"An excellent hell week" is a seemingly contradictory phrase, but that’s precisely how Coronado High School’s Head Coach Bud Mayfield described the Islanders traditional menu of total football immersion held annually at NAS North Island.

"We have at least 40 or 45 new kids, either freshmen, transfers or new kids to the district. The Wednesday and Thursday practices were outstanding and everybody seemed to get the idea," said Mayfield, who is returning for his 17^th season at the helm of the CHS football program. "We had 74 kids in camp, with 34 freshmen. If we had a normal-sized senior class, it would have been our biggest camp ever. But, we only have five returning senior starters and they are all two-way guys."

The Fab Five, or perhaps more accurately The Top Ten if you go by the total number of positions played, include Jed Considine, Ryan Cummins, Jon Maskevich, Jack Scott and Nick Shepherd.

"We think Jed is an anchor on the line, both offensively and defensively," Mayfield said of Considine. "He plays tackle on both sides of the ball. Jack Scott is the other tackle on offense and also plays defensive end. Everyone else on the line is new. Basically we’re a junior team with a few key seniors, and the juniors need seasoning. The juniors played a few plays on the varsity last year, but not many."

Cummins, who will be the team’s tailback and corner back, has been a varsity starter since his sophomore year. Cummins enters the season with 12 career interceptions on defense and adds experience at running back. "We’ll probably rotate a number of backs," added Mayfield. "Kelcey Fisher will see time there."

In front of Cummins on both sides of the ball will be Shepherd, who will play fullback and middle linebacker. Now a solid 205 pounds, Shepherd entered the Islander football program as a 160 pound freshman defensive end. According to Mayfield, "the off season weight program has done its job. Of course Nick worked very hard at it."

Last season Shepherd was the blocking back that helped propel J.T. Rogan to a school single season rushing record, so he’s no stranger to contact on the field.

Maskevich returns to play both free safety and wide receiver. "He’s done a great job," Mayfield said. "Those five seniors are good and I hope we can give them something to go out on. This is a quiet team. They don’t have the vocal leaders, but they have a nice chemistry that’s beginning to come together. There’s heart and spirit there because we saw that at the scrimmages. Our team defense was pretty effective and we swarmed to the ball. The offense is always behind the defense at this point, but hopefully the timing will be there in a couple of weeks."

The all-important quarterback position will be manned by junior David Loving, who Mayfield described as "an option guy who can throw, which is a nice combination. He had a good camp and he will put a lot of pressure on the defense."

One of the problems with having a small school-sized roster is that due to a lack of depth, Loving will only play quarterback this season, a concept that Mayfield has implemented throughout the years. Loving was one of the 2003 squad’s best linebackers, a position that he might resume playing as a senior.

This Saturday, the entire Islander football program will scrimmage against Rancho Buena Vista and Valley Center, at the latter’s field. The freshmen and junior varsity squads play simultaneously at 9 am, with the varsity teams playing in the stadium, usually around 10 am. "We’ll play both of them," Mayfield explained. "We’ll have a couple of series against each team. I’m sure it will be pretty warm."

To kick off the regular season, Coronado hosts Francis Parker Sept. 10 at 7:30 pm to and then welcomes Mar Vista High School to Coronado Sept. 17, also at 7:30 pm.

CHS Girls Volleyball Head Coach Phil Trotter may be limping into the new school year, as a result of being in a walking cast due to a recurring problem with his Achilles tendon, but the rest of the team is leaping, running and ready to take on the Eastern League and their CIF Division IV rivals.

The 2004 Islanders feature first rate club volleyball players in juniors Jacy Norton and Megan Mushovic, surrounded by a cast (no pun intended) of elite athletes.

Norton, who transferred to Coronado from Kentucky last year and arrived too late to participate in the 2003 volleyball season, is a 6-foot, 4-inch middle blocker. At the age of 16 this past summer, she played with the Epic Volleyball Club that finished fourth in the nation in the 18 and under division. "She’s definitely a great defensive player at the net," said Trotter of Norton. "She has the ability to take over a high school match. Jacy also gives us a great option on offense."

Mushovic, who was the Harbor League Player of the Year as a sophomore, returns as the club’s setter. "Megan got a lot better over the summer playing club volleyball," Trotter said. "She’ll be our leader out there. Megan understands the game very well. She’s athletic, intense, and a key for our success. Ball control will be another key for us. We’ll rely on everybody playing well."

Junior Kelly Phelps, a 6-foot lefthander will play opposite Mushovic. Senior Jamie Klages, coming off of great seasons in volleyball, soccer and track last year, will be a team co-captain, along with senior Deidre Kelly. Mix in senior soccer star Ashley Copp, sisters Alex Vido and Sasha Vido and senior Emily Howe and you have the makings of a fine team. Said Trotter of Howe, "Emily can play every position on the floor except middle blocker."

Trotter expects to compete for the Eastern League title with Serra, Our Lady of Peace, Point Loma, Mission Bay, Morse and Patrick Henry. To prepare for the conference season, the Islanders will play in the Epic Tournament, which features several of the top teams in the county, and the Beach City Tournament, another strong event. Non-conference opponents include Grossmont and Mar Vista.

The bad news is that Coronado will compete in CIF Division IV again this season, with the likes of Francis Parker, La Jolla Country Day and The Bishop’s School, teams that annually comprise the strongest girls volleyball division in San Diego County. "They are all very good," said Trotter. "If we can compete with those three schools, that’s a big step up for us. Bishops is still very strong and they just re-load at Parker."

It looks to be a strong season for the Islanders. "The team is well ahead of where we were last year," said Trotter. "There is a great group of girl athletes at the school right now, girls that play a lot of sports. The team has worked really hard so far and they seem very focused. It has the makings of a fun year."

In their final match of the 2004 Olympic Games, the U.S. Men’s Water Polo Team defeated 2003 World Championship runner-up Italy 9-8 to finish in seventh place. Helping lead the charge in their final contest were Jesse Smith (CHS ’01) with three goals and Layne Beaubien (CHS ’94) who supplied two tallies.

After spending the last several months training and playing against the best water polo players in the world, Smith is likely to dominate the collegiate water polo world when he returns to Pepperdine this fall. Congratulations to those two Islanders and Genai Kerr (CHS ’95) for representing the United States on the world stage.

It was talking college football with a good friend of mine Saturday, who happens to be a Nebraska grad and Husker football fanatic. He said he would be in front of the television later in the day to watch USC play Virginia Tech to officially start the 2004 collegiate season. He added in passing that he thought USC was overrated last year.

I responded that any team that had Helix High’s Reggie Bush as a third-string tailback last year was pretty talented.

About 8 hours later, Bush had scored three touchdowns and 18 of the Trojan’s points in USC’s 24-13 victory over Virginia Tech, before a Hokie partisan crowd in a game played in Washington, D.C.

I’m not sure whether Bush is a true tailback in the Trojan tradition, or a wide receiver or a hybrid something in between, but I do know he’s a talent. USC Offensive Coordinator Norm Chow’s primary job over the next several months is to find new and creative ways to get the ball into Bush’s hands and therefore into the end zone.

The Girls Varsity Tennis Team scrimmages at Mira Mesa Wednesday at 3 pm and at the Glorietta Tennis Center against San Dieguito Academy Thursday at 3 pm; the Girls Volleyball Team scrimmages at Horizon Thursday at 1 pm and Friday at La Jolla at 3 pm; the Varsity Cross Country Teams participate in the Wolf Pack Invitational at 4 pm Friday at West Hills High School; and the Varsity Football Team scrimmages Valley Center and Rancho Buena Vista at Valley Center at 10 am Saturday.