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Nado Natterings |
A weekly column by David Axelson |
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Nado Natterings
by David Axelson, Chief Executive Officer
The Islander Sports Foundation
7 Nov 2007 Issue #43
The
Boys Water Polo
Wins Western League Title
Halloween found the Coronado
Boys Water Polo Team taking on
Leading the scoring for Coronado were Jake Hunzeker and Norbi Karoly with four goals each, followed closely by Jacob Smith and Rex Butler with three a piece. Sean Cook was a standout at both ends of the pool, with two goals, two assists and five steals. Alex Johnson completed the scoring for the Islanders with one tally.
Friday night Foothill of Tustin came to
“The Foothill game was real important in terms of finding out where we are,” Burgess said. “Physically and mentally we are fine, but everything was off. We’re trying to get back in synch before the playoffs.”
Burgess, who is on the CIF Water Polo Advisory Committee,
and therefore has a feel for the possible seeding slots for the Division II
playoffs, thought the Top 5 seeds would be comprised of the first five
finishers in the Western League. Specifically No. 1 Coronado, No. 2 Bishops,
No. 3 L Jolla, No. 4 Cathedral Catholic and No. 5 University City. The next two
seeds in the 16-team field would likely be Santana and
“We play the hardest schedule of any team in
CHS Cross Country
Teams Grab Central League Titles
What
was good for the Boys Water Polo Team
was twice as nice for the CHS Cross
Country program as both teams won the Central League title. CHS Head Cross
Country Coach George Green relates
the good news from his teams.
“Going
in the final meet of the season with Christian, the Boys Cross Country team was
defending a 4-year dual meet winning streak, with their fourth consecutive
league championship on the line. The last dual meet they had lost was the final
meet of 2003 and that was by only one point to Clairemont, after posting a
perfect season up to that point.
This
year both Christian and Coronado had close meets against Clairemont and the
race turned out to be as competitive as those results predicted. Ben Enowitz finished first over the
City Conference three-mile course in
The
Islander girls' four-year record was nearly the same as the boys' with only a
(still painful) one-point loss to Christian in 2005 marring a perfect string of
dual meet victories. In 2006
It
turned out it wasn't close, with
Selina Schmeck finished 10th followed
by Coco O'Brien in 11th. To be honest, I was worried about the girls'
prospects over the summer as we had only Privett, Davies, O'Brien, and Schmeck
returning. However, several recruiting calls netted top
Islander Football
Dominates Clairemont 43-0
Islander Football returned home to the friendly confines of Niedermeyer Field Friday night and proceeded to pound the Clairemont Chieftains 43-0. If allowed to present only one game ball to a Coronado stalwart, I would have to select quarterback Mason Mills who had an outstanding game. Mills finished the evening completing 10 of his 11 pass attempts for 259 yards and two touchdowns. For an exclamation point to the night’s festivities, he rumbled for a touchdown on an 18-yard jaunt in the second quarter.
Others would point to the four touchdowns scored by Ricardo Oberwager as the highlight of the game and their’s would be a valid point. To begin the game, Coronado forced Clariemont to punt the ball after three plays from the line of scrimmage and Oberwager promptly returned the kick 80 yards for a touchdown. The senior tailback then scored on runs of 4 and 3 yards and caught a one-yard touchdown pass to account for his 24 points for the night.
To be successful throwing the ball quarterbacks have to have good receivers and Mills completed passes to five different Islanders. His favorite target was tight end Blake Malkemus, who hauled in 4 passes for a total of 158 yards and one touchdown.
Maybe we have the game ball list narrowed to three, but CHS Head Coach Bud Mayfield brings some additional names to the table. “Tim Leary and Charlie Moore had great nights on the defensive line. They were harassing their quarterback and they both made tackles for losses. Ray San Giovanni had an excellent night at linebacker and Tyler Suggett did a good job. We won’t award any black shirts because so many people played well. There will be a lot of decals in the locker room. Every time you get a shutout you’re happy.”
Leary was also the primary tackler on the safety the Islanders earned with 25 seconds remaining in the first half.
The CIF-mandated layoff caused Mayfield to take unusual measures to make sure his team was ready to play Central League rival Clairemont. “Friday we did well considering the layoff. We practiced on Thursday, the day before the game in pads, for the first time in my career and it worked.”
Friday night the Islanders host Kearny in Coronado’s homecoming game, which will begin at 7 pm, as opposed to the usual 7:30 kickoff. Also, the JV game will be played Thursday, so the varsity game is the lone contest Friday evening.
Don’t expect to see a Kearny team of recent vintage in this game. “Kearny is awfully stout,” Mayfield said of the Komets defensive line. “They are one of the biggest teams we will play all year. It will be hard to move them up front. This is the best Kearny team in the last 10 or 15 years. We saw the game tapes and Kearny was right with Madison (the Komets lost to the Warhawks 42-27 last week) until the end. This is an important game for us.”
With the CIF Division IV Playoffs looming in the near future, Mayfield assessed where his club might fall in the eight-team post season field. “It would be in the late middle (of the bracket), somewhere around No. 5 or No. 6. We might get re-matched with Mission Bay, La Jolla or Madison. I would like to have a shot at all of those guys again. Kearny is trying to get into the playoffs (Division III) themselves.”
Division IV is the only grouping that has eight teams in the playoff field, which means that all eight teams will have a first round bye into the quarterfinals. This is so that all of the five CIF playoff divisions will complete play simultaneously for the division finals to be held at Qualcomm Stadium. All that is, except for Division IV, which will be held a day later at USD Stadium. If you think about that, it could drive you to distraction.
In short, when the Islanders make the playoffs, they will be faced with their second two-week layoff in less than a month. “It seems like we’re stopping and starting, stopping and starting,” Mayfield said.
North
Hot off the press is this week’s edition of the “North County Times” Sportswriters and Sportscasters Prep Football poll. Drum roll please. No. 1 Poway, No. 2 Oceanside, No. 3 Mission Hills, No. 4 Carlsbad, No. 5 Helix, No. 6 San Pasqual, No. 7 Eastlake, No. 8 La Costa Canyon, No. 9 Point Loma and No. 10 Cathedral Catholic.
Islander Girls Volleyball Completes Regular Season by Defeating
Patrick Henry
Tuesday’s Girls’ Volleyball game pitting Patrick Henry at Coronado had more subplots roiling beneath the surface than a bad Russian novel. It was the regular season finale for both teams, but it was also Senior Night for, well, both teams. Because the Patriots two seniors had to miss their special night due to the wild fires, CHS Head Coach Christina Lahr graciously recognized Coronado’s senior opponents as well.
“I felt it was appropriate to recognize their two seniors at a live Eastern League match. It was very nice. We had two seniors and they had two seniors. We recognized our own Christy Mebust and Kelsey Fitzgerald for their four years on the varsity and for the contributions they made to our team.”
Mix in the fact that neither team had played or practiced for 10 days and the game was for second place in the final Eastern League standings, behind undefeated Our Lady of Peace, and you start to get the feel of the game. It was also the first game the Islanders were able to play on the main court at the CHS gym due to the fire in the building over the summer. Television sitcoms have lasted for entire seasons with fewer plot points.
“The match went well,” said Lahr. “Our passing defense was very solid and that is what won us the game. We have stronger outside hitters than they do, but they passed well and so did we. Our serving was solid. In addition, Kori Fitzgerald (The Younger) led the team with nine digs. Mebust had 12 kills for the match and Kelsey Fitzgerald (The Elder) had 21 assists. Melissa Humphrey was right behind her with 19 assists. They were very competitive with each other that game. It was a good win for us.”
The 23-25, 25-15, 25-21, and 25-23 victory over Patrick
Henry probably added some strength to the Islanders’ playoff seeding position.
Coronado is seeded No. 6 in the 12-team field and will host No. 11 seed
Holtville Wednesday night at 7 pm. If
Two Islander Golfers Qualify for CIF Individual Play
There was good news and bad news from the CHS Girls Golf squad last week. Mackenzie Coutts and Jackie Davis both had strong showings in the City Conference match, with Coutts finishing in a tie for fifth place and Davis tied with the sixth best score. In the process, both earned All-League recognition and qualified for the CIF Individual Playoffs at Warner Springs Tuesday, starting at 9 am.
The bad news is that Coutts injured her leg during soccer practice and won’t be able to compete in the golf event. Davis will soldier on and carry the Coronado flag, so to speak.
“We’re having our last practice Monday,” said Co-Head Coach Randy Coutts. “It was a good year for the girls. It wasn’t the best scoring year we have ever had, but we showed a lot of improvement. We had good team morale, which was nice.”
This week the entire Islander Girls Tennis Team will compete in the Western League singles and doubles tournament, according to Head Coach Rob LeBuhn. “Everybody on the team is playing in the event, which runs Tuesday through Friday. It’s a single elimination format, so if you win, you play on.”
Despite consistently strong play this year from No. 1 singles player Spencer Berman and No. 2 singles player Jennifer Carney, no Islanders are seeded in the event.
Final Reminder for CMS Winter Sports Registration
Wednesday, Nov. 7, will be the registration date for the
The winter sports offered include Boys Soccer, Girls Soccer,
Boys Basketball, Girls Softball and Co-ed Golf. The fee is $110 per sport, per
child.
There will be a similar spring sports registration meeting
held Feb. 6, 2008 for the sports of Boys Lacrosse, Co-ed Track and Field, Girls
Basketball, Co-ed Water Polo and Co-ed Tennis.
If you are new to the ISF-CMS Sports program, you may download all of the applicable forms at www.IslanderSportsFoundation.com. Your child must have a current athletic physical and have all of the forms completed and filed before they can practice or participate in an ISF-CMS sponsored sport. Under no circumstances will any applications or payments be accepted after the close of business Wednesday, Nov. 21. For questions, please contact either Suzette Valle at avalle@san.rr.com or Cassandra Stroud at cmstroud@pacbell.net.
Who’s the Best NFL Running Back You Ever Saw?
One of the great and fun things about sports is trying to compare and contrast the abilities of athletes from different eras. While watching Minnesota Vikings tailback Adrian Peterson run over, under, around and through the vaunted Chargers defense Sunday, my dad Joe Axelson called to see if I was watching the show being put on by the rookie from the University of Oklahoma.
During the course of the conversation, he opined that former Kansas Jayhawk and Chicago Bear Gale Sayers was the best running back he had ever seen. I countered with Texas Longhorn and Houston Oiler great Earl Campbell.
Friend and fellow ink-stained wretch John Maffei of the “North County Times” opted for Sayers as well. Let’s just say for the sake of discussion if Sayers could be equated with an athletic team competing in a tournament, he would still be playing on Saturday night in the finals.
With 1,036 yards gained from scrimmage in just eight games
(129.5 per game) Peterson, if he remains healthy, could re-define all future ‘best
ever running back’ dialogues with his unique combination of strength and speed.