Several teams representing Coronado High School were involved in California Interscholastic Federation playoff championships last week and Islander senior cross country athlete Jake Ruzevick emerged with a CIF title. Head Track Coach George Green provides the details.

"I saw CHS Athletic Director Sandy Ferguson at Morley field last Saturday after the Boys Division IV Cross Country championships and asked him if he had seen Jake Ruzevick run. He said, "I saw him on the course, but I didn’t see him at the finish line. But then neither did anyone else in the race."

The CIF finals race was reflective of Jake’s dominance this year, as he lead from gun to tape over the 3.04-mile course to finish the race in 16 minutes and 43 seconds, a full 40 seconds in front of the second place runner. In 44 years of CIF cross country competition there have been only two other individual Coronado winners, Rich Satterlee in 1977 and Trevor Clarke in 1993. Ruzevick also won in 2002 making him the lone Islander to win the event twice.

Joining Ruzevick on the All-CIF First Team was Islander freshman Ben Enowitz who finished in sixth place with a time of 17:53. The third Coronado finisher was Michael Davies in 26^th place, followed by Josh Fink (39^th), Drew Lewis (52^nd), and Jose Tijerina (61^st). Ruzevick and Enowitz advance to the state championships to be held Saturday in Fresno.

Ashley Walsh led the CHS girls team, finishing in 14^th place over the girls’ 2.7-mile course in 19 minutes, 23 seconds. She was followed by Coronado runners Anneke Nelson (25^th), Karolin Ivarsson (26^th), Katie Gomrick (38^th) Hope Alexander (42^nd) and Sarah Player (45^th)."

After earning their way to the CIF Division II Boys Water Polo finals with a hard-fought 10-8 victory over La Jolla in the semi-final game, the Coronado Boys Water Polo Team fell to their arch-rivals from The Bishop’s School by the score of 13-5 Saturday evening. Both contests were played in the Coggan Family Pool located on the La Jolla High School campus.

In the semi-finals Sean Castillo, Jacob Smith, Jesse Farquhar, Preston Lujan and Dallas Chase all found the back of the net twice to account for the Coronado scoring. Senior goalie Dylan Carr was credited with eight saves, including an acrobatic effort late in the third quarter that allowed the Islanders to maintain their two goal lead.

Coronado looked like they were going to break the game open when Smith scored his second goal at the 1:56 mark of the second quarter, to allow the Islanders to take a 6-2 lead. La Jolla then fought back with two goals to close the first half’s play.

It was a pattern that repeated throughout the contest – Coronado scoring and La Jolla bouncing back. Farquhar scored on a beautiful backhand sweep shot to begin the fourth quarter to make the score 10-6, but La Jolla scored twice to close the gap to the eventual final score of 10-8. The game was the third victory over La Jolla this season in as many tries.

The final against Bishop’s (30-3) was another matter as Coronado (20-10) yielded the game’s first three goals to the Knights, with the Islanders getting on the board for the first time with 15 seconds remaining in the first quarter, on a man-up goal by senior Dallas Chase. Coronado had several other strong scoring chances in the quarter, but the Islanders were unable to convert on the opportunities. Bishop’s added three goals in the second quarter and Farquhar’s goal on an assist from Eric Clapper at 4:16 was the lone Coronado tally of the frame.

Castillo scored on a penalty shot drawn by Farquhar in the third quarter, Clapper scored with 47 seconds remaining in the third quarter, and Farquhar scored on a man-up situation on an assist from Smith with 6:14 remaining in the game.

Bishop’s aggressive defense seemed to take Coronado out of their offense early in the game and the Islanders were never able to establish a rhythm offensively throughout the contest.

The night following the CIF final Head Coach Randy Burgess took a philosophical look back at the season. "Bishop’s was a better team Saturday night and a better team this year. They beat us three times and you have to give them credit for that. We had a phenomenal season overall and we have nothing to hang our heads about at the end of the day. After the championship game, the locker room wasn’t a pretty place. We were the runners-up again and we worked very hard to get there. There are 32 teams in Division II and 30 of them didn’t get there (to the championship game). "

The 2004 Islanders were a junior-laden team, with 10 players on the 19-man roster members of the CHS class of 2006. Burgess mentioned the efforts of two seniors and a sophomore for their efforts in the season finale. "Everyone played their hearts out. Eric Clapper (a sophomore) played a phenomenal game and I thought he did a real nice job. Dallas Chase and Drew Ratcliffe (seniors) coming off the bench did equally well. It has been a team effort all season. I can’t discredit us as much as I can credit Bishop’s. I’m excited about how far we came. The disappointment was that we didn’t win the last game, but that was the only disappointment. Between tomorrow and next year’s championships, there’s a lot of work to be done."

The CHS Girls Volleyball Team defeated Horizon Christian in the Division IV CIF quarterfinals to earn the right to travel to No. 1 seed Francis Parker Tuesday evening. The Islanders ran into one of the best teams in San Diego County and came out on the short end of a 25-9, 25-13, 25-10 score. Parker (25-2) went on to defeat Christian in the CIF Finals and earn a trip to the State playoffs.

CHS Head Coach Phil Trotter knew his team (25-5) played a top-flight opponent in Francis Parker. "They were excellent. I have a feeling they will do very well in the state tournament. They are as good a team as we have played all year and they are peaking at the right time."

Trotter added some thoughts about the Islanders’ effort. "There is no shame for the girls, nor is there any reason to keep our heads down. We had a great season and the team did a great job of representing the school and the community. The team’s development that took place over the year is very satisfying. It was a great season and a great group of girls. There is no reason why we shouldn’t do real well next year."

Senior co-captain Jamie Klages earned plaudits from her coach. "Jamie, who worked so hard to come back from an injury, played as well as she had played all year against Francis Parker. That’s a real testament to her. She’s a real gamer, as they say."

Head Football Coach Bud Mayfield is in the enviable position of having a week off to prepare his team for Friday night’s Division IV playoff game at Imperial, with the kickoff scheduled for 7:30 pm. Imperial (9-1) is seeded fourth and the Islanders (4-6) are ranked fifth. The winner will play the team that emerges from the game between No. 1 seed Santa Fe Christian (9-l) and No. 8 seed Mission Hills (1-9). That game will be played the weekend of Dec. 3-4, at a neutral site to be announced.

Mayfield said the team looks healthy. "Our center Ryland Gill has a slight sprain, but he should be ready. We seem rested and enthusiastic."

In addition to Thanksgiving being my favorite holiday of the year, this Friday and Saturday brings one of my favorite CHS sporting events of the year - the Thanksgiving Holiday Shootout. The Shootout is the girls basketball tournament held annually at Coronado High School, which serves as a major income producer for the Islander girls basketball program.

The tourney allows basketball fans to see 10 local teams play their first games of the season and more importantly the opportunity to see the Islanders play four games at home. Two games are underway at all times, with tournament play starting at 11 am Friday and Saturday mornings. The last game will tip-off at 5:40 pm both days.

Coronado plays at 12:40 pm and 4 pm both days. Specifically their schedule is: Friday 12:40 pm vs. Imperial; Friday 4 pm vs. San Dieguito; Saturday 12:40 pm vs. University City; and Saturday 4 pm vs. Chula Vista.

The other half of the tournament bracket includes Serra, Southwest, Brawley, OLP and Christian. Head Coach Toler Goodwin’s team features returning lettermen sophomore Brooke Becky, and seniors Ashley Depfer and Amanda Marks. Stop by the Blumenthal Sports Complex over the weekend and take in some basketball action and eat a meal at the snack bar.

The Coronado Boys Lacrosse clinic will be held Saturday mornings at the CHS and CMS fields from 9-11 am from Jan. 8 to Feb. 12, 2005 for boys in third through eighth grades. The clinic coaching staff includes: CMS Division I Coaches Dan Meehan and Jon Chrismer; CMS Division III Coaches Parker Anger and Emory Chenoweth; CHS JV Coach Scott Orosz; CHS Varsity Coach Head Coach Alex Cade; and several former NCAA players.

For new players the clinics present an excellent opportunity to learn skills and the strategy of the game. There will be four or five players per coach. The cost for the clinic is $90 per player, with checks made payable to Coronado Schools Lacrosse.

Included in the fee is a U.S. Lacrosse Association membership, a Coronado lacrosse sticker and a player mouth guard. Players provide a stick, cleats and shoulder pads. Helmets, gloves and arm pads are available to be loaned, although a deposit is required.

Clinic registration dates are Dec. 11 and 18 from 9-11 am and Jan. 8 from 8-9:30 am. Registration will be held at the sixth street entrance to the CHS football field. Questions may be directed to Dan Little at dlittle8@san.rr.com.

Your Natterer grew up in Kansas City during the glory years of the Chiefs football team, a time which included the 1967 Super Bowl I 35-10 loss to the Green Bay Packers and the 1970 23-7 Super Bowl IV victory over the Minnesota Vikings. In fact, those two games are the only times that the Kansas City NFL franchise has been to the Super Bowl.

As you might guess with that background, the Oakland Raiders aren’t my favorite team. I would submit that the Chiefs vs. Raiders rivalry has been more intense over a longer period than the Chargers vs. Raiders version of same. The Raiders, in both their Oakland and Los Angeles incarnations, is the team that people love to hate.

This weekend I tuned in to watch 2004 Round II of Chargers vs. Raiders and was pleased to see the Chargers defeat the Raiders, this time by the score of 23-17. That was a nice bookend result to add to the Chargers Week 8 home victory over the Raiders by the score of 42-14.

The CBS network had the game, shown locally on Channel 8, and the producers of the contest seemed fixated on showing every rabid Raider fan in the stands in their full battle regalia, going into and out of every commercial break in the game. And believe me there were plenty of commercial breaks.

OK, I got it. Raider fans support their team; wear silver and black costumes; many of the zanies sit together in the ‘Black Hole’ portion of Oakland-Alameda County Stadium; and on and on and on ad nauseum.

The way sports television works behind the scenes is that there is a production meeting held, usually the day before the game, with 12-15 people including the announcers, the producer, the director, the graphics technicians, etc. The producer normally comes up with the theme of the game. Care to guess what Sunday’s theme was? Show those crazy, yet perversely lovable Raider fans at every opportunity, up close and personal.

Meanwhile, the Chargers are playing the NFL’s gift to bad teams from the prior season, the last-place schedule. They play everyone in the AFC West twice, and then play a smattering of the last place teams representing the other NFL divisions and a mixture of other AFC teams. That’s how Houston, New Orleans, Cleveland and Jacksonville show up on the Bolts’ schedule.

Currently the owners of a 7-3 record, the Chargers should be able to split their remaining six games (at Kansas City, Denver, Tampa Bay, at Cleveland, at Indianapolis, and home with Kansas City) and still make the playoffs.

The 2004 Chargers seem to be better than the sum of their individual parts and are achieving success by means of team chemistry, hard work, and by playing as a team. I still don’t think the Chargers can win a big playoff game or win long-term with an undersized quarterback, but I’ve been wrong before. If nothing else, you have to admire Drew Brees and his work ethic. Brees and his teammates have laid 65 points on the Raiders this season in two games, and that’s just fine with me.

I sincerely hope that the Raider Nation will enjoy the playoffs in full costume, at home, and in front of the television set. That way I won’t have to see them on my set any more this year.