Saturday the CHS Boys Water Polo Team collectively dove into the La Jolla Coggan Family Pool to face Vista High School in the first annual Coach Dick Draz Classic.

The day-long event featured games played throughout the day, and was named after the 75-year-old Hall of Fame Crawford High School and Mesa College water polo coach. The personable Draz continues to serve as the CIF playoff director in the sports water polo and swimming.

When the Islanders and Panthers tangled, it was slightly more than a pre-season scrimmage, less than a game and in reality was a fundraiser for the CIF playoff travel fund. We won’t get into the final score, but suffice to say that Islander goals were scored by Adam Ratcliffe, Jacob Smith, Jackson Crow-Mickle, Alex Johnson, Eric Clapper and Michael Aguilar. Goalie Kyle Pokorny assisted on three goals with long outlet passes, with Sean Cook, and Brendan Farrell among those with passes that led directly to Coronado tallies.

"We have four returning seniors and only one of them, Eric Clapper, has varsity experience," said Head Coach Randy Burgess. "We lost 10 seniors to graduation and we have a very small junior class coming in this year as 12^th graders. Eric was our most consistent player in the early season and in the off season. He will continue on to have a great season this year."

The other three seniors who figure to contribute include Prince Sefa-Boakye, Phillip Bowen and Crow-Mickle.

The junior class provides Smith and Pokorny, who will play important roles on the team according to Burgess. "Jacob will be a multi-purpose player for us and he is one of our stronger players. He will have a lot of different roles and is a very strong outside shooter. He is going to be one of our ‘go-to’ guys. He and Clapper will provide the leadership in the pool on the offensive end. Pokorny will provide leadership defensively. Kyle has matured as a goalie. Mentally and emotionally he really has to be solid for us."

Other juniors include Sam Working, Ian Thackston, Andy Clapper, Jake Hunzecker, C.J. Kerr, and Sean Cook. Burgess provides a brief assessment of the quintet. "Working is returning to the program after a year away from the sport and could make a big difference for us. This is the rebirth of a water polo player. Thackston and Clapper are working to earn a spot on the varsity team. Hunzecker put in a good off season and worked hard during the swim season. He’s trying to establish himself as a center and an outside shooter. He has good size and strength, but very little varsity experience.

One other junior, who actually has been very impressive, is C.J. Kerr. He’ll be a driver as a smaller player and we’re counting on his mobility and quickness. We’re pretty optimistic that he will help us out this year, his first season on the varsity level."

Cook is probably one of our biggest question marks, which isn’t a bad thing. We expect Sean with experience, and he is working hard, could be one of the premier players in San Diego. Hopefully it is sooner, rather than later. In Sean, Jacob and Kyle, we have three of the best juniors in San Diego. They need to know what their roles are and figure out how they fit in with their teammates."

As might be expected on a very young squad, three sophomores are in the mix for playing time and a spot on the varsity. "Adam Ratcliffe played well against Vista and scored on some nice breakaways," said Burgess. "He was really the only 9^th grader who got any varsity minutes last year and he’ll get a lot of playing time. He’s probably our best swimmer and he’ll sprint (for the tip-off that opens each quarter) for us a lot. Like a receiver in football, with his speed, just the threat of scoring on a breakaway makes the defense worry about you."

Sophomore Jackson Hummeldorf is making the difficult transition from field player to goalie, an act that impressed Burgess. "He very unselfishly assumed the role of back-up goalie. Without any question he said ‘coach I’m willing to do it.’ He has good legs and is really developing. Jackson will benefit from working with Pokorny."

Burgess added Mike Aguilar to the list of sophomores who could contribute. "He’s a great looking kid, who has grown three inches and added 10 pounds. He’s getting bigger and stronger. He will help us out dramatically in every practice and hopefully will earn some varsity minutes."

Freshmen who will compete for varsity spots include Tommy Schofer and Alex Johnson. "Tommy is a good little swimmer and is left-handed, with nothing ahead of him but growth physically and mentally, learning the game. He is going to be a good player. Alex has been impressive as a physical player. He is pretty much the type of player a coach likes to have, with a great work ethic. He doesn’t mind the physical game and he’s not afraid to mix it up with the bigger, older guys. He is going to help us out. The coaching staff has seen good things from those two guys."

Returning to the boys water polo staff are veteran varsity assistant Dave Throop and JV and Frosh/Soph Coach Ian Silverman. The reality is that all three coaches work on all three levels.

Burgess and the staff are still in the process of finalizing the rosters, which will contain 17 or 18 athletes at the varsity level. "Barring injuries, we will have all of our names and teams divided up by the end of the week," Burgess added.

As for a predicted outlook for the season, think ‘young but talented.’ Burgess continues with the season preview. "We’re not going to be the experienced team we have been. We don’t know what’s going to happen. The work effort and the attitude are really good. We have a lot of the upper classmen have been really, really positive working with the sophomores. It’s a team out there. We’re not really big, fast or strong. The only way we are going to function well and succeed is to work as a unit. We’ll see a large amount of improvement as the season progresses. We hope to show well in our America’s Finest City Tournament Sept. 22-23. Our first big test will be Sept. 16 when we play at Newport Harbor."

All of the practice vs. scrimmage vs. fundraiser info from the Water Polo portion of the column above applies to the Islander Football Team’s participation in the Kickoff Classic Friday night against Mt. Miguel at Mira Mesa High School.

Head Coach Bud Mayfield’s team was coming off of their Hell Week workouts at NAS North Island and the team rightfully looked leg weary as the game progressed. For those of you that follow high school football closely, bet that the Marauders will be a force in the CIF Division III title race.

In the coin toss to begin the game, seniors Ben Thorne and J.J. Pontes represented the Islanders as team captains. They were joined in the starting offensive lineup by quarterback Stephen Conrad; receivers Cameron Feallock and Ken Twomey; running backs Eddie Gomez and Ricardo Oberwager; and linemen Greg Reed, Tim Leary, Charlie Moore and Scott Shepherd.

Some of the highlights of the game included some good early punting by Leary, who in his first three attempts had kicks of 37, 33 and 39 yards from the line of scrimmage. Oberwager contributed promising kickoff returns of 12, 26, and 20 yards.

Thorne blocked two Mt. Miguel extra point attempts and recovered an Islander fumble in the early going. Defensive back Keith Englehart made a nice play defending a pass play against a much taller Marauder receiver. And Moore showed strength and tenacity in making a one-armed tackle for loss toward the end of the first quarter.

But the two big plays, at least in the first three quarters of play, were the 71-yard gallop around left end by junior running back Kyle Brown, who took the ball to the Mt. Miguel 2-yard line. A couple of plays later, junior running back Ray San Giovanni scored on a well-executed trap play from the 4-yard line.

Another plus for the Islanders was the long-snapping of Pontes on the punt and placement squads. He was flawless in his execution at one of the toughest positions on the special teams unit.

Mayfield’s teams have the well-earned reputation of executing well, witness the fact that they incurred only one penalty through the first 35 minutes of play in their first unofficial outing as a team. The starters played only through the first half of the game, with the second unit seeing plenty of playing time in the second half.

The regular season starts in earnest Friday evening with an away game at Division II powerhouse West Hills. Kickoff is slated for 7 pm. For those of you who will be attending the game, West Hills is located in Santee. Directions can be found at www.IslanderSportsFoundation.com. Follow the link on the home page that says ‘driving directions to away sporting events.’

Head Coach George Green provides a look at the 2006 Boys and Girls Cross Country Teams. "The cross country season gets off to an early start with three invitational meets this month. This Friday we’ll kick off the season with the Wolf Pack Invitational at West Hills High School, followed by the Mustang Invitational next Friday at Rohr Park. Then the Mt. Carmel Invitational is scheduled for Sept. 16 at Morley Field.

There will then be a 2-week break until our dual meet season starts with Crawford Oct. 5. There is still time to join the team, as invitational meets are not a mandatory part of the schedule. There is still more than a month before our first league contest.

The bulk of the Boys’ team has had a good summer of training with some runners putting in up to 50 miles per week. Key players for the Boys will be returning juniors Ben Enowitz, Michael Davies and Jose Tijerina, along with returning sophomores David Grimes and Ben Green. There are also a lot of new runners, as many use the sport as a means to get in shape for the soccer and lacrosse seasons.

The Girls team is smaller in numbers, but it should be fast up front with freshman All-American youth runner Sallie Privett making her high school debut this Friday. She’ll be the favorite for both the Central League and CIF Division II individual titles. Senior Sheila Braun, incoming freshman Adrianna Davies, and Natalie Pettee have also been putting in the miles this summer. They should give us good strength in the front of the pack. League hurdle champ Sarah Player, Allison Cabana, Coco O’Brien and Helen Luppi are a few of the others who will give the Girls team the depth it needs."

If you are interested in the team, check out the Islandertrack.com website or call Coach Green at 436-3633.

Robbin Adair, the veteran coach at the helm of the tennis program at Coronado High School, provides an overview of this year’s Girls Tennis squad. "We return eight letter winners including: Allie Gordon, Jen Carney, Spencer Berman, Hannah Schneider, Amanda Purvis, Loren Metzger, Simmi Deo, and Corrie Morese. We lost two of our singles players to graduation and one of our doubles teams, so we’ll see how these kids do.

Carney, Berman and Schneider are all sophomores and have worked a lot at improving their tennis in the off season. We start this week with a scrimmage against Mira Mesa."