Coach Phil Trotter won this column’s award for Boys Team Coach of the Year last year for his efforts at the helm of the CHS Boys Volleyball Team. When the number of challenges faced by a coach in a season is factored into the equation, Trotter is the clubhouse leader for Girls Coach of the Year honors in 2004-05 for his work with the Islander Girls Volleyball Team.

Injuries have run rampant as Co-Captain Deidre Kelly is likely lost for the balance of the season and Co-Captain Jamie Klages, who may be the most versatile athlete in the school (volleyball, soccer, track and field) may return only for the playoffs, and that is if all goes well. The team also went most of last week without the play of Ashley Copp, who was having shoulder problems.

Add in the fact that the Islanders upgraded their schedule from the Harbor League to the Eastern League and the potential for a losing record is there for all to see. Except that Trotter has talked his team into wearing blinders and into only concentrating on the task immediately at hand.

Last week Coronado defeated Eastern League rival Patrick Henry on the road in four games (20-25, 25-14, 27-25, and 25-20) and then took the minimum three games to defeat Mission Bay (25-11, 25-21, and 25-10).

Friday and Saturday found the Islanders competing in the Beach City Invitational Tournament. Playing on their home floor in pool play Friday, the Islanders defeated Grossmont, Point Loma and San Marcos to qualify for Gold Division play Saturday. After defeating La Jolla Country Day in the first game (25-19, 25-23), Coronado fell to Rancho Buena Vista 22-25, 25-20, and 15-11).

"We lost to a great RBV team," said Trotter. "They are probably the best team we have played this year. We played real well, played great as a team and we played them tight for three games. We really had our chances to win. After the game, the RBV coach said that Coronado has a great team. It was a nice compliment from her."

The Beach City event ended on a down note with a loss to San Dieguito Academy, but the team finished the week’s play with a fine 16-4 overall record.

When asked about the week’s highlights, Trotter didn’t hesitate. "I think Emmy Pickett, a sophomore, has come in and played real well. She and Emily Howe have come into fill our outside hitter position and have done very well. Caitlin Kennedy continues to improve and Ashley Copp came back on Saturday and did real well. Kelly Phelps has played well, including playing on the back row. She plays hard. It was a good week. We know that if we play together, we are awfully tough."

Coronado completes the first round of Eastern League play with a match against Morse this week and starts the second half of the schedule against OLP Thursday, with both matches on the road. The Islanders are currently undefeated in Eastern League play.

It was a strange week for the CHS Girls Golf Team as they had three matches scheduled, but were only able to play one against USDHS Thursday. Early week matches against Kearney and Crawford were won by forfeit, as both programs are having trouble fielding the required six players to complete their teams.

That set up the Western League match against USDHS at the Coronado Municipal Golf Course, which found the Islanders on the losing end of a 209-241 score. Monica Ascolani shot the low round for the Islanders with a 46.

Head Coach Kari Weidner knows her team, which is currently in third place in the Western League behind La Jolla and USDHS, is capable of shooting a better round on their home course. "We needed to play our absolute best and we didn’t play well at all. We have another chance to redeem ourselves tomorrow (in a Monday match) against La Jolla on our turf. We will play USDHS again at the end of the month on their course. We have a lot of work to do. USDHS has a really strong team, with a lot of depth. They played really well (against us)." Thursday the team plays in a tri-match against Scripps Ranch and The Bishop’s School.

When your week starts with a tough, one goal loss to your arch-rival, you know it’s going to be a long one. End the week in one of the strongest tournament fields of the year, the SoCal Invitational, and suddenly a young team can face some challenges.

Coronado lost to Bishop’s 8-7 Wednesday on a goal with 4 seconds remaining in the game, despite two goals each from Devin Farrell and Eric Clapper, and single goals each from Preston Lujan, Drew Ratcliffe and Jesse Farquhar.

The game marked a return to action by Farrell, who had missed several games due to an injured shoulder. Head Coach Randy Burgess, was impressed by Farrell’s dedication to the team. "Devin has been playing with a lot of pain. He has a real bad shoulder and he’s trying to play through it. He’s a tough kid and he could be very easily sitting out and not playing. He’s showing his teammates why he’s our captain."

The SoCal event found Coronado matched against Corona del Mar in the first round, a match the Islanders lost 16-11. Farquhar scored six goals, while Sean Castillo added two goals, three assists and four steals. "Our power play was a little suspect," Burgess added, "as it was in the Bishop’s game. We are having a hard time reading some situations, which is indicative of the youth of the team."

Coronado rebounded with a 12-3 victory over Acalenes High School, with Jacob Smith and Farquhar scoring three goals each, Steven Sullivan and Castillo two goals each, while Lujan and Clapper scored once apiece. Patrick Queisser played the second half in goal and recorded five saves, while allowing one goal.

The final two games were losses to Davis by the score of 9-8 and a 14-11 loss to Clovis West from the Fresno area. In the Davis game, Smith had three goals and an assist, and in the Clovis West game, he had a goal and five assists. "He’s starting to learn his role," said Burgess of Smith. "We have two underclassmen in Smith (freshman) and Clapper (sophomore) who are doing a really good job."

The Islanders are now 9-4 overall and are all but mathematically eliminated from the Western League title race after the two losses to Bishop’s. However, the big prize, the CIF title is still out there.

"We walked away from the week looking at some positives," said Burgess. "I’m hoping to see the experience factor from last week carry over to our next games and farther down the line. Five games (in one week) in any sport is tough. We ran into a very tough Corona del Mar team and on any given day we have a chance to beat Davis or any other team, but we’re not used to the schedule. Part of being an athlete is staying focused when you are tired. It’s a good group that is working hard and is doing everything the coaches are asking of them."

This week Coronado plays La Jolla at La Jolla Wednesday and against Scripps Ranch at Miramar College Friday.

When the schedule was released last summer, the varsity football game between Coronado and USDHS looked to be a tough one for the Islanders. Approaching the Oct. 8 game date, it didn’t any easier as the Dons were ranked No. 6 in San Diego County, which is the highest ranked team that a Bud Mayfield-coached Coronado team has ever faced.

The result was a 49-0 win for USDHS, which pushed the Islanders record to 3-2 for the year. The 2004 edition of the Dons is comprised of a perfect storm combination of speed, size, talent, depth and a predominantly senior team that has been in the same system for 4 years. The Dons starting tailback is junior Demetrius Sumler, who rumbled, rambled and sprinted for 202 yards rushing on 14 carries. Sumler found the end zone three times, while senior tailback Brandon Ryan rushed nine times for 96 yards and scored the games first three touchdowns.

Though they lost the battle of the scoreboard, the Islanders played hard until the end. Starting defensive end and offensive tackle Jack Scott missed the game due to an illness and Co-Captain Jed Considine played despite being sick all week long.

Mayfield, who was the head coach at USDHS for one season earlier in his career, knew the game was going to be a challenge. "They were way too much for us. The City Conference assigned the game as a crossover game with the Eastern League. We played hard, but we helped them or the score wouldn’t have been as large as it was. We’ll turn the page on this one and be ready next week for Clairemont."

Mayfield named junior quarterback David Loving as the Islander Player of the Week. "Loving played very well under difficult circumstances. At the end of the game he had a tailbone problem, but he’s okay now."

There are in essence two seasons left for the Islanders. The first is the Harbor League season, where they face all Division III opponents. They play at Clairemont, are home with Crawford, on the road at Kearney, host University City for homecoming and finish on the road at Madison.

The "second season" is the CIF Division IV playoffs, where the Islanders now reside and may face the likes of Holtville, Imperial, Horizon Christian, Christian and a possible re-match against Francis Parker.

Next week, in a rare 3 pm game, the Islanders travel to Clairemont to face the Chieftains, who are coming off of a 35-14 loss to Serra.

Girls Tennis Head Coach Robbin Adair knows he sounds a bit like a broken record when talking about his team, but while his players are competitive, they tend to lose close matches. "We had seven close sets against Scripps Ranch last week and if we had turned those around, we would have won 13-5, instead of losing 12-6. It’s been that way for 2 weeks. We continue to lose the close ones."

Czarina Puffelis, playing No. 1 singles for the Islanders won all three of her sets against Scripps Ranch, while the No. 1 doubles team of Elizabeth Hopkins and Justine Gordon won five of their six sets for the week. The tandem of Lorena Hernandez and Alicia Ruiz has solidified their hold on the third doubles slot, according to Adair.

Coronado starts their second swing through the tough Western League schedule with an early-week home match with La Jolla, followed by another home match with OLP Thursday. Only 3 weeks remain in the CHS tennis regular season.

CYF Coach Ken Maskevich checks in with news from Coronado Youth Football. "The Junior Midget team played a heart-stopping game against Kearny, prevailing 39-34. The defense, behind the play of Austin Hunter, Brian Beverly, Wade Zolla, and Jared Kerr came up big with a last minute stop to secure the victory.

The offensive line of Austin Branch, Jeff Landuyt, Todd Kelleher, Brian Karamoto, Kevin Clay, Greg Wilson, Patrick Toomey, and Andy Centeno blocked the way for five rushing touchdowns.

Other CYF scores: The CYF Pee Wees (2-3) fell to Balboa 38-0; the CYF Jr. Pee Wees (2-2-1) tied Imperial Beach 0-0; and the Coronado Mitey Mites (0-5) lost to Mira Mesa 49-6."

A recent Middle School Cross Country meet held at Crown Point in Mission Bay, featured teams from Coronado, Francis Parker, Christian, La Jolla Country Day School, Horizon Christian, the San Diego Jewish Academy and Santa Fe Christian.

On the Boys side, David Grimes from Coronado finished first individually to help lead his teammates to victory in the team standings for the meet. Stacy Cotter finished third, John Waickwicz was eighth, Jacob Lujan was 11th and Micah Fischer finished in 25th to complete the scoring for the Pelicans.

For the Girls, Coronado’s Sallie Privett won individual honors and in the extremely close team contest, Coronado finished eight points behind Francis Parker and one point behind Bishop’s, good for third place. Joining Privett in the scoring for Coronado were Brianna Bazak who finished fourth, Ana Cano, Susana Cano, and Ana Tijerina.

Privett recorded the fastest time of the day, for either boys or girls, finishing the 1.424-mile race in 8 minutes 12 seconds, which is a mile pace of 5:46. Congratulations to all of the participants.