach in Oregon, first in high school, where he won state championships in boys’ basketball and football.

Jenne followed that up with a run as football and mens’ basketball coach at Pacific University and was inducted into the Oregon Sports Hall of Fame in 1983.

So now, 22 years after his passing, and 95 years after his moment at the Olympics, we welcome Mr. Jenne to his third Hall of Fame, and welcome him home, to where it all began.

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Red Pride rising!!

Posted in Basketball, Fundraisers, tagged , , , , , on December 26, 2015| 2 Comments »

Scott Stuurmans

   Scott Stuurmans floats like a butterfly and stings like a bee. (John Fisken photos)

Red Pride (John Fisken photo)

   Da champs. L to r, Jordan Schisel, Greg White, Dom Kiblinger, Gavin Keohane, tourney organizer Noah Roehl, Stuurmans, Mike Vaughan, Pete Petrov. In front: Samantha and Jodi Roehl.

The old guys still have it.

The third-oldest team in a 10-team field, the Red Pride were flawless Saturday, rolling to their fourth title in five years at the Tom Roehl Roundball Classic.

The all-day alumni/charity basketball extravaganza, held to fund college scholarships in honor of a longtime high school/youth coach, drew a record turnout in its eighth go-round.

But even with more teams in the field than ever before, none could match a band of players who mostly ruled the CHS courts in the late ’90s.

After failing to win the title last year, snapping a three-year run at the top, Red Pride went into the archives and plucked out Pete Petrov, adding the ’97 Wolf grad to their roster.

He paid immediate dividends, making a splash in his Roundball debut with a game-high 20 in a semifinal win and 17 in the championship game.

The Red Pride had one of the shorter benches in the tourney, with just seven players on their roster, but they also had no weaknesses and were consistently the best team when it came to fundamentals.

On a day when a lot of street ball took center court — some of it very entertaining, some of it wild and out of control — the Red Pride spent the day making cuts, hitting crisp passes, rockin’ guys on defense, boxing out and truly flowing as a team.

All seven guys scored in the semifinals, a 67-29 thrashing of last year’s champs, the Cows.

Gavin Keohane, who earlier had won the three-point shooting contest by drilling his last five shots in perfect rhythm, each shot flicking silently through the twines, backed up Petrov with 19.

After that there was something for everyone, with Jordan Schisel dropping eight, Greg White banging home seven, Scott Stuurmans singing the nets for six and Mike Vaughan crashing through the paint for four.

Dom Kiblinger, the youngest guy on the roster and the only non-Coupeville grad (he’s dating Stuurman’s niece, Sydney Aparicio, so is an honorary Wolf), rounded out the scoring with three.

Coming off of a tough quarterfinal win, the Cows came out cold in the semis and had several players head to the sidelines after getting banged up.

They were led by Brad Sherman, who popped for five.

Once in the final, Red Pride went toe-to-toe with the Central Whidbey Ballers.

While the final was closer than the semifinal — they led just 25-17 at the half — Red Pride led from opening tip to final whistle, rolling to an eventual 46-31 win.

Petrov (17), Keohane (11), White (9), Vaughan (5), Stuurmans (3) and Kiblinger (1) spread out the offense, while Rodrick Rumble was a one-man wrecking crew for the Ballers, pouring in 14.

Rumble, the former OHHS standout, had to fight like a beast for every one of those points, though, as he got little help in the championship game.

Central Whidbey got to the final game with a mix of high-flying theatrics and long-range gunning, but, in the final, key players like Drew Washington came up empty at crunch time, wilting against a Red Pride team that played as a seamless unit.

The title win capped a day in which I sat through 10 (yes, 10) games, witnessing four slam dunks, one windmill dunk that hit the back of the rim and shot the length of the floor, two technical fouls and three (count ’em) treys that beat the buzzer by a second or less.

It was a day the Roehl family and everyone involved can be truly proud of pulling off.

A taste of how my fanny went flat on the rock-hard bleachers:

Game 1: Red Pride downed Oak Town’s Finest 33-24, giving us all a glimpse of what was to come. All seven guys scored, led by Keohane’s 10, and they moved with a precision that would be unmatched.

Game 2: OhvO nipped Whos Ball Is It Anyways, a squad that included a ton of fairly recent CHS grads like Aaron Trumbull, Joel Walstad, Ben Etzell, Aaron Curtin, Jake Tumblin and Josiah Campbell.

Etzell started the game with a trey and Walstad nailed two late three-balls to keep things close, but missed free throws with five seconds to go led to a breakaway bucket at the buzzer and a 39-35 win for the non-Wolves.

Game 3: Central Whidbey Ballers, which despite their name — a carry-over from previous years — had only two Coupeville players (Dustin Van Velkinburgh and Nick Streubel), clobbered the Podunk Scrubs 62-40.

In a game in which three-pointers rained down from everywhere, the best came from Alex Evans of the Scrubs, who hit one while being knocked backwards three rows into the bleachers by a Baller defender.

Game 4: OhvO rallied from behind to knock off the Beast Squad 46-44. Best shot: a trey that beat the halftime buzzer by a millisecond, even though the shooter got knocked on his rear as he let the ball go.

Game 5: The Cows rode a huge second-half surge (30-14) and Sherman’s hot shooting to upend The SeaChickens 52-39.

Game 6: The Seachickens returned and eliminated Air Roehl 53-34. Former Wolf stars Gabe McMurray and Boom Phomvongkoth played strongly in defeat.

Game 7: A rematch between Central and Podunk, and this time Trent Diamanti and his Scrubs came closer, before falling 54-43.

Van Velkinburgh stuck a dagger in with a late first-half trey, but Gavin O’Keefe responded by hurtling down the floor, launching a trey of his own, and, while missing it, was body-slammed by a trio of defenders.

Popping right back up, he drilled all three freebies to stake the Scrubs to a 19-18 halftime lead, but the Ballers used their superior depth to snatch the game away in the second half.

Game 8: The only real upset of the afternoon, as the SeaChickens, who finished seeding play ranked #7, upended the #2 squad, OhvO, 53-47, to reach the semifinals.

And then we’re back to where we began, with the Red Pride running wild and my rear-end insisting it will never forgive me.

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