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Posts Tagged ‘undefeated’

26 years later, still the gold standard!!

Posted in Football, tagged , , , , , , on August 26, 2016| Leave a Comment »

Jason McFadyen

   Wolf QB Jason McFadyen runs the offense during the last truly great CHS football season. (Photo courtesy Carmen McFadyen)

It came from the dusty "archives" -- Ron Bagby's football contract for the 1990 season.

   It came from the dusty “archives” — Ron Bagby’s football contract for his undefeated season. (Jack Sell photo)

team

The core of the 1990 Wolf gridiron squad. (Photo courtesy Noah Roehl)

Ron Bagby made $86.80 per game in 1990, while delivering arguably the best football season in Coupeville High School history.

That’s just one of the facts I discovered this morning, while digging through several boxes of long-buried, and mostly hand-written, Wolf gridiron records.

The boxes were recovered, Indiana Jones-style, after CHS Athletic Director Willie Smith led me through a maze of back rooms ripe with the smell of history (or maybe just unwashed uniforms).

“Don’t breathe through your mouth!!!” he giggled.

While the mass of paperwork stashed in the boxes should spur several stories, the one which immediately jumps forward is the tale of the ’90 football squad.

With the recent installation of the school’s new Wall of Fame in the CHS gym, current players can gaze upwards towards two football league titles — 1974 and 1990 — both won by teams which went undefeated in the regular season.

While CHS fell 34-14 in its 1990 state playoff opener, falling to visiting Rainier on a brutally windy prairie afternoon, that squad still looms large in Wolf lore.

Through the remainder of Bagby’s 26-year coaching career, and much shorter stints by his successors — Jay Silver, Tony Maggio, Brett Smedley and now first-year man Jon Atkins — Coupeville has never made it back to state in football.

While the school’s basketball, track, baseball and tennis teams have continued to pile up league titles and bring home state trophies, the football program has been on a bit of a dry streak.

As they aim for their own shot of glory in 2016, they can look back to ’90 for inspiration.

It was a year when Coupeville claimed 10 of the 23 spots on the All-League team, yet somehow Bagby was passed over for Coach of the Year by the Northwest B League.

Linemen Chris Frey and Mark Lester and running back/defensive back Todd Brown were All-League on both sides of the ball, while four other Wolves got the nod at one position apiece.

Matt Cross (offensive line), Brad Haslam (kicker), Todd Smith (defensive end) and Frank Marti (linebacker) joined the two-way honorees.

Concrete, which held Coupeville to a season-low in points (while still losing to the Wolves) had seven All-League picks, with Darrington (4), Friday Harbor (2) and Orcas-Lopez (2) rounding out the rosters.

The biggest surprise in 2016 is looking at an All-League sheet and seeing Darrington’s Rob Wales listed as Coach of the Year during a season when Bagby’s marauders beat the Loggers 18-8 and went (ahem) undefeated.

Moving on, the 1990 season is one of the rare ones for which I’ve actually discovered a fully-detailed team stat chart.

No poking through piles of papers, adding things up by hand, and then discovering at the last second that yes, we are missing a stat sheet for game #4 and David can feel the brains leaking out of his ear.

Now, of course, one caveat.

While the offensive stats are all there, I could find only a smidgen of the defensive ones. So, no tackles or sacks, just interceptions.

Hey, it’s a start.

The tale of the tape:

Coupeville beats Sultan 35-6
Coupeville beats Cascade sophomores 29-22
Coupeville beats Mariner sophomores 44-22
Coupeville beats Snohomish sophomores 25-6
Coupeville beats Friday Harbor 28-21
Coupeville beats Concrete 10-0
Coupeville beats Darrington 18-8
Coupeville beats Orcas-Lopez 36-0
Coupeville beats La Conner 41-22

Team stats:

Total points: 266-107 in favor of CHS
First downs: 148-71 in favor of CHS
Passing: 61-113 for 933 yards and 8 TDs
Rushing: 359 carries for 2,340 yards and 28 TDs
Total Yards: 3,273 (364 a game)

Individual stats:

Passing:

Jason McFadyen 60-108 for 892 yards and 7 TDs
Frank Marti 1-2 for 25 yards
Brad Haslam 1-3 for 16 yards and 1 TD

Receiving:

Ben Biskovich 22 catches for 345 yards
Brian Barr 13-209
Marti 11-183
Haslam 11-62
Todd Brown 2-7

Rushing:

Brown 156 carries for 1248 yards
Marti 80-522
Haslam 45-273
Kit Manzanares 27-170
McFadyen 17-88
Jason McManigle 3-20
Les Hall 6-19

Touchdowns:

Marti 12
Brown 11
Biskovich 4
Haslam 4
McFadyen 3
Barr 1
McManigle 1

PAT:

Haslam 22

FG:

Haslam 2

INT:

Biskovich 5
Barr 2
Haslam 2
Marti 2

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Titans tangle in epic battle!!

Posted in Little League, Softball, tagged , , , , , on May 27, 2016| Leave a Comment »

(Mimi Johnson photo)

   The Coupeville Crush celebrate Red Nose Day before taking the field. (Mimi Johnson photos)

Jim Wheat

Umpire Jim Wheat gets in on the festivities (possibly against his will.)

(John Fisken photo)

Blue Pride. (John Fisken photo)

The only thing which can stop them is daylight.

Having battled visiting Anacortes to a 4-4 standstill through nine tense innings Thursday, the Central Whidbey Little League Majors softball squad finally exited a game without a win this season.

The rare tie, which the teams accepted after nearly three hours of play, left the Crush at 13-0-1 with two regular season games left.

With the game already three innings beyond normal Little League length, and the last strands of daylight sliding away, Central Whidbey loaded the bases in the ninth and went for broke.

Izzy Wells and Jill Prince walked, while Stella Johnson dropped in a well-placed hit to juice the bags.

Tossing a Hail Mary with nothing to lose, the Crush tried to steal home to nab the win, but Anacortes was ready for the play and denied a walk-off win.

“Their catcher is solid,” said Central coach Mimi Johnson. “She doesn’t miss much and she’s quick back there.”

With Crush hurler Wells locked in a pitcher’s duel with her Anacortes rival for most of the night, the two teams didn’t score as much as might be expected.

Central has rained down offensive terror on its foes to the tune of 167-95 this season, but had to scratch for every run Thursday.

The Crush fell behind early, then got back in the game on a pair of base knocks from Coral Caveness and Bella Velasco.

Wells was a buzzsaw, striking out hitters left and right, and the few times she let Anacortes touch the ball, her defense, especially Prince at first base, stepped up with big plays.

After trailing for much of the game, Central Whidbey tied things up in the sixth to force extra innings.

A two-out walk by Wells was followed by a “beautiful” RBI double from Bam Ries and an RBI single off of the bat of Caveness.

Deadlocked at 3-3, both teams had chances to end the stalemate in the seventh, but were denied.

Wells punched out a hitter to strand the go-ahead run in the top of the inning, while Anacortes’ third baseman nailed a runner at the plate in the bottom half.

The Crush had set things up nicely with hits from Kaela Meffert and Kylie Van Velkenburgh, but got tangled on an infield fly.

Like two counter-punching boxers warily circling each other, the squads each tallied a run in the eighth.

Anacortes nabbed the lead with aggressive base-running, but Central countered when Prince used her “well-trained eye” to eke out a walk.

She advanced on a shot by Wells, then scampered home when Anacortes booted a ball hit by Caveness.

If Rhododendron Park had lights, the two teams might still be playing.

On this night, however, they (symbolically) bowed to each other and went home for a late dinner.

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Crushin’ everyone in sight!!

Posted in Little League, Softball, tagged , , , , on May 13, 2016| Leave a Comment »

Prince (Renae Mulholland photo)

   Jill Prince knocked in a pair with a blast to deep right field Thursday, as the Coupeville Crush rolled to its 10th straight win. (Renae Mulholland photo)

(Katy Wells photo)

Undefeated and lovin’ life. (Katy Wells photo)

Rollin’ right along.

Ten-running everyone they encounter, the Central Whidbey Little League Majors softball squad has soared to a 10-0 record this season.

Mixing superb pitching with stellar hitting and inspired defense, the Coupeville Crush have more than lived up to their name.

Their latest victim was Oak Harbor Gold, which fell 14-4 Thursday night.

Crush hurlers Kaela Meffert and Izzy Wells combined to shut down the North Enders at the plate, combining for eight strikeouts while getting a little help from their defense.

Audrianna Shaw patrolled third base with a vengeance, gunning down runners, while both pitchers snagged line drives hit right back at them.

Meffert also teamed with catcher Stella Johnson on a bang-bang play at the plate after leaving the pitcher’s circle to play short.

After running down a fly, Meffert wheeled and fired the ball on a bead to nail a runner headed home, pulling off a sweet double play.

Coupeville got all the offense it would need in the first, plating five.

Sofie Martin kicked things off with a gorgeous single, Meffert was drilled by a pitch, then Coral Caveness laid down a picture-perfect bunt.

After a handful of walks kept the runners moving base-to-base, Wells crunched a single to break things open.

The runs kept coming after that, with four in the second (though Abby Mulholland was denied on a steal of home when plate umpire Jim Wheat stood tall and withstood the screams of agony from Crush fans), one in the third and the final four crossing in the fifth.

Jill Prince crushed “an amazing shot to right” to knock in a pair, then came around to steal home herself, while Meffert, Kenna Somes and Bam Ries all collected base knocks.

The final run, which invoked the 10-run mercy rule, came via Johnson, who took one for the team, getting plunked with the bags juiced.

While the Crush was swinging hot, Coupeville coach Mimi Johnson sent a shout-out to Oak Harbor’s pitcher.

“I will say, Macy Oliver has really been working hard on her pitching! She is developing a wicked curve ball!,” she said. “All in all, it was another fun game!”

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You’ve been crushed!!

Posted in Little League, Softball, tagged , , , , on May 6, 2016| Leave a Comment »

Izzy Wells prepares to crack off some heat from the pitcher's circle. (Renae Mulholland photos)

Izzy Wells is coming for all your strikeouts. (Renae Mulholland photos)

Audrianna Shaw

Audrianna Shaw, a two-way terror.

Kylie Van Velkinburgh

Kylie Van Velkinburgh stares into the other team’s soul, and watches it shatter.

Coral Caveness

   Coral Caveness delivered a huge two-run single Thursday night as the Crush rolled to 8-0 on the season.

The team that can’t be beat, won’t be beat.

After trailing for the first time all season, the Central Whidbey Little League Majors softball squad rebounded to drill Oak Harbor 17-7.

The come-from-behind victory lifted the Crush to a flawless 8-0 on the season.

Kaela Meffert reached base four times (three hits and a walk) while Coral Caveness cranked a two-run single to spark the offense.

The Crush has gotten production from the top of the order to the back of the bench all season, said coach Mimi Johnson.

It starts with the pitcher-catcher duo of Izzy Wells and Stella Johnson, who are in tune with each other.

“Izzy has done amazing at pitching, and it’s quite fun to watch Stella call pitches,” Mimi Johnson said.

“They have been working on figuring out how to pitch to different batters. Got a scaredy up to bat? High and inside will have her jumping out of the batters box every time,” she added with a laugh.

Checking off a few of her players, Johnson referred to Audrianna Shaw as a “hitting machine,” praised Sofie Martin and daughter Stella as “menaces on the bases” and marveled at Abby Mulholland’s bat control.

“Abby has mastered the bunt, it lays down like a pillow.”

The Crush commander could go on all evening about her talented team.

“I have a large squad, so I’m sure there is much more I could say,” Johnson said. “They’re a great group of girls and they genuinely care about each other.”

While the Crush are running away with games, they’re doing it in style as well.

“Moose (Moran) is our resident DJ, so we now have music and walk up songs,” Johnson said. “Our home games are like giant parties!

“Heck, the girls even have me dabbing (is that right??) as a base-running sign. What is this game coming to?”

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Cold shooting, hot win!!

Posted in Girls Basketball, Middle School, tagged , , , , , on February 22, 2016| Leave a Comment »

Hannah Davidson

   Hannah Davidson, here lining up a free throw in an earlier game, scored seven Monday as Coupeville held on for a win in Port Townsend. (John Fisken photos)

Scout Smith (John Fisken photo)

Scout Smith ran the Wolf offense and dropped in eight of her own points.

Flip the script.

In game #1, the Coupeville Middle School varsity girls’ basketball teams played an edge-of-your-seat thriller and a blowout.

Same thing in game #2, just with the teams reversed.

Monday night in Port Townsend, the 8th grade Wolves, who had romped first time out, hung on through cold second-half shooting to escape with a 23-19 win.

The victory lifted them to 2-0 heading back home to face Forks Thursday.

That matches the 7th grade varsity, also 2-0 after a one-point win on opening night and a 30-point romp Monday.

The 8th graders knocked down 16 of their 23 in the first half to build a lead, then found the basket a bit more unforgiving after halftime.

After netting just five in the third, they could manage only a lone bucket in the fourth, courtesy point guard Scout Smith.

Thanks to scrappy defense, though, the Wolves were able to hang on and withstand their dry spell on offense.

Smith paced the Coupeville attack, dropping in a game-high eight, while Hannah Davidson popped for seven.

Maya Toomey-Stout and Avalon Renninger each knocked down four to cap the limited offensive attack.

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