Events happened at a lightening pace last week for the Coronado High School Football Team, and that’s not just a reference to junior tailback Kyle Brown.

Off the field the Islanders picked up a forfeit win over Crawford, who had used an ineligible player in their victory over Coronado. Madison, who had been tied with Coronado atop the Central League standings, also had to forfeit several victories. All of that off the field activity served to further heighten the importance of Thursday evening’s Homecoming game against University City.

After a Coronado special teams snafu on the kickoff to open the game, which resulted in a Centurion 93-yard touchdown scamper, the Islanders settled down and played dominating football. Coronado scored on an eight-play, 55-yard drive, highlighted by a seven-yard touchdown scamper by Brown.

A Stephen Conrad pass interception gave Coronado the ball back four plays later. A two-yard run from Brown capped off that scoring drive. Stop me if you’ve heard this before, but Brown also scored on a 58 yard run with 8:55 remaining in the first half. For a little variety, sophomore quarterback Mason Mills found Keith Englehart on a deep pass play, good for a 76-yard touchdown minutes later.

Englehart then made a nice defensive play, causing a fumble which was recovered by Curtis Perkins. Coronado mounted a nice drive with that resulted in a Mills to Conrad 25-yard touchdown pass. If you’re keeping tabs on the score to this point in the narrative, you know that Coronado took a 35-7 lead into the locker room at halftime.

The Centurions scored late in the third quarter to break the Islanders 35-0 scoring run. With 4:43 remaining in the game, Mills found Conrad on a 15-yard pass pattern, which completed the Islander scoring. The Centurions added two fourth quarter touchdowns, but the game and the outcome had long since been decided.

Brown had another stellar effort, shredding the University City defense for 227 yards from scrimmage on 30 attempts. Mills was 5-6 passing for 131 yards and three touchdowns. Overall the Islanders accumulated 402 yards of offense from the line of scrimmage.

The final score was 42-28 and Coronado emerged as Central League Champions with an overall record of 8-2, 5-0 in Central League play.

"We arrived a year early," said Head Coach Bud Mayfield of his team’s title. "We are an awfully young team to play as well as they have during the last couple of weeks. They have really matured. The whole team is much different than they were a month ago, when we went to the desert (vs. El Centro Southwest High School). The kids are just growing up. We have gotten very physical, but it took a while to get it going, to get with the intensity of the varsity level. They’ve got it now. I hope they don’t lose it."

Individually Mayfield praised several of his athletes for their contributions. "Mills makes good decisions for us, reads defenses well and keeps us out of trouble. He provides us with great ball security. There are no turnovers or fumbles on snaps. Those are things people take for granted.

Conrad had an interception and two touchdown receptions. He had been playing wide receiver and defensive back and doing very well. He has great speed and good hands. He has really helped us, especially without JJ Pontes (broken ankle), who was pretty much our ‘go to’ guy.

Ben Thorne had another monster game. The last three weeks when we needed it, he has been showing that he can play at the next level. He played sideline to sideline on defense.

Kyle Brown has run for almost 500 yards in two games as a replacement for Ricardo Oberwager (injured shoulder). He has virtually carried us on the ground. His hands have improved tremendously. He needed to learn his pass routes and he has come on in that area and continued to improve. He has also improved in finishing the run. Before he might slow down and get tackled. Now he is running through people. He’s really starting to get the hang of it."

So, now it’s on to the playoffs. Coronado drew the No. 7 seed and will host San Marcos High School Friday night at 7:30 pm. Mayfield provided an overview of the post season. "We have a home game in the playoffs and we drew a good seed. We have a lot to look forward to. Being a young team, we have to be happy. We have one last chance to have a big home game. There should be a packed house, with everybody cheering."

Should Coronado get past San Marcos (0-10 on the season), they will then travel to face Santa Fe Christian the following week. "We have played them many times over the years and have a great rivalry," Mayfield added. "We have to play like the league champions we are now."

With two victories in the CIF Division II Playoffs under their collective belts, the Islander Boys Water Polo Team will now face Western League rival and No. 2 seed Bishop’s Tuesday night in the semi-finals. The game will be played at the La Jolla Coggan Family Pool at 7:30 pm. The teams split their two regular season games.

Head Coach Randy Burgess checks in with a report on Coronado’s first two playoff games, an 18-2 win over 13^th seeded Ramona and a 12-5 victory over No. 6 seed Santana.

"Coronado sprinted past Ramona, when nine separate Islanders scored, including freshman Alex Johnson with four tallies, plus Tommy Schofer and Asante Sefa-Boakye with one each. Jacob Smith had a team high five goals, Sean Cook and Eric Clapper had four each.

In the net, Kyle Pokorny had four saves, two steals and an assist in the first half. Jackson Hummeldorf took over in the third quarter, making two very nice saves. Freshman Jack Nicholson took the fourth quarter into his hands, finishing with four stops. The final period had five freshmen playing in their first CIF game, including Sefa-Boakey, Schofer, Johnson, Nicholson and Andrew Ireland. Sophomores gaining playoff experience included Brendan Farrell and Michael Aguilar.

Saturday the Islanders played well with their position players, well, in position. That included Pokorny in goal and Jackson Crow-Mickle in the field. Pokorny was credited with nine saves and controlled the tempo of the game. Kyle clearly is healthy again after a long bout with mono and his teammates have regained some of their confidence defensively.

Crow-Mickle was responsible for connecting with seven assists on the offensive end of the pool. He and Clapper shared the steals lead with three each.

Coronado went up early 5-0 in the first quarter and held the lead at 7-2 at halftime. The Islanders won the second half 5-3 as the starters were rested in preparation for Tuesday’s semi-final match.

Jacob Smith once again led the Islander scorers with four goals, and the now-healthy Johnson returned to full force with three goals. Alex Ratcliffe showed signs of playoff form with two nice goals, while Cook, Jake Hunzeker and Clapper had single tallies."

CHS Head Cross Country Coach George Green provides the good news about his team. "Cross Country runners are used to running through pain. Anyone who’s worked the finish line of a cross country championship meet knows how tough this sport is. Some runners have to be helped down the chute because they can’t take another step. Some cross the line, fall on their backs and just lie there spent. Others have physical injuries incurred during the race from a fall or other mishap.

The latter was the fate of Islander Michael Davies at the Central League finals last Thursday at Morley Field. Cross Country gets its name for the terrain one must traverse between the start and the finish line.

Halfway through the race in the rock-strewn ‘Desert Loop’ portion of the course, Davies came down hard on a stone and broke a bone (specifically the second metatarsal) in his foot. Of course he didn’t know it at the time and of course, he didn’t stop. He ran through the pain, limping in to a sixth place finish over the 3-mile course in 17:06, earning a spot on the All-League Team. The bad news is that his season is over and he’ll be in a cast for the next 8-10 weeks.

In the same race, Ben Enowitz had his own drama. The pre-race favorite and defending league champion, Clairemont’s Bernardo Bahena, had more competition than he bargained for as Ben matched him stride for stride. Sprinting to the finish, it looked like there might be an upset as Ben had a slight lead a few yards from the line. A last surge from Bahena however, gave him his second league title in a row. Both runners were clocked in 16:25, which is a personal best time for Ben by over 20 seconds.

Not to be outdone, David Grimes also set a personal best time by over 20 seconds, after a close photo finish duel with Clairemont’s Eamonn McCarey. Both runners were clocked in 16:44, with Grimes in fourth place just two seconds from the third place finisher, also from Clairemont. The next four All-League finishers were all from Christian High School.

Turner Stanley improved his personal best time by over 30 seconds to place 12^th in 18:07. He was followed by Cotter Stacy (19^th), Kevin Siefert (22^nd), Alton Smith, Leo Legidakes, Frank Harrison, Alex Fish and Tim Sebring.

In contrast to the close finishes in the Boys Race, the top three girls ran alone with Islander frosh Sallie Privett claiming her first league championship by finishing first in 18:25 over the same 3-mile course run by the boys. Christian’s Devin Marshall was second in 19:41, followed by Islander freshman Adrianna Davies, who was third in 20:37. Our other All-League finisher was freshman Coco O’Brien, who placed eighth with a time of 21:28. She was followed by Sheila Braun (16^th) and Lindsay Pettee (20^th)."

Advancing to the CIF Division IV Playoffs, Coronado drew a home first round match with South Bay foe Marian Catholic. The Islanders dispatched the Crusaders 25-16, 25-13, and 25-21. Coronado setter Karli Massie was credited with 27 assists; Christy Mebust had 17 kills, and Lisa Bernardy had 11 digs.

"It was a really good game," said Head Coach Cristina Lahr. "It was a game we had no intention of losing. We went into the game knowing we were at home and that we were the higher seed playing in our gym. We came out and played with conviction from the very beginning. My goal was to not let them (Marian Catholic) go on a long run. It only happened in one game that they scored more than three points in a row. It was fun to watch. They knew they had a tough game coming on Thursday."

For those of you without a literature background, that is an example of foreshadowing.

Thursday the Islanders traveled to the Bishop’s School, where they came out on the short end of a 25-14, 25-14, 25-18 result. "Those games were a whole lot closer than the scores seemed," said Lahr. "We played really good defense, but we had a hard time finishing rallies. When you (Bishop’s) have two middles 6 feet tall or more, you’re going to get some kills. Their outside hitters are experienced and can hit though a double block."

Lahr praised the efforts of Heidi Hofmockel, Rachel Ricker, Kelsey Fitzgerald and Mebust, all of whom were credited with big blocks on the Bishop’s front line players during the match.

Fitzgerald had an interesting season. The 5-foot, 10-inch junior middle blocker was injured for much of the season with a right shoulder injury, but persevered. Middle blockers are in the mix for contributing kill shots that win points for their team, but the right-handed Fitzgerald injured her right shoulder at the conclusion of the 2005 season.

Fitzgerald was injured again this year, but continued to play and learned to spike the ball left-handed.

"It was a testament to her that she continued to play," said Lahr. "She had no intention of quitting. Continuing to play was beneficial to her and beneficial to our team. She loves it so much and wanted to play so badly. I’m looking forward to a healthy Kelsey Fitzgerald next year.

The Islanders finished with an overall record of 13-18 this season.

CHS Girls Tennis Head Coach Robbin Adair provides information regarding the season-ending Western League Individual tournament. "Everyone lost in the first round except for Jen Carney. She defeated Carolyn Noack of University City 8-2, before losing to Bianca Saad of OLP in the second round 6-1, 6-1. Allie Gordon lost a close match to Alexa Buis of Cathedral Catholic 8-4, while Spencer Berman lost to Saad 8-3. Hannah Schneider lost to the No. 3 seed Hannah Holladay of La Jolla 8-0.

Over in doubles, Islanders Grace Lancaster/Ashley Mendham lost to the No. 7 seeds Archambault/Taylor of La Jolla 8-2. Loren Metzger/Amanda Purvis lost to Raley and Hseih of La Jolla 8-2. Hannah Glasoe/Andrea Wheeler lost to Wallace/Haack of OLP 8-0. Tatiana Chahine/Angelina Graumann lost to Gurrola/Sampson of Scripps Ranch 8-2. Finally, Natalie Brooks/Simmi Deo lost to the No. 2 seeds Essakow/Cummins of La Jolla 8-0."