The Coronado High School Boys Lacrosse Team served notice Friday night that they plan to play a significant role in the CIF Playoffs this year, as they hosted and handily defeated the La Costa Canyon Mavericks by the score of 9-2.

Kevin Chenoweth played a magnificent game in goal, being officially credited with 13 saves on the evening. However, his role was much more critical than his save total against the previously undefeated Mavericks. The Islanders had trouble revving up their scoring attack in the first quarter, and in fact La Costa Canyon spent much of the first 6 minutes of the contest attacking the Coronado half of the field.

Chenoweth kept the Islanders in the game with acrobatic saves and stops on shots that an average goalie would have allowed for scores. A goal at the 5:50 mark of the first quarter by sophomore Kelcey Fisher got the Islanders on the scoreboard.

More disturbing than the lack of scoring was the fact that the Islanders were losing the fight in the early going for ground balls to the Mavericks. Ground balls recovered as a statistic is roughly akin to rebounds in basketball or 50-50 balls in soccer, and is a reflection of the team’s collective effort in the game.

Islander Head Coach Alex Cade apparently made the point to his club that they were being outworked in the early going, because Coronado took the game over from the outset of the second quarter. Senior Steve Torkington found the back of the Maverick net a mere 36 seconds after resuming play and the Islanders never looked back.

Fisher added a goal at the 3:50 mark in a rather unique fashion. The Islanders were making a substitution on the fly and Fisher simply ran onto the field, took a pass, shot and scored. A simple, yet surprisingly effective offensive strategy. Three minutes later, a high-speed lap around the Maverick goal crease found Zach Todaro with a well-earned goal. A mere 39 seconds later Glenn Goebels took a pass from Cote Perkins and converted on his scoring opportunity. At halftime the Islanders and Chenoweth were pitching a 5-0 shutout and in complete control of the contest.

A face-off in boys lacrosse is an amalgamation of a two-man scrum in rugby and the ancient art of sumo wrestling. Fisher, a midfielder by trade, handles most of the face-off duties for the Islanders, and as a result spends roughly the first 10 seconds after the beginning of each quarter and after each goal scored, wrestling his counterpart in the dust of midfield for control of the ball. His efforts at midfield didn’t seem to hamper Fisher’s scoring ability in the game, as he had three goals in the contest. To paraphrase country music singer/songwriter Willie Nelson, ‘Momma, don’t let your babies grow up to take face-offs.’

La Costa Canyon opened the scoring in the second half, a tally that was quickly answered by a goal from Perkins. Torkington scored again less than 2 minutes later and Goebels picked up a grounder and sprinted more than half the length of the field and scored with 1:06 left in the quarter. The teams traded goals in the fourth quarter to account for the 9-2 final score.

His teammates seemed to appreciate Chenoweth’s contribution to the victory, as they rushed the goal crease at the conclusion of the game and mobbed the junior net minder. The Islander defense in the second half was outstanding and didn’t give the Mavericks room to create or run an offense. Credit goes to defensemen Kyle McArthur, Jeremy Redding, Ryan Cummins, Chris Arthur and Chris Carlson for their play in front of Chenoweth.

The Boys Lacrosse early season results are interesting. Coronado lost their first game of the season to Torrey Pines; Torrey Pines lost to La Costa Canyon; while Coronado dominated La Costa Canyon. Perhaps all that can be read into the results is that Coronado, with a 6-1 overall record and 3-0 in the City Conference, appears to be a major factor in the race for the CIF Championship in 2004.

The only other team to play during the recently concluded spring break was The Boys Baseball Team, which participated in the Lions Club Tournament. The competition, although against schools much larger than Coronado, proved to be uneven. The Islanders dominated Calexico 11-1 as Ryan Nunn and Geoff Thorne both had two hits and set the pace for the Islanders nine-hit attack. Mike Hollinger, Blake Spitzer and Thorne had doubles in the game, while David West added a triple.

The mound chores were ably handled by winning pitcher Loren Murillo, who threw for four innings and yielded only two hits. Brandon Wheeler who pitched three no-hit frames earned the save.

The following day found the Islanders winning by forfeit as Mesa Verde, which was not on spring break last week and missing class daily, didn’t show for the game. This set the stage for a return game against St. Augustine, which Coronado defeated earlier in the year 2-1.

"We lost a real tough one to St. Augustine Wednesday," said Head Coach Sam Ceci of the contest. "We spotted them four runs in the first inning and we made a couple of errors. Although we didn’t play well defensively, it was a very good game to watch. They seemed to want it (the victory) a little bit more than we did."

As was the case against Calexico, the Islanders pounded out nine hits, including two hits from both Nunn and J.T. Rogan. Senior Bryce Blumenthal had a hit and a run scored, while Thorne, Nunn and Kevin Couture had the club’s RBIs. Hollinger took the loss for the Islanders, but only two of the five runs he yielded were earned, so the junior hurler probably deserved a better fate. Mike Denson pitched the final three innings to complete the game and faced only 11 batters.

In the conference baseball alignment, St. Augustine is one of the favorites in the Eastern League race and like Coronado is in Division III for CIF competition. As Ceci pointed out, a possible third game of the series could happen in the playoffs.

This week, the 9-6 Islanders march into Western League play with an early-week home game against University City, an away game at La Jolla Thursday and a 1;30 pm home game Saturday against a very tough Mission Bay squad. Said Ceci of the other teams in the Western League, "there’s not a weak one in the bunch."

Head Coach George Green checks in with a Track and Field report. "Due to spring break travel schedules, only a few Islander tricksters got a meet in this weekend. Friday night at Poway High School’s titan Track Fest, Jake Ruzevick lowered his personal best mark in the open 800-meter run with a 1:58.66, which was good for a fourth place finish in the open division. The next day Nila Heurtelou clocked an impressive 60.0 in the Open 400-meters, which earned her third place honors.

At the Arcadia Invitational Saturday, Reid McLean placed fifth in his 300-meter hurdles heat n 44.77 and tenth in his long jump flight with a jump of 20 feet, 5 inches. Adam Munns placed third in this high jump flight with a 6 feet, 2 inch effort.

In Coronado Middle School action at the Alexander Express Invitational at Mesa College, sixth grader Sallie Privett won the combined youth/intermediate 1500-meter run, pulling away to win by 70 meters in the time of 5:04.0.

This week’s track action includes a league middle school meet Wednesday at Coronado at 3 pm; a dual high school meet with Crawford Thursday, also at 3 pm; and the Jaguar Invitational Meet at Valley Center High School Saturday."

Before spring break, The Boys Golf Team under the direction of Dr. Lee Price had strung together a nice 8-2 record and had made their collective way through the first round of Harbor League play undefeated. Included in the Harbor League results were a 188-237 victory over Madison with Sean-Ryan McCray, Taylor Hakes and Kyle Worley all sharing medalist honors with a 1-over par 37 at the scenic Coronado Municipal Golf Course.

There has been some jockeying atop the Islander stroke average standings, with Hakes taking the lead for a couple of matches before senior standout Kevin Mathis posted some strong scoring rounds with matching 35’s and re-took the lead. Other important contributors to the team this season include junior Stuart Gallant, who plays the No. 4 spot on the squad, and sophomore Stewart Harris, who plays No. 5. Sophomore Bryan Reed is a frequent player as are freshman Liam Cronan and sophomore Nick Finley.

"We seem to play our best golf when there is no stress," said Price of his team. "The only match left in league which concerns me is when we play Christian at the Cottonwood Golf Course. We have two matches this week, against Hilltop on the road and Hoover at home Thursday. Hilltop and Marian Catholic are fighting for their league title. Our match against Hilltop should be a good one as they have a pretty good team."

The Boys Tennis Team earned a couple of wins before spring break to improve their overall record to 3-8. They defeated St. Augustine and lost a close match to Scripps Ranch. "Nick Ivarsson played well for us that week," said Head Coach Robbin Adair, who has earned over 1,000 tennis coaching victories at the helm of the CHS Boys and Girls Tennis programs. "He won five of his six matches playing No. 1 singles. Matt Rowan won three of his five doubles sets, playing with different partners. Alan Hernandez and Daniel Schneider also played well."

This week the Islanders play University City on Tuesday. "We’re hoping we can beat them," Adair said. "It should be an interesting match."