Ten minutes prior to the kickoff of the Coronado vs. Kearny Varsity Football game, CHS Trainer Connie Martinez was queried for a prediction on the contest’s outcome. She responded that the Islanders would win 42-7. Although her prediction wasn’t perfect, she did hit the point spread on the nose as the Islanders pitched a 35-0 shutout over the Kearny Komets.

The lingering moment between the question being asked and Martinez’ prescient prediction constituted virtually all of the suspense regarding the outcome of the game Friday afternoon. Midway through the first quarter, Islander Mike Baker-Denson blocked a Kearny kick out of their end zone for a safety and the Islanders took a 2-0 lead. After receiving the ensuing kickoff, the Islanders put together a seven-play drive, which culminated in a 12-yard touchdown pass from David Loving to Tim Machado. Kelcey Fisher converted the extra point from a hold by Steven Riley and the route was on. Coronado scored in every quarter, with Fisher scoring on runs of 15, 5, and 20 yards. For the game the junior tailback rushed for 112 yards on 20 carries and earned the coveted ‘Black Shirt,’ or game MVP designation, from the Islander coaching staff for his efforts.

In addition to the touchdown pass to Machado, Loving later found Ryan Cummins for a nine-yard score on a quick slant pass, an effort that pleased Head Coach Bud Mayfield. "Loving did a good job of finding the uncovered receiver (Cummins) and changing the play at the line of scrimmage. That shows his growth (as a quarterback)." Loving was an efficient 4-6 passing for 46 yards. He also rushed for 55 yards.

Another contribution to the victory was the fact that Fisher’s kickoffs consistently sailed through the end zone, not permitting Kearny to have good field position. To start their offensive drives during the game, Kearny gained position on their own 15, 10, 20, 4 (after a penalty on the return), 25, 29, 20, 20, and 15 yard lines.

But most importantly there was a fine defensive team effort turned in by the Islanders. Kearny ran 41 plays from scrimmage during the contest, with 20 of the plays either being for no gain or for a loss of yardage. The Komets gained only 107 net yards in the game.

Mayfield liked what he saw from his defensive unit. "On defense we had two great interceptions by Will Purvis and Tim Machado. Both of them gave us a little bit of a return to help set us up."

Middle linebacker Nick Shepherd spent much of the afternoon in the Komet backfield, disrupting the hosts’ offensive game plan. "Nick has been tough all year, especially when we stunt him," Mayfield said. "He’s quick enough to change directions and run a player down. He’s played great at middle linebacker for us, especially when you consider he didn’t play the position last year."

Coronado even won the uniform fashion battle, as they were sartorially resplendent in white jerseys with forest green numerals, black game pants, and the familiar white helmet with green markings. Kearney’s fashion statement seemed conflicted with the stripes on the jersey fighting the stripes on the socks, all the while featuring maroon as their primary color. There appears to be no future in the world of couture for the Komets.

This week the JV team, which has posted a 5-1 mark, plays at University City at 3 pm Thursday. The Frosh/Soph squad, also holding a record of 5-1, hosts University City, also at 3 pm Thursday. It will be the first home game for the Frosh/Soph team this season. The Varsity at 4-4 hosts University City Friday evening at 7:30 pm for the annual homecoming game. No other school in San Diego County does homecoming quite like Coronado, so plan to be on hand for the festivities.

Mayfield predicts a good game for the fans. "University City is vastly improved. They lost to Madison last week by one point (15-14) and Madison is alone in first place in the league, although they haven’t played Crawford and Coronado yet. This is the most balanced the Harbor League has been in the 14 years we’ve been in it."

Mayfield continued with a scouting report on the Centurions. "They run out of the ‘I’ formation and they throw the ball a lot. They throw more than anybody in the Harbor League and more than anyone else we’ve faced (this year). Their tailbacks are big, probably 220 pounds each, but they don’t have great speed."

The Harbor League standings are Madison in first place, Clairemont and Crawford are tied for second, Coronado is in the third slot, University City in fourth and Kearny trails the pack. Or, as Mayfield put it, "if Crawford can beat Madison and we beat Madison (Coronado’s last regular season game), things can get interesting."

The Division IV football seeding meetings will be held Nov. 13, with Mayfield expecting to get a home playoff game for Coronado. Other Division IV teams to keep an eye on include Francis Parker, Christian, Santa Fe Christian and Palo Verde.

While we’re on the subject of football and the big homecoming game, congratulations to the CHS Cheerleading Squad for their efforts this season. Krista Villalobos is the team’s captain and the cheer squad members include: Andrea Arendsee, Amy Bess, Amber Bjorstrom, Allison Cabana, Josephine Deleon, Andrea Dial, Ashley Dowell, Beate Dutkowski, Marcie Dwaileebe, Danielle Eckert, Meghan Green, Ashley Jankiewicz, Nora Kaminski, Katrina Maggio, Kelly McCray, Jessica McKay, Kimberly O’Keefe, Brittany Penn, Caitlin Raymond, Nicole Tesh, and Alexis Young. Sarah Julis serves as the team mascot.

Head Track Coach George Green checks in with the Boys and Girls Cross Country report. "The boys on both sides knew going into last Tuesday’s dual meet with Crawford that the match-up would probably determine this year’s Harbor League championship. On paper the Islanders were the stronger team with the 1-2-3 punch of Jake Ruzevick, Brad Munns and Ben Enowitz, but there was no guarantee that they would lock up the race as Crawford’s top three runners were pretty strong as well.

In a cross country dual meet, a team can mathematically guarantee a victory by placing its top three runners in front of the first runner from the opposing team. The middle part of the race favored Crawford with a solid group of pack runners. This promised to be a classic dual meet between two teams with different strengths.

In recent meets, Michael Davies, Josh Fink and Jose Tijerina had been moving up in the ranks, but both Fink and Tijerina came down with colds that morning and were less than 100 per cent. At the half-mile point, Ruzevick, Munns and the top Crawford runner were together, followed by two more Crawford runners leading Enowitz. Then there was a big gap to the second pack dominated by Crawford. At that point, it appeared the race could go either way. The Coronado runners knew what was at stake and they came through.

Ruzevick and Munns powered their way to personal best times of 15:52 and 16:34 respectively over the 3-mile Morley Field course. Enowitz passed the two Crawford runners in front of him and eventually caught their top runner. The two passed each other several times of the last mile, with Enowitz prevailing at the finish with a personal best time of 17:12 to his rival’s time of 17:25. This locked up the race for Coronado, but the runners in the pack didn’t know this. Crawford took the next four places, followed by Davies, a Crawford runner, Reid McLean and Drew Lewis. All three Coronado athletes ran personal best times of 19:18, 19:20 and 19:37 respectively. Fink and Tijerina succumbed to their respiratory ailments, finishing in 14^th and 15^th places, followed by Alton Smith, Tim Bowman, and Olivier Schmied in 16-18. The final score was Coronado 24, Crawford 31.

In the Girls race, the Islanders swept the top five places in a 15-44 romp. Ashley Walsh won by nearly a minute and a half with a time of 21:45. She was followed by Karolin Ivarsson, Hope Alexander, Katie Gomrick, Sarah Player and Anneke Nelson in seventh place.

Last week the Coronado High School Girls Volleyball Team defeated two of their Eastern League rivals to hold on to a tie for first place. To begin the week, the Islanders defeated Serra 25-21, 25-19, and 25-18.

Later in the week Coronado defeated Patrick Henry 25-23, 25-22, and 25-10, the significance of which was apparent to Head Coach Phil Trotter. "Patrick Henry has a good team and we are definitely moving in the right direction. The kids are starting to play better together, now that everybody has been back (from assorted injuries) for a while. Jacy Norton played her best match of the year against Patrick Henry with 18 kills. She dominated the third game there. The nice thing is when Jacy plays well, everybody plays better. She helps put us over the top."

When a team’s middle blocker plays well, usually the squad’s setter is a major factor in the equation and that was true in Coronado case. "Megan Mushovic also played very well this week," Trotter said. "She did a great job of leading the team and serving."

Three regular season games remain on the schedule and the playoffs are closing fast. Trotter thinks the team is peaking at the right time. "We’re healthy and starting to click. If we play like we are capable of, we can beat any team in the county. We just need to play with confidence and play together. We can be very exciting to watch. Deidre Kelly is starting to play well after being gone (with an injury) for a while. Jamie Klages played great against San Diego. Ashley Copp and Emily Howe are playing great on the back row. Kelly Phelps is starting to pick it up offensively."

This week Coronado plays at Mission Bay Tuesday, at home Wednesday evening at 6 pm vs. Grossmont and Thursday they host Morse High School at home, with the varsity game slated for 3 pm. As Trotter said, "This is the fun time of the year."

Coronado’s Girls Tennis Team won a match, lost a match and had one rained out last week, but the squad continues to improve their play according to Head Coach Robbin Adair. "We played a good match against USDHS Monday and lost 13-5. We played real well." The No. 1 doubles team of Justine Gordon and Elizabeth Hopkins won their three matches, while Allie Gordon and Czarina Puffelis each won one match.

Tuesday Coronado tied Scripps Ranch 9-9, but won the match 75-66 on tiebreaker, which is the total number of games won by each team. Adair picks up the commentary. "Czarina won all three of her matches, while Allie Gordon and Maggie Lewis each won one set. Elizabeth and Justine took all three sets and Lorena Hernandez and Alicia Ruiz took one match. I was really pleased."

This week the Islanders enter the CIF Division III Team Playoffs, where they are seeded ninth. They play Tuesday at La Jolla Country Day, the eighth seed. If Coronado wins, they will play USDHS again, the division’s No. 1 seed. Every team in the Western League was seeded in the playoffs in one division or another.

Kari Weidner, head coach of the Girls Golf Team announced that seven Islander golfers qualified for the City Conference championship play that will be held Tuesday. The list includes Alexcie Sanchez, Monica Ascolani, Lorena Ascolani, Isabelle Sanchez, JoJo Robyn, Sara Stillman and Lexi Donovan. The competition will be held at the Balboa Golf Course.

Last week the team lost to USDHS by the score of 222-245, with Monica Ascolani and Sanchez leading the scoring for Coronado with rounds of 46. Stillman and Donovan played well, each shooting a season-low stroke total of 50 in the match.

Thursday a tri-match was held with Our Lady of Peace and Mira Mesa. The match was played at Torrey Pines, and found OLP and Coronado tied at the conclusion. When that happens, the stroke total of the sixth player is used to break the tie. Fortunately Stillman was four strokes better than her counterpart from OLP. Sanchez led the Islander scoring effort for the first time this year, carding a 47. Mira Mesa finished in third place in the match scoring with a 277.

Coronado now has an 8-4 overall record and will find out Thursday if they can earn a wild card berth into the CIF Team competition.

Boys Water Polo Head Coach Randy Burgess is as close to being a human version of the Energizer Bunny as you are likely to find, but even he admitted he was tired after six games last week. Imagine what the players must feel like.

Last week started with an easy 23-4 victory over USDHS at the Allied Gardens Pool, during which 10 different Islander players scored goals. Burgess singled out Daniel Pedrotty for his efforts, which included a goal, an assist and a field block in the contest. John Landon added three assists and goalie Patrick Queisser had two saves and two assists in the second half of the game.

Then the squad hit the road, playing at Soquel High School from the Santa Cruz area. After taking a 6-2 lead, the Islanders held on to win 9-6. The scoring leaders were Jesse Farquhar, Preston Lujan and Sean Castillo with two goals each. Drew Ratcliffe contributed a strong defensive effort with three steals and Justin Clapper was credited with two assists.

The next four games were played in the NorCal Tournament, which is the unofficial state championship of California. Coronado drew Menlo High School in the first round, a team they had defeated 7-5 in their last encounter. Menlo reversed the tables this time, pulling out to a 9-4 lead in the first half and finishing with an 11-6 win. Farquhar’s three goals and Castillo’s three steals were the statistical highlights.

In their second game of the day, played Friday evening, Coronado defeated Clovis 15-12, and Castillo scored a season-high five goals. Ratcliffe added three assists and seven different Islanders scored. Queisser was credited with three steals and five saves in goal.

Saturday morning found Coronado in the pool again, this time facing Mira Monte. "We played our best game of the week, with the final score being 15-10," said Burgess. "We went up 5-2 and played very, very well. Farquhar had a season-high six goals, Devin Farrell had three assists, and goalie Dylan Carr had nine saves, three steals and three assists. Dylan had some great passes and everything clicked."

The tourney closed with a 14-13 loss to Clovis West, a team that Coronado had defeated earlier in the season in the SoCal Tournament. Burgess recapped the game and then the week’s activities. "It was a very good game, but we didn’t play the best we could play. After a torrential downpour Thursday, we had a beautiful weekend. We played up and down, but we got a lot of games in and a lot of repetitions. I was quite pleased with how things finished up, especially Saturday. We hope to pick up some momentum heading into the last few weeks. We go into the playoffs 0-0 like everyone else. If we win, we go on to the next day."

This week the Islanders face Scripps Ranch on Tuesday at Mira Mar College and then play Foothill at La Jolla High School Friday at 6:30 pm.