Nado Natterings Back to Islandersports
A weekly column by David Axelson

Nado Natterings
by David Axelson, Chief Executive Officer
The Islander Sports Foundation

24 Sept 2008 Issue No. 36

Without question the toughest part of writing “Nado Natterings” over the past dozen years or so is when a Coronado team is beaten decisively and still coming up with something positive for the reader to glean from the game. Interestingly, writing about Coronado’s football victory over Hamilton High School from Hemet Friday night by the final score of 57-0, is proving equally challenging.

The next relevant fact is that the score was 57-0 at halftime as well. Let’s state the obvious and postulate that Hamilton was not ready for the Islanders last Friday, or next Friday night, or any night or afternoon between now and the end of the current prep season.

Coronado won the coin toss and elected to defer to the visitors, who opted to accept the kickoff. Thus the stage was set for one of the better kicking displays in recent Islander football history as Coronado soccer star Christian Herrera launched the first of his eight kickoffs in the opening half to the one-yard line. On this and his subsequent seven efforts during the first half, his booming kicks sailed high through the Coronado night air. Six of Herrera’s eight boots went well into the end zone. As if attempting to supply some symmetry to the lop-sided game, kick No. 1 landed at the one-yard line and effort No. 6 came down on the six-yard line. Herrera was also a perfect five for five in his extra point placements.

The fact that Hamilton was overmatched doesn’t take away from the fact that there were several fine individual performances turned in by the guys in the green home uniforms. Quarterback Mason Mills threw for four touchdowns and ran for another. Junior Kodie Englehart was on the receiving end of two Mills scoring tosses, one for 66 yards and the other for 11 yards. Kodie established a strong lead in the Englehart Family Touchdown Race (older brother Keith Englehart is a senior running back and defensive stalwart) by returning a kickoff after a Coronado safety for 75 yards and another six points. Kodie, who holds the ball on extra point attempts, also scored on a two-point conversion after Coronado’s first touchdown.

Other touchdowns were scored by Chris Page on a four-yard scamper; Billy Garigen who found the end zone twice, once a 45-yard pass from Mills, and the other coming on a shorter connection from five yards; and tight end Blake Malkemus on a 24-yard strike from Mills.

Coronado Head Coach Bud Mayfield went to the bench early and often. In addition, the game was conducted with a running clock for the entire second half, hence the front-loaded score. However, the Islanders didn’t take the rest of the game off. Garigen had a nice 85-yard kickoff return to start the second half and Andrew Toomey had runs of 14, 17 and 10 yards in the late going. Coronado ended the game inside the Hamilton five-yard line and junior quarterback Patrick Toomey took a knee on four consecutive snaps to end the game.

Defensively, the Islanders swarmed all over Hamilton and some of the highlights included Tyler Suggett batting down a pass; Bryan Crabb creating a fumble which was recovered by Brad Hughes; a tackle for loss by Todd Kelleher; a blocked punt by Stefan Massie and Alex Bookout recovering a fumble in the fourth quarter. Bookout’s fellow sophomore linemen Jose Sanchez and Jack Mikesell made their presence felt in the game and contributed to the victory.

A tougher challenge for Coronado will come from Division IV opponent Mission Bay, who is next on the schedule. The Islanders travel to face the Bucs Friday at 3 pm.

Mission Bay is coming off of a 21-6 loss to Bonita Vista, so they will be looking to return to the win column against Coronado. The game may well have playoff seeding implications, as only eight teams from CIF San Diego Division IV advance to post season play. The Bucs and the Islanders figure to be two of those teams again this season.

Prep Football Poll

Here is the latest North County Times Prep Football Poll: 1. Oceanside, 2. Cathedral Catholic, 3. Mission Hills, 4. Helix, 5. Valley Center, 6. Mira Mesa, 7. La Costa Canyon, 8. Vista, 9. Ramona, and 10. Escondido. Others receiving votes included: Eastlake, Lincoln, San Pasqual, Carlsbad, Bonita Vista, Valhalla, St. Augustine and Point Loma.

CHS Cross Country Report

George Green, head coach of the CHS Cross Country program, checks in with a report on his teams’ recent events. “The two big California Cross County meets this weekend were the Mt. Carmel Invitational held at Morley Field over the Footlocker National Championship course and the Woodbridge Cross Country Classic held in Irvine.

The local event is by far the largest cross country meet in San Diego and draws a lot of big-name teams from the CIF Southern Section, as well as several teams from out of state. However, it can't hold a candle to the more centrally located Woodbridge Classic in terms of the number of schools attending.

Woodbridge starts their first race at 7:15 am and their last race at 9:35 pm so it's quite a spectacle. Rather than choose which one to enter we sent runners to both. Girls' coach Bill Davies took Sallie Privett, his daughter Adie Davies and Selina Schmeck to Irvine, where they ran under the stars with Adie and Selina entered in the ‘Blue’ varsity girls' race and Sallie in the ‘Rated’ girls' event. Of the four available divisions ‘Blue’ is the most competitive with the race going off at 7:20 pm. We put our girls in this division so they wouldn't have to wait around all day for Sallie's race at 8:40 pm. 

Adie had a fine showing, placing 23^rd out of 178 finishers, with a time of 18:53 over the 3mile plus course. Selina got caught in traffic over the narrow course and finished in the pack with a time of 21:14. In the Rated girls event, Sallie raced within herself early and came on strong at the end to place 13^th out of around 150 finishers with a time of 18:08. Out of all the San Diego schools attending the event, this was the third best girl's time of the day.

Earlier in the day back in San Diego, we entered boys in the Division II Freshman, Junior, and Senior races. Will Funk placed 25^th in the Freshman race, with Nicolas Robles and Luke McCue in pursuit. In the Junior race Gabe Salvatierra just missed the medal cut-off, placing 58^th, followed by Danny Luiken and Jack Nolan. In the Senior boy's race David Grimes and Sean O'Brien placed 25th and 44th respectively followed by Andy Centeno who's trying to race himself into shape before our first league meet with Clairemont October 8th.”

Boys Water Polo Season Underway

Traditionally, the CHS Boys Water Polo season begins with an away match at Newport Harbor, which was the case again this year. Saturday, the Islanders traveled up the coast to find one of the better teams from Orange County waiting for them. After trailing 3-2 at the end of the first quarter and 4-3 at halftime, the Islanders fell to Newport by the final score of 12-5.

“We try to play the kind of teams that expose us,” said CHS Head Coach Randy Burgess. “We got hammered in the second half. They are where we were last year in terms of (number of) seniors and they are a very good team. They will do very well this year.”

Senior goalie Justin Parsons was credited with eight saves and according to Burgess, despite giving up 12 goals, Parsons was on top of his game. “Without him, we would have been blown out in the first half.”

The five Coronado goals came from Alex Johnson with two tallies, two more from Adam Ratcliffe and a single-goal effort from Paul Pedrotty. “Johnson played a really nice game,” Burgess said of his junior center-forward. “He had the two goals and drew four exclusions.”

Burgess added the following assessment of his team. “No excuses, but it was very obvious that it was our first game. We’ll be better after 28 or 29 more games.”

This weekend the Islanders will get a big chunk of game time, as they host the Kap Seven America’s Finest City Invitational Tournament, a 32-team affair that is played in four facilities including the Brian Bent Memorial Aquatics Center and the Coronado Municipal Pool. Coronado is the No. 3 seed and will face Western High School of Anaheim Friday at 1 pm at the BBMAC. The other top seeds include No. 1 Mater Dei of Los Angeles, No. 2. Harvard Westlake and No. 4 Loyola of Los Angeles.

If form holds and the Islanders advance, they will face the winner of Poway vs. Chaparral at 6 pm Friday evening. The complete America’s Finest City Tournament schedule can be found through Nadoaquatics.com.

CHS Girls Golf Runs Record to 4-0

The Coronado Girls Golf Team dominated their counterparts from Crawford 293-357 at the Coronado Municipal Golf Course last week to run their record to 4-0. The Islanders were paced by senior Joy Jamison who shot a 53 and freshman Liza Logan who shot a 54.

Coach Randy Coutts discussed the abilities of the two players. “Joy is pushing the other girls, is hitting the ball well, gaining confidence and loving the game. If she keeps at it, we’ll have a pretty good player at the end of the season. Liza has some junior golf experience, good power and will be really good in a couple of weeks with more practice.”

Crawford, not known as a golf powerhouse, gave the Islanders a good match according to Coutts. “The Crawford girls aren’t very experienced, but they have a good attitude, which goes a long way.”

With no matches set for this week, the team will have an intrasquad practice match, with the format based on the recent Ryder Cup event. “We’ll divide into two teams,” Coutts said. “And we’ll go at it on Tuesday. We have to get ready for the league season which starts next week.”

Coronado’s next opponent will be Point Loma when they play at Torrey Pines.

Islander Girls Tennis Falls to Canyon Crest

The CHS Girls Tennis Team played their final non-conference match of the season last week against Canyon Crest and fell 14-4. But, according to CHS Head Coach Rob LeBuhn, “We had some competitive matches.”

Two of the four set victories came from the No. 1 doubles team of Brittany Hites and Jennifer Carney, with single set wins coming from the No. 3 doubles squad of Andrea Sassenrath and Natalie Brooks. No. 2 singles player Spencer Berman won a set to complete the Islanders scoring. Although she didn’t emerge victorious, LeBuhn noted the play of No. 3 singles player Mary Mulvey. “Mary played well in all three sets. She’s learning the ropes of high school tennis.”

Over the weekend, the CHS tennis program including a total of 29 players from the Varsity and JV squads went to Disneyland for a team trip. “It was a lot of fun,” said LeBuhn. “The girls enjoyed it. It was a team bonding experience and a reward for having a hard pre-season.”

This week the going really gets tough, as the Islanders face Co-Western League favorite Cathedral Catholic at home Tuesday and then host University City Thursday.

Quick Chargers Note

It was good to see the San Diego Chargers return to winning form Monday night against the New York Jets with a 48-29 home victory. Defensive back Antonio Cromartie, who was by all accounts including one here, horrible last week, rebounded nicely with two pass interceptions. Quarterback Philip Rivers was given time by his offensive line to pick apart the Jets secondary and the Chargers emerged with a much-needed victory.

Sunday the Chargers travel to Oakland for a 1:05 pm game against the hated Raiders. San Diego needs to keep the momentum going against the seemingly dysfunctional Raider Nation.

Pop Warner Football Scoreboard

Here is a quick rundown of the Coronado Pop Warner Football program’s games from last weekend, starting with the Mitey Mites.

“The Mitey Mites travelled to Scripps Ranch to face the undefeated Falcons on Saturday. Quarterback Adam Weissenfels led the Coronado offense on a long drive on their first possession, which was capped off by a 4-yard touchdown run by fullback Jack Rinko.

In the second quarter the Islander defense put points on the board. After pushing the Falcons deep into their own territory, a pack of defenders led by Quinn Karney and Nathan Tausch stood up the Scripps running back, enabling Weissenfels to strip the ball and run for a touchdown. The first half ended with Coronado leading 13-12.

In the second half the Islander defense stymied Scripps Ranch on every drive. Defensive standouts included Wyatt Zolla and Wyatt Trujillo along with brothers Andy Semo and Nick Semo, who seemed to be involved in every tackle.  Coronado hung on to win 13-12.

The Coronado Pee Wees powerhouse offense dominated the Scripps Ranch defense as the Islanders won 32-0. The Coronado offensive lineup of Robby Weissenfels, Tanner Caldwell, Leland Orr and Jake Baldauf were superb.  On the defensive side of the ball, Ethan Hartley, Joe Hernandez, Jacob DeLeon-Saucedo and Wyatt Wilson all had great games. 

The Coronado Junior Midgets entered Saturday's contest against Scripts Ranch as the underdog.

Despite a multitude of injuries, the Junior Midgets proved that they are a team to be reckoned with.  At the start of the fourth quarter, Mike Snyder was sprung loose by a bone rattling block from teammate Austin O'Brien for a 45-yard touchdown run. Kicker Zack Kozlik followed the touchdown with a 2-point conversion. Fine efforts were turned in by quarterback Aaron Polk, and receivers Kevin Fahey and Randy Kaiser. The final was Scripps Ranch 35, Coronado 8.