Phase One of Coronado High School’s Varsity Football Team’s attempted march on the Central League title was accomplished Friday night at home, as the Islanders defeated the Clairemont Chieftains 28-3. The contest marked the first conference game for both schools, with the victory pushing the Islander’s overall record to 4-2.

Sophomore Ricardo Oberwager launched Coronado into the lead on the first play of the game, returning the opening kick-off 92 yards for a touchdown. Senior running back Kelcey Fisher scored on the next Islander possession with a 4-yard run and Coronado took control of the game in the early going.

Clairemont converted on a 26-yard field goal attempt to account for the only score by either team in the second quarter. Oberwager found the end zone for his second touchdown of the game in the third quarter and Fisher scored for the second time on an 11-yard scamper in the fourth frame. Mix in four extra point conversions by Fisher and you have a 25-point victory.

"We played well. We were very fired up and very focused," said Head Coach Bud Mayfield. "Ben Thorne had his best game in the two years he has played on the varsity. He had 11 tackles and two sacks on defense. He’s our black shirt (outstanding player) for this week. He plays every down both ways, so that’s extra hard to do. A lot of other kids played very well. Kelcey had a great game and Ricardo is coming on. David Loving played well." Thorne and his fellow down tackle Tim Sexton helped contain the Chieftain running game, which never really got started.

The game was marred by some creative officiating that included two phantom pass interference calls against the Islanders and a rare ‘roughing the center’ penalty call at the conclusion of the first half. This latter call came on a Chieftain field goal attempt that was blocked by the Islanders. Clairemont re-tried the field goal, as the half could not end on a defensive penalty, and that kick was blocked as well.

Special teams play by Coronado continues to be a strong plus. Fisher’s kickoffs have been high and deep, allowing the Islanders good down-field coverage opportunities. Mike Baker-Denson has assumed the punting role for the Islanders and has aided the team’s battle for field position, a fact not lost on Mayfield. "Our kicking game was great. Baker-Denson is has been extraordinary. I’m really happy with the kicking game and it will matter, as (this week’s opponent) Crawford has no kicking game whatsoever."

Other elements of the game included the elements. Heavy dew settled on the field, in the early going, which Mayfield said made the footing an issue for the players. "The field was extremely slick and it was really damp and wet. (Islander quarterback) Loving uses a ball without a lot of tack on it and that bothered us. Several times he was going to throw and he pulled it down. It changed the plays I was calling, but we still played well. It was a really nice win."

One week into Central League play, Coronado finds themselves in a three-way tie atop the standings, along with Madison and University City. Mayfield knows the Islanders can’t look past any of their upcoming four conference opponents. "Even Kearny is much improved. It’s a very balanced league and we have to play five great games right here in a row. At least Crawford is down one game (after losing to University City 21-7). It helps muddy the waters as they are the defending league champion."

Looking ahead to the 1 pm game at Crawford Saturday, Mayfield knows what to expect from the Colts. "They are big and burly and they have some big guys up front. They have the usual speed backs and skill players. They have fairly highly-skilled players who can score by themselves. They are a ‘big play’ team."

CHS Head Cross Country Coach George Green checks in with a report on the Boys and Girls Cross Country Teams. "Marissa Nagler and Ben Enowitz led their respective cross country squads to wins over Madison last Wednesday by the scores of 23-35 for the girls and 20-41 for the boys. In cross country scoring, the low point total wins.

Nagler’s time over the 3-mile City Conference cross country course was 22:25. She was followed by Karolin Ivarsson (third in 23:26), Sheila Braun (fifth), Anneke Nelson (sixth), Allison Cabana (eighth), Sammie Runyon (ninth) and Helen Luppi (11^th).

Enowitz posted the winning time of 17:28, followed by Michael Davies (second in 18:07), Jack Harms (fourth in 18:15), David Grimes (sixth in 18:32), Andrew Falkiewicz (seventh in 18:43), Jose Tijerina (eighth), Cotter Stacy (ninth), Ben Green (11^th) and Ross Palmer (15^th).

With the girls win over Madison, both the girls and boys teams have now faced their toughest Central League competition and stand at 2-0. Only next Wednesday’s meet with Christian and one with Crawford November 2 remain. Assuming everyone remains healthy, neither school should challenge the boy’s team. Christian remains the only obstacle on the girl’s schedule, but the Patriots don’t appear to be as strong as Madison. Both the Islander boys and girls squads are the defending league champions.

In Coronado Middle School action, Sallie Privett trekked north to Walnut to participate in the middle school races at the huge Mt. SAC Cross Country Invitational. At the end of the day, she had the third best time out of over 400 eighth grade girls in four races. Her time of 8:43 for the 1.2-miles was only 14 seconds back from the day’s fastest and is a reflection of the near-100 degree heat and the smoggy air conditions. A normal time for her over that distance is around 6:35.

Next Friday, the CHS boy’s team will run in the Division IV races at Mt. SAC. Hopefully the conditions will be better."

Girls Tennis Head Coach Robbin Adair provides his insight into last week’s matches. "We had three matches scheduled, but Friday’s match at University City was re-scheduled due to a disturbance on their campus.

Monday we played Otay Ranch. They have two great singles players and they are cruising through the South Bay Conference. We knew they would be very tough in singles and if we were going to get them, it would have to be in doubles. Our two freshmen, Jen Carney and Spencer Berman played singles, but managed only one win. In doubles, Nicole Aponte and Allie Gordon swept all three sets, while Hayley Kitzmiller and Alicia Ruiz took two out of three matches. Mariana Arozarena and Simmi Deo won one set each.

Toward the end of the match, we were tied 8-8 with two of the singles matches being completed. If we won them both, we would end in a 9-9 tie and win the match on total games won. Unfortunately we lost both when Hannah Schneider lost 6-4 to their No. 2 and Carney lost 6-4 to their No. 3. Otay Ranch ended up winning the match 10-8.

Tuesday we traveled to Del Mar Country Club to play Cathedral Catholic. Their entire lineup played and we were swept 18-0, but we played extremely well. Gordon lost all three of her sets by very close scores, as did Aponte, but both of them played great. Schneider also battled, as she lost a set to their No. 3, which took well over 80 minutes to play. Their team depth was superior as they plowed through us in doubles play. None of the set scores were all that close, though most of the games were hotly contested. We just couldn’t pull them out.

The University City match will be played Wed., Oct. 26. This week we play three home matches with Canyon Crest Monday, Scripps Ranch Tuesday, and OLP Thursday."

The CHS Girls Volleyball Team returned to Eastern League action last week and found the going a little tougher than expected, as they lost their first match of the week to Patrick Henry 25-22, 25-23, and 25-14.

That was a result that vexed Head Coach Phil Trotter. "We didn’t play well at all against Patrick Henry. We lost in three straight (games), which we didn’t expect. We were playing inconsistently, but it may turn out to be one of the defining points of the season. We were very disappointed we lost, so we got back together and re-grouped."

Trotter also made a lineup change that benefited the team. He inserted junior Karli Massie in the setter position and moved senior Megan Mushovic to the ‘libero’ or back row defensive specialist slot. Mushovic, who is the team’s best all around player, could actually play any position on the court, but the libero spot worked well against Friday’s opponent Morse High School.

"Megan is such a force on the court," Trotter said. "She almost single-handedly shored up our defense and improved our passing game. She made everybody around her better and made me look pretty smart for putting her back there."

"We seemed to gel as a team," opined Trotter. "We had our best match of the year and defeated Morse 25-13, 25-19, and 25-17. When we play as a team, we can be incredibly tough. Losing some matches is disappointing, but I feel we are close to where we need to be at the end of the season. We have great girls and they play hard. When we play hard, we are dynamite. We actually had fun on Friday. I’m still optimistic, despite some disappointments."

This week the Islanders have an early-week match at OLP, which Trotter said "will pretty much determine how we do in league competition. We’re still one of the better teams in Division IV."

A total of 12 of the 17 teams in Division IV will make the CIF playoffs and Coronado figures to be toward the top of the heap. "I still think we can get the three or four seed. Parker and Bishop’s are up there, with Horizon in the running as well. Christian is also in our division, along with Imperial."

Two matches played by the Girls Golf Team last week had decidedly different outcomes. The first match was against Scripps Ranch at Double Tree and the teams had to use the sixth score on each team to determine the winner, as the score among the first five players was tied. Coronado emerged with a 316-321 victory and featured an Islander best round from Sara Stillman who shot a 48. Arrielle Luna had a personal best round of 55 in the match.

The following day, the Islanders ran into Cathedral Catholic at Riverwalk Country Club and lost 214-267. The bad news is they lost by 53 strokes, but the good news is that Coronado improved by 12 shots over the last time the two teams met. Alexcie Sanchez led Coronado with a round of 42.

Head Coach Hanna Cohan, while noting the overall improvement of her team’s play this year, added some perspective on the plight of pro golfer Michelle Wie over the weekend, due to a rules violation. "We just went over the rules of golf and how important they are. I hate to say this, but it’s (the 16-year-old Wie’s disqualification in her first match as a professional) a good example for the girls to see how important the rules are. You can’t break the rules, even if you and your opponent agree to break the rules, which happened to us a few weeks back."

The Islanders have three matches this week, including non-league matches Monday against Francis Parker at Coronado and Thursday vs. Francis Parker again at Riverwalk. Wednesday Coronado hosts Point Loma at the Coronado Municipal Golf Course.

In an unusual scheduling quirk, the Islanders Boys Water Polo Team was off last week, at least most of the members of the varsity squad were inactive. Jackson Crow-Mickle, Kyle Pokorny, Sean Cook and Adam Ratcliffe all participated in the Islander Junior Varsity Tournament hosted by Coronado over the weekend, and helped their team win the event.

"It was a nice experience," said Varsity Head Coach Randy Burgess. "They got to play in a tournament at home and people came down to the pool to see them play. We’ll find out this week if the Varsity being off last week was good or not."

The Islanders return to the pool with a vengeance this week, with away matches at Scripps Ranch Tuesday, at La Jolla Friday and at Long Beach Wilson Saturday. "It’s been a fun week," said Burgess of the bye week. "But it picks up real quick now."

It’s rare that Your Natterer watches a sporting event from beginning to end these days. Perhaps it’s an age issue (54 years and counting as of last weekend), but most ‘big game’ matchups don’t seem to live up to the hype and boredom sets in during the early going.

Such was not the case with the USC vs. Notre Dame football game Saturday, won by the gutty little group of student-athletes from Los Angeles by the score of 34-31. As I have friends on both sides of this rivalry, the most famous inter-sectional series in college football, I wasn’t rooting for either team, but sat riveted to my television screen for the nearly 4-hour duration of the game.

Barring injuries, the Heisman Trophy race in my mind is now down to two players and they both wear the cardinal and gold of USC. Quarterback Matt Leinart and running back Reggie Bush, in equal measure, both seemingly willed the Trojans to victory. Will Leinart repeat as the Heisman winner, or will Bush, the most electrifying running back in college football prevail in the nation-wide voting? Leinart’s conversion of a go-for-broke pass play to Dwayne Jarrett in a fourth and 9 situation from his own 26-yard line was as spectacular in its’ own way as Bush’s three touchdowns and 160 yards rushing. And don’t forget Bush’s momentum generating push in the back on Leinart’s game-winning touchdown run with 7 seconds remaining. This was truly a game that matched the hype.