Julian Welling played a key role for a Wolf baseball squad that surged to seven league wins and a title this spring. (Sylvia Hurlburt photo)
The CHS girls’ basketball squad went 9-0 in league play for a second straight year en route to playing in the state tourney. (John Fisken photos)
Jared Helmstadter capped a four-year run on the hard-courts by helping lead the Wolves to a league title in the fall.
Jazmine Franklin and her teammates are 11-0 in 1A Olympic League tennis matches.
Some of the shine has come off the Eagles.
As year #2 of the 1A Olympic League rolls towards a close, the other three schools in the conference have worked at steadily shaving away at Klahowya’s early domination.
Despite having a student body which almost doubles Coupeville (445.07 to 227 in this year’s count of students in grades 9-11), Klahowya’s success against the Wolves and league mates Port Townsend (278.25 students) and Chimacum (250.38) waned a bit during the 2015-2016 school year.
When you compare the 10 primary varsity sports in which Coupeville competes in (we don’t count track because schedules don’t match up and team “results” are wildly skewed), the Wolves, Cowboys and RedHawks have made serious inroads, both in terms of games won and titles claimed.
There are two league softball games left (Klahowya vs. Port Townsend and Klahowya vs. Chimacum), so our stats are not 100% set in stone, but, based on current records, it’s fairly safe to project the Eagles will split those games.
Port Townsend softball is on a two-year-plus losing streak, while Chimacum has clinched its second straight title and boasts an 8-0 mark at the moment.
Projecting a split for Klahowya softball, 2015-2016 will finish looking like this:
Klahowya — 44 wins, 3 titles (volleyball, girls soccer, boys soccer)
Coupeville — 42 wins, 4 titles (boys tennis, girls basketball, baseball, girls tennis)
Chimacum — 27 wins, 2 titles (boys basketball, softball)
Port Townsend — 22 wins, 1 title (football)
P.S. — Coupeville and Klahowya both finished 7-2 in baseball, but Coupeville won the season series 2-1 and enters the playoffs as the #1 seed.
I would argue that makes the Wolves league champs, though I understand the counter argument that the teams shared the title.
Then again, this blog ain’t called Klahowya Sports, so tough nuts, Eagles.
In 2014-2015, it looked like this:
Klahowya — 52 wins, 5 titles (volleyball, girls soccer, boys soccer, boys tennis, baseball)
Coupeville — 40 wins, 2 titles (girls basketball, girls tennis)
Chimacum — 23 wins, 2 titles (boys basketball, softball)
Port Townsend — 20 wins, 1 titles (football)
So, split or not for Eagle softball, Klahowya is down in both total wins and titles in year #2, while all three other schools went up in wins and Coupeville claimed more titles.
P.S. #2 — The Wolf netters were undefeated this year (4-0 in boys tennis, 5-0 in girls tennis), but had three league matches first postponed, then cancelled by their rivals.
If they had gotten to play the missing two boys matches against Port Townsend and the missing girls match against Klahowya, Coupeville would likely be looking at 45 wins.
In that world, they either edge Klahowya 45-44 or tie 45-45, if the Eagle softball sluggers pull of an upset in their finale.
Also, another side note for Wolf fans:
Coupeville was the only school not to suffer a win-less season in any of the 10 sports this school year.
2015-2016 varsity league wins sport-by-sport:
Baseball — Coupeville 7, Klahowya 7, Chimacum 4
Boys basketball — Chim 7, PT 7, Coup 4
Boys soccer — Klah 6, PT 4, Coup 2
Boys tennis — Coup 4, Klah 3
Football — PT 6, Klah 4, Coup 1, Chim 1
Girls basketball — Coup 9, Klah 4, PT 4, Chim 1
Girls soccer — Klah 6, Coup 4, Chim 1, PT 1
Girls tennis — Coup 5, Klah 2, Chim 1
Softball — Chim 9*, Klah 6*, Coup 3
Volleyball — Klah 6, Coup 3, Chim 3
So, what does this all mean?
Here’s what I get out of it — Klahowya is still very good, but the other schools, especially Coupeville, are proving student body size really doesn’t matter.
Despite playing for the sixth-smallest 1A school in the state, the Wolves essentially stood toe-to-toe all school year with the second-biggest 1A school and never backed down.
Coupeville repeated as league champs in two sports and stepped up to take two new titles, and they did so at a time when the majority of the school’s top athletes are underclassmen.
The Wolves only lose one senior from the girls basketball squad, two starters from the baseball team and just a handful of netters.
With strong junior and sophomore classes ready to assume the mantle of leadership and no reason to fear any school in the league, this would seem to be the dawn of what could be a great era for CHS sports.
Some sports need to maintain, while others have work to do, but the Wolves are as solid as anyone in their league, and it’s a conference which, thanks to this year’s classification rulings, they will remain in for at least another four years.
Time to step up and commit. Put in off-season work. Never stop striving for improvement.
Coupeville was more than decent in year #1. Stronger in year #2.
Year #3? It could be, it should be, the year of the Wolves.
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