Nado Natterings
A weekly column by David Axelson

Nado Natterings
by David Axelson, Chief Executive Officer
The Islander Sports Foundation

5 Feb 2007 Issue #5

What started out as a routine week atop the Central League standings for the Coronado High School Girls Basketball Team became unexpectedly exciting last Friday night. To start the week’s play, the Islanders traveled to Hoover and defeated the Cardinals 43-34, led by junior point guard Tiffany Depfer’s 12 points.

The beneficiary of a 35-21 lead at the end of the third quarter, CHS Head Coach Toler Goodwin found playing time for the entire roster. “We did some nice things early on,” said Goodwin of this club. “We were trying to get a lot of people some (game) time and playing opportunities. We built a lead and shot well. We moved the ball well against their defense and made some transition baskets.”

Also contributing to the scoring barrage were Natalie Brooks with seven points, Bria Phillips and Arrielle Luna with six points each, Angela Strohbeck with five, and Kelsey Branch with four points. The victory allowed Coronado to proceed through the first round of Central League play undefeated.

Then the Islanders traveled to Christian High School Friday night. The first game between the two teams, which was played in Coronado, produced a tough 38-35 for the Islanders. The re-match wasn’t for the faint of heart either, as Christian won 24-23.

“We couldn’t buy a basket,” said Goodwin. “We played well defensively. You think when you hold a team to 24 points that you have a pretty good chance to win. They took the lead with 12.6 seconds to play and that was the only lead they had the entire game. We just didn’t make shots. Arrielle got into foul trouble in the first quarter and we didn’t get back into the same rhythm offensively. We didn’t make shots from the perimeter.”

The game featured a statistical oddity, as no player from either team scored in double figures. “We made one three (point shot) and we may have made one other shot from outside of 10 feet,” said Goodwin.

The practical application of splitting this pair of games is that if form holds, the final game of the year at Crawford will be for the Central League title and the right to host a first round CIF Playoff game.

Goodwin spent little time dwelling on the loss and is already looking ahead. “We’ve got two games this week. We play Clariemont Tuesday and that is always a physical game. We handled them pretty well the first time we played them. Then we have our last Friday night home game of the season against Madison. We bet them by 18 or 20 points in the first game. We have a couple of people banged up and we’re nursing some injuries. We have to get people healthy and away from the flu bug. In the next two weeks, we want to win every game and prep ourselves for the playoffs. We need to get healthy and playing together. We still control our own destiny. If we win out, we win the league.”

Goodwin currently handicaps the Division IV playoffs as having Coronado (13-10 overall, 5-1 in the Central League) in the sixth or seventh seed, with the Top 8 in no particular order including the Islanders, Francis Parker, Horizon, Bishop’s, Marian Catholic, Santa Fe Christian, Canyon Crest and Palo Verde. Goodwin concluded by saying, “Our division is just loaded. It’s awfully good.”

Girls Basketball Squad Tours USS Nimitz

Captain Ted Branch, commanding officer of the USS Nimitz, and his wife Jodi Branch graciously hosted the Girls Basketball Team, coaches, parents and a few stragglers (The Natter Wife and Your Natterer) for a tour of CVN 68 Monday evening. The Branches are the proud parents of senior Kelsey Branch.

Here are two fun facts from the tour. First, a single link in the anchor chain weighs 360 pounds. Second, while running at its top speed of nearly 30 knots, the “USS Nimitz” can come to a complete stop in a distance of 2,000 yards. Capt. Branch smiled and said, “But it makes a lot of noise when it does that.”

Dinner followed the tour and a good time was had by all. Thanks to the Branch family and to the crew of the “USS Nimitz” for going to the trouble to put the outing together.

Boys Basketball Loses Twice In Tough Central League

Playing in the Boys Basketball portion of the Central League in the past several years has meant facing some of the top talent in San Diego on a constant basis. Both Hoover (Jaydee Luster heading to New Mexico State) and Crawford (Tyrone Shelley and Tyler Tucker to Pepperdine) have Division I talent who have to be dealt with. Mix in some European transfers from Christian and you have a pretty talented league. Or as CHS Head Coach Sandy Dillon assessed last week’s schedule, “We went from the frying pan (Hoover) into the fire (Christian).”

Dillon is charging into battle without Geoff Worley, who while out with a leg injury, has morphed into an assistant coach for point guards Liam Cronan and Matt Fowler. “He was really into it and really happy,” said Dillon of Worley’s new role. Also missing from the starting lineup was Matt Oakley, who was out of town with his family.

In the first game of the week, Oakley put 27 points on the scoreboard against Hoover, prompting Dillon to say, “That was his high game of the year and he was absolutely outstanding. We were down 39-29 at halftime, but we were within range. We tied them in the third quarter. We played with a team that is hard for us to play and we were in it late in the game.” Other notable scorers included Chas Marks with 11 points and Cronan with nine. The final score was Hoover 79, Coronado 62.

Then came the Christian game. Whether it was increased playing time or the personal coaching from Worley, Cronan contributed 14 points and four assists. “Liam played very well,” said Dillon of the junior, who then went on to discuss the contributions of senior forward Benson Lorden. “Benson has given me two good games and has guarded kids way bigger than him. Benson guarded Mikutis (Christian’s high-scoring forward) well. He pushed him and shoved him and didn’t foul out.”

Moral victories aren’t usually awarded on the basketball court, but Coronado (12-8 overall, 2-4 in the Central League) has competed well this season. “We played to the best of our ability for the last three games,” Dillon said of the three-game run which included Crawford last week. “We were outmanned, but they played as well as they could play. I have never had a team with this many injuries. We haven’t had 10 days this year when the eight kids who played so well in the summer league have been together. Our success has to do with the tenacity of the kids. We have been able to get the kids to play at a consistent level.”

This week the Islanders play Clairemont at home Tuesday at 5 pm and then play in the second half of the Girls/Boys Basketball doubleheader Friday when they host Madison.

“Pack The Gym Night” Planned for Friday, Feb. 9

Friday night’s Girls/Boys Basketball Doubleheader will have a unique prelude as the First “Pack the Gym Night” is scheduled to start at 5 pm in the faculty parking lot across from the football field on Sixth Street.

For a mere $3, students can get a burger, chips, soda and a piece of duct tape, suitable for taping your favorite teacher to the wall of the gym. Music will be provided by Odetoastubbedtoe and the way I figure it, the duct tape alone is worth $3.

It’s all in good fun and should result in a big crowd Friday night when the Madison Warhawks come to Coronado. The basketball doubleheader tip-off is slated for 6 pm.

Girls Water Polo Snares 7^th Place in SoCal Invite

The CHS Girls Water Polo Team played La Jolla Monday and defeated their Western League counterparts 10-8. “It was a little bit of an expected letdown from our perspective,” said Head Coach Dave Throop. “We started the week with a game and no practice and we were kind of out of synch.” Katie Estrada scored four goals and Molly Patrick added three more for the victorious Islanders.

Then to prove that all is right with the world, Wednesday Coronado kicked Patrick Henry 12-0.

The Islanders trundled themselves off to Irvine Thursday to play in the SoCal Irvine Tournament and defeated University High School of Irvine 11-2 in their first game. In Thursday’s second game, they defeated Los Alamitos 9-8.

In Friday’s first game, Coronado faced eventual champion Foothill and lost 8-1, a result that Throop noted, “Was not indicative of the game. They funneled the ball to their goalie very well. Defensively they did some good things. With that kind of defense, when you fall behind, it’s hard to recover.” Estrada, who was named to the All-tournament Team scored Coronado’s lone goal.

In the consolation semi-finals, Coronado fell to Montebello 9-7 and was without the services of Throop, who was ill. The tournament ended for the Islanders with a 7-5 win over Whittier.

“We got four very good games out of the tournament and we went 2-2 (3-2 overall) in those games,” said Throop. “We’re 20-5 overall and now we have a chance to refocus. We should be the No. 1 seed in the CIF tournament and we’re Co-champions of the Western League. I feel positive about those things. We have one goal and that is getting to the playoffs and playing our best game in the last game.” That may actually be two goals; at the very least a compound, complex goal; but Throop’s point is well taken.

This week Coronado hosts Cathedral Catholic Thursday at 3 pm. Friday they travel to Tustin to face Foothill in the Islander’s final regular season game.

Boys Soccer Stands Pat At 18-2-2

Well, we’ve had a statistical oddity in this week’s column already, so now it’s time for a scheduling oddity. Already looking at a lone non-conference game on their schedule last week at Southwest High School, the Islander Boys Soccer Team lost that game due to rain. Southwest had to make up a re-scheduled league game Friday instead of playing the No. 9 ranked Coronado club.

“We did a lot of training,” said Brian Hiatt-Aleu of his team. “We worked on our fitness for three days.” Just a guess here, but I’m betting the team members would rather have played the game and avoided the training.

Coronado continues to sit atop the Central League standings, with Clairemont in second place. This week the Islanders host Madison at 6 pm Tuesday and then play at Crawford Thursday at 3 pm.

“Barring injuries or a freak accident, we should be there at the end this year,” Hiatt-Aleu said of his team’s playoff prospects. “The boys are focused.”

Girls Soccer Competes Well in Two Contests

McKenzie Coutts scored a goal for Coronado and the Islanders kicked off their week with a 1-1 tie against Our Lady of Peace last week. “The girls played well,” said Head Coach Kiko Medina. “They knocked the ball around well. Again this week, we are struggling to finish games off. We completely dominated and we should have had the win, but we were still able to get a point out of it.”

Coronado’s second game was against University City, and the contest resulted in a 3-2 loss. “There always seems to be a good battle between us two,” said Medina of the Centurions vs. Islanders match up. “Again the girls played well once they got into it. We’re not finishing our chances and we are making silly mistakes. We shouldn’t have lost the game, but now we have to move forward from it.”

The highlight of the U.C. game was a goal from Andrea Davis, which Medina described as “One of our best goals all year. We got a good buildup out of the back and we got the ball wide. We were able to find Leah up top and she played a nice little ball over the top of the defense and Andrea hit a volley from 22 yards out. She struck it really well.”

Medina continued to say that right back Callie Caldwell and left back Courtney Ryan were playing well for the team. “Leah Hatheway continues to play well. She was sick all week. For her to give us what she did, really helped out a lot.” Hatheway scored the Islanders’ second goal in the loss to U.C.

This week Coronado hosts Cathedral Catholic Wednesday night at 6 pm. They play at Scripps Ranch Friday at 3 pm.

Coronado Middle School Spring Sports Registration Next Week

Wednesday, Feb. 7, at 6:30 pm, registration for the CMS spring sports season will be held at Granzier Hall. Spring sports offerings include Co-ed Track, Boys Lacrosse, Co-ed Tennis, Girls Basketball, plus Boys and Girls Water Polo. The registration fee is $90 per child, per sport. All pertinent ISF/CMS athletic forms may be downloaded from www.IslanderSportsFoundation.com. If you have questions, please call 435-1343 for additional information.

Home Run Derby Event Benefits CHS Baseball Program

Big news just in. The CHS Islander Baseball Team’s Greater San Diego Home Run Derby Sunday, Feb. 11 at Islander Field at Bayside Park (immediately behind Silver Strand Elementary School) now includes a new attraction, Texas style barbecue. Even if you don’t want to participate in the Home Run Derby, come and purchase barbecue ribs and chicken.

The Home Run Derby offers, music, prizes and raffles aplenty. All proceeds will benefit the Islander Baseball program. Entry fees are $15 for high school-aged athletes, with admission for all other age categories, including high school teams at $25 each.

Baseball shoes and helmets are required for participants. The event will run from 10 am to 3 pm. For more information, please contact event organizer Bruce Johnson at 619-851-1600. To pre-register, contact Bruce at CoronadoIslanders@gmail.com.

‘Touch ‘Em All’ Program Continues to Serve Coronado Community

A couple of weeks back we brought you the news that several CHS baseball players have gone together to form the ‘Touch ‘Em All’ service group which collects donations from the Coronado community and delivers them to folks in need. The players include Tucker Johnson, Alex Rowan, Josh Fink and Jake McMahon and collectively they promise a pick up your donation with 24 hours of contact.

‘Touch ‘Em All’ specializes in new and gently used clothing, household items and toys. If you have had a big spring garage sale and have items left over, give them a call at 435-1942 for a collection. ‘Touch ‘Em All’ may also be contacted via e-mail at erowan@san.rr.com.

Congratulations to ‘Touch ‘Em All’ for their community service work.

Loren Murillo Update

Occasionally we like to update the progress of a former CHS athlete. Recently we received word that CHS alumnus and baseball player Loren Murillo has transferred from Chicago State University to Southern Utah University, where he has three years of eligibility remaining.

Murillo, who pitched as a true freshman at Chicago State, has sustained some slight tearing of the rotator cuff, but hopes to pitch for Southern Utah this season. He has been working on a limit of 40 pitches in scrimmages held so far this year and hopes to round into form in the over the next 30 days.

Southern Utah University is in the NCAA Division I Mid-Continent Conference. Murillo is majoring in hotel management at the school.