‘Kings of Tierrasanta’ might be the new nickname for the Coronado Football program, as the Islanders played three games at Serra High School last week and emerged victorious in all of the contests against the Conquistadores.

Starting off the festivities was a 35-0 win by the Frosh/Soph Team Thursday, followed by a 26-7 JV victory in the first of two contests Friday night. The Varsity completed the sweep with a 48-6 domination of the ‘Q Dogs’ as Serra has glossed themselves.

Friday night was also the season premiere of ‘The Ricardo Oberwager Show,’ as the junior tailback rushed for 90 yards in 10 attempts, and scored on a 2-yard run and a 13-yard jaunt. Most of that output came in the first nine minutes of the game.

Then it was show time. To close the first quarter, Oberwager received a punt on his own 15-yard line, put about four fakes on the Q Dogs special teams unit by the time he had cruised past the Coronado 40-yard line, and then took the ball to the end zone for his third touchdown. That effort provided Coronado with a 21-0 lead.

The first half scoring concluded with a nine-yard touchdown pass from quarterback Stephen Conrad to tight end J.J. Pontes and at that point, the only game element left to be decided was the final score. Nobody knew that more than the Q Dogs, who remained in their kennel fully 5 minutes past the allotted time to start the second half of play.

Any hope of a Serra comeback was quickly squelched by, yes, Oberwager who returned the second half kickoff for another 85-yard score. Since the scoreboard didn’t have a third scoring category for ‘Home,’ ‘Visitor’ and ‘Oberwager,’ the score simply read 34-0.

Providing the proverbial cherry on the top of the sundae Oberwager, who also plays defensive back, intercepted a Q Dog pass 1 minute and 20 seconds later and made a nice return on the play, only to have it wiped out by a debatable penalty call from the officials.

Head Coach Bud Mayfield, who could have majored in Understatement at our shared alma mater of Miami (Ohio) University, assessed the efforts of the elusive Oberwager. "This is the beginning of his junior year, so he is still a young running back, but he played like a veteran. He had a terrific night, with the kick return, the punt return, plus two touchdowns and 90 yards rushing. He also played a great game on defense. He was definitely the Player of the Week for us."

Football games aren’t won by one player, although all would agree that Oberwager did his fair share Friday night. Conrad has developed into a fine running quarterback, toting the ball for 53 yards on 11 carries. Junior tailback Curtis Perkins received considerable playing time and responded with 61 yards on nine carries. "We got a lot out of Conrad as a runner," said Mayfield. "And Curtis played well in the backup role for Ricardo. He also made a couple of nice plays on defense and stepped up when he had to. He still has a lot of room for growth."

The Coronado side of the scoreboard continued to light up as senior back Eddie Gomez scored on a three-yard scamper.

Sophomore quarterback Mason Mills completed the Coronado scoring efforts on a one-yard run at the outset of the fourth frame. Mills and fellow soph signal caller Jonathan Archie shared playing time in the JV contest and both saw playing time in the varsity game, which pleased Mayfield. "All three quarterbacks are doing well. They are really coachable kids and they give you everything they have. There is no reason why they can’t get better down the line. Archie is much improved and he’s an awfully strong kid. He and Mills split the JV game, so they both get time to develop."

Mayfield also noted the play of a couple of the ‘Big Uglies’ up front for the Islanders and the development of some depth in the line positions. "Ben Thorne played much better and is starting to come on. Scott Shepherd continues to impress, both offensively and defensively. For the first game, we barely have time to get the first team (linemen) ready. Now, we’re bringing the second team along and that is really going to help us."

The lone bright spot for Serra was a 155-yard rushing night for running back Chris Daniels on 23 attempts. Daniels found the end zone with 2:35 remaining in the game to avoid the shutout. Coronado was forced to make their lone punt of the game with 4 minutes remaining on the clock. "He split two of our guys who were going for him," said Mayfield of Daniels. "We should have had him and we should have had the shutout, but I can’t complain. They (the Islanders) needed the win for their confidence and now they’re pretty excited. I believed in them from the beginning and I still think it will be a great year."

Friday night the Islanders host their first home game of the season, as Medicine Hat High School of Calgary, Alberta, winners of their past seven consecutive league championships, comes to town. Medicine Hat with a 2-0 record will take on the 1-1 Islanders. Mayfield is anticipating a competitive game from Medicine Hat. "Their team has been together since seventh grade, which is one of the reasons their coach is taking them on the road against an American team. We’ll have a party Thursday night for both teams."

The game will be conducted under U.S. football rules, where 11 players compete at a time as opposed to 12 in Canada. "Up there you have two downs and then you have to punt," said Mayfield of the Canadian version of the game. "It changes the rhythm of the game and your play calling. The end zone is half the size of what is up there, so there won’t be any bombs (long passes) from the 2-yard line. The international experience is wonderful, no matter how the game turns out."

The JV game will be a five quarter, three-sided affair, which will begin at 4 pm. The first half will be Coronado vs. Olympia High School, a new school in San Diego County. Then Coronado will play Medicine Hat’s JV for a quarter and the final installment will be Olympia vs. Medicine Hat.

Friday night will mark the public debut of the new artificial turf field and new running track at Coronado High School.

It was a long day on the pool deck Saturday, as Coronado traveled to Newport Harbor for their traditional regular season opener. Two JV games were followed by two Frosh/Soph games, with the Varsity tilt scheduled for 7 pm.

"They area a very, very good team," said Islander Head Coach Randy Burgess of the Sailors, who emerged with a 7-4 victory. "This early in the season, there aren’t many teams a whole lot better than Newport. It was a big test for us to go in there and play our first game. It was a very physical game and a very well-played game."

The Islander scoring was accounted for by three goals for junior Jacob Smith and one from senior Eric Clapper. Jackson Crow-Mickle, Sean Cook and Clapper were each credited with an assist. Smith and Clapper snared three steals each.

"The sleeper player of the game was Jackson, who had six steals and really did a great job," said Burgess. "Smith and Clapper played pretty solid, with plenty of room out there for improvement. Another kid who played very, very well was (goalie) Kyle Pokorny, who had 11 legit saves. He had a good game and although it was nice to see, it wasn’t surprising. The way he has been working, my expectations are that he will continue to play in goal the way he did Saturday night."

Burgess noted the contributions of several other players who contributed to the solid team outing, including Alex Johnson, Adam Ratclffe, C.J. Kerr and Jake Hunzecker. "Alex saw some important playing time and he’s one to keep an eye on. He has a presence in there. Adam had a solid game and C.J. came off the bench and did some real good things. Jake went in and did a great job as well, sharing time with Alex at the center position. Overall, it was a good start and the game gives me a lot of information to work with. We’re right where we should be right now and we have a long ways to go."

The road continues this weekend with the America’s Finest City Tournament, hosted by the Islanders at Coronado Municipal Pool, and at La Jolla, Rancho Bernardo and Westview High Schools. The 32-team affair will tip-off Friday at 1 pm for the Islanders in their home pool as they take on Western High School from Anaheim.

"The one unique thing about the tournament is that the first round games all feature a team from San Diego against a team from outside the San Diego Section and it goes from there," said Burgess, who also serves as tournament director of the event. "It’s a tough tournament to seed. We’ll play two games on Friday and three on Saturday. It’s a nice tournament, especially for this time of the year."

The Top 4 seeds in the tournament are Coronado, La Jolla, Harvard Westlake and Mira Costa. CHS alumnus Jon Reichardt returns for his sixth year at the helm of the Mira Costa program, and has a couple of CIF sectional titles to show for his coaching efforts.

Complete first round America’s Finest City tournament scheduling information can be found at www.nadoaquatics.com.

Early season tournaments are common in most sports, allowing teams to get several games under their collective belts and kick start the season. Nowhere is this truer than in volleyball, as the CHS Girls Varsity Team played in their second tournament in as many weeks, this time at Monte Vista.

Saturday they played four matches, starting the proceedings with pool play wins over Holtville and Castle Park. "We won both matches in two games (the tournament format is best of three games per match) and we won our pool," said Head Coach Christina Lahr. "In all four of those games we kept the team under 20 points, which was good."

In the first round of bracket play, the Division IV Islanders defeated Division II El Capitan 25-13, 22-25 and 15-11. "It was a very good victory," said Lahr. "It was our best competition so far that morning. The team played really well together. They were working together as a team to win and they are playing better together every time they play, which is really nice to see."

The Islanders tournament run ended at the hands of Division II entry Orange Glen, 25-20, 25-10. "Overall the tournament was good, because I saw how good they can play together," Lahr added. "It is nice to know what their potential is."

Individually Lahr praised the efforts of setter Karli Massie, Heidi Hofmockel, Christy Mebust and Lisa Bernardy. "Karli worked hard all day and we have to work on our passing so she doesn’t have to work so hard. Heidi played well in the El Cap match and had two or three kills out of the middle, which is an accomplishment for us because we don’t runt he middle that often. She also had two big blocks and it was nice to see her play well. Heidi stepped up. Christy played well, but I always expect her to play well. Lisa played libero most of the tournament and played really well."

This week the Islanders take to the road Tuesday and play at Serra. They return home Thursday to host San Diego High School.

CHS Cross Country Head Coach George Green checks in with the Boys and Girls Cross Country news. "With a total of 2,400 finishers in 16 different races, the Mt. Carmel Invitational held at Morley Field last Saturday has become one of the larger cross country meets in the state. The races are grouped into small school and large school divisions, by grade level.

Leading the way for the Coronado were Ben Enowitz and Michael Davies, who finished seventh and 23^rd respectively in the small schools junior class race, with times of 16:55 and 17:43 over the 2.95-mile course. David Grimes and Stacy Cotter placed 14^th and 49^th in the sophomore race with times of 17:56 and 18:44, followed by Cory Couture (103^rd in the junior race). Freshmen Kevin Siefert, Danny Luiken, Jack Nolan and Alex Fish finished in that order in the freshman race.

For the girls, Sallie Privett won her third invitational race in as many weeks, winning the small school freshmen race by over 20 seconds with a time of 16:56 over 2.7 miles. The only other girls who ran last Saturday were Sheila Braun and Lindsay Pettee in the Girls Senior race, where they placed 72^nd and 91^st."

Robbin Adair, CHS Girls Tennis head coach, takes us on a verbal tour of last week’s play. "Tennis completed the week with two wins and a loss. We opened Tuesday against a very strong San Dieguito squad and got beat 15-1. Spencer Berman earned our lone point, winning a set 7-5. She played extremely well, losing another set 5-7. Two of the matches were not played because of the CHS Open House later that evening.

Wednesday, we traveled to Mission Bay, and despite having to default three games, we defeated them 12-6. Allie Gordon won two of her three sets, losing a close one to their No. 1 player. Cori Morse won a point against their No. 3, but over in doubles, the teams of Loren Metzger/Amanda Purvis, Jen Carney/Natalie Brooks and Spencer Berman/Simmi Deo each swept all three sets, giving up only a total of six games in all nine sets.

Friday Brawley brought a much-improved squad to Coronado and we were able to beat them 12-6 as well. They feature three very strong singles players and Berman and Gordon each took three sets, while Carney won two. In doubles, Brooks and Hannah Schneider went 2-1, while Metzger/Purvis went 1-2 as did Tatiana Chahine and Angelina Graumann.

This week we play at Granite Hills Tuesday, we host Canyon Crest Academy Wednesday and we start league play at University City Thursday."

The CHS Girls Golf Team swung their way through two matches last week, emerging with a 243-310 win over Mira Mesa and a 263-273 triumph over Our Lady of Peace. The twin victories placed the Islanders at 3-0 for the season.

In Monday’s match with Mira Mesa at Coronado, Alexcie Sanchez shot a 38 to earn medalist honors, with Mackenzie Coutts, a new addition to the squad pitching in with a 45. "She is very athletic," said Head Coach Hannah Cohan of Coutts. "She’s a star soccer player and her dad is a golfer as well."

Another contributor was Chelsea Newson, according to Cohan. "Chelsea was brand new to golf as of last year. She was excited to play (last week) and getting in there with the big girls. We used her score. She was our most improved player last year and is playing with the big dogs now."

The OLP match was played at the Torrey Pines North course and the match medalist was again Sanchez with a 45. "The rough was rough and the greens were fast," Cohan laughed. "The girls held tightly to their rules of golf and their etiquette against OLP. I’m really proud how they handled themselves when they played OLP."

This week the girls play San Diego Tuesday and Christian Thursday, with both matches being played at Coronado Municipal.

Don’t forget that the 10^th Anniversary Luau for Adrian Taufaasau will be held Sept. 30 from 2-5 pm at Village Elementary School. The cost is $10 and the proceeds go to the Adrian Taufaasau Memorial Scholarship Fund. Additional donations are accepted.

This Saturday from 11 am to 1 pm the Guttcheck Basketball Club will hold a clinic for boys and girls between 4^th and 8^th grade, with the possibility of building into a club program. Conducting the clinic will be CHS Girls Varsity Head Coach Toler Goodwin and Varsity Assistant Coach Andre Anderson. "We’ll start this Saturday and go every Saturday forward until at least the basketball season," said Goodwin. "We want to make sure we have at least one 12 and under team from both the boys and girls sides."

For more information, contact Goodwin at 619-282-4888 or Anderson at 619-398-6567.

Finally, CHS alumna Megan Mushovic (CHS ’06) is playing well for Cornell University in her freshman year on the volleyball team. Mushovic helped her team win three matches in the Nike Invitational Tournament playing the libero position for the Big Red and earned Rookie of the Week honors for her efforts in her collegiate debut.