Nado Natterings Back to Islandersports
A weekly column by David Axelson

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

12 Nov 2008 Issue No. 43

Until now, CHS Senior Blake Malkemus has best been known as a versatile athlete, the last of a dying breed that plays three sports at the varsity level. His sports are football, basketball and baseball, and he plays all three in an aggressive, physical and intelligent manner.

During the 2008 football season, Malkemus has been the favorite target of CHS quarterback Mason Mills for a few very good reasons. Numbers one and two would be, he runs good routes and separates himself easily and repeatedly from his defenders. The most important of the reasons would be that he doesn’t drop passes. He just doesn’t. If the ball is thrown near Malkemus, he catches it, end of story.

Examples of his receiving prowess were on display in Coronado’s 30-6 Central League road victory over the Clairemont Chieftains Saturday afternoon. The 6-foot, 180-pound Malkemus was on the receiving end of 11 Mills passes, good for 71 net yards and one touchdown. Think of Malkemus as the Islanders’ primary receiving option in their version of the West Coast, ball control offense. 

Malkemus, who is called ‘Magic’ by his teammates and members of the coaching staff, added a new dimension to his game Saturday and that was on the defensive side of the ball. On the field primarily as a backup due to injuries to teammates, Malkemus intercepted a pass from his corner/safety slot, corralling the ball as he fell out of bounds, mindful of getting one foot down in bounds to make the interception legal. Simply stated, good players make big plays.

But the effort that will be remembered, occurred with six minutes remaining in the game, when Clairemont intercepted a Coronado pass and Malkemus delivered the hit of the day in a physical, tough game. On the return after the interception, the Chieftains forgot to account for Malkemus, who legally nailed the Clairemont player with a crushing tackle. Murmurs of appreciation went through both the Coronado sideline and the visitor’s stands. It may stand up as the Coronado hit of the year, delivered by a player who earned his reputation as a somewhat faster than normal tight end.

Not surprisingly, Islander Head Football Coach Bud Mayfield named Malkemus the Player of the Game. “We had a lot of guys nicked up,” said Mayfield of his club. “We were scrambling there a little bit. Malkemus can play safety, corner and a little outside linebacker.” After noting the fine play Malkemus made on his pass interception, Mayfield added with a chuckle, “They threw to the wrong guy there.”

In the larger picture, Coronado improved their record to 7-2, handily defeating a 5-4 team in Clairemont, which is still in the mix for a CIF Playoff slot. Mayfield especially liked what he saw from his defensive unit. “We’ve been asking them for weeks to stand up and these last two games they have done very well. We shut down Clairemont’s offense. We had outstanding defensive play from Brad Hughes, Bryan Crabb and Todd Kelleher.”

Over on the offensive side, Mills had a nice outing, completing 20 of his 30 pass attempts, for 177 yards and one touchdown. On the ground, Mills ran for touchdowns of four yards, six yards and a quarterback keeper for one yard, the final Coronado tally in the game.

Running back Chris Page had a nice game, carrying the ball 12 times for 122 yards. Including in total yardage were runs of 34, 34, 17 and 15 yards. “Page had a nice game on offense,” Mayfield said. “For weeks we’ve tried to get the running game going. We’ve got a lot of good parts to our game right now. The defense is getting after it, we have good passing and kicking games and the running game is starting to come around.”

The Division IV CIF Playoff picture seems to adjust weekly, according to Mayfield. “Valley Center should be seeded No. 1 and Madison will likely be No. 2. The Madison quarterback is out for the year with ligament damage to his hand and they are a really different team without him. Then they become a good tailback team like any other. Coronado should be seeded 3-4-5. Four of us, Mission Bay, La Jolla, Santa Fe Christian and Coronado are all about even and I understand that. If we are seeded in the 3-4 slot we will get a home game. We want to see Madison again in the second round. That’s what we want. Hopefully we won’t get beat up again Friday. Having all of the guys ready for the playoffs is an important factor.”

This Friday at 7:30 pm, Coronado hosts Morse High School in the Islanders Homecoming game which is also their last regular season game. The first round of the CIF Division IV playoffs will be held Friday, Nov. 28^th. Since eight teams qualify for the post season in Division IV, the playoffs start with the quarter-final round.

Islander Boys Water Polo Finishes Regular Season 21-6

As opposed to the CHS Football Team’s first playoff game, which is more than two weeks away, the Islander Boys Water Polo Team wades into the CIF Division II Playoffs Wednesday. The only problem as we go to press Monday is that Coronado’s opponent, seed, site and Wednesday game time aren’t known.

What is known is that the Islanders swam their way to a fine regular season record of 21-6, a schedule that included some of the best competition in the state of California. CHS Head Coach Randy Burgess can make a compelling argument that the Islanders should receive the No. 1 seed over arch-rival Bishop’s, a discussion that includes a stronger strength of schedule for Coronado and the fact that the Islanders defeated the Knights in their last head-to-head meeting after losing their first encounter.

Last week Coronado tuned up for the playoffs, wherever and whenever they are, by defeating Cathedral Catholic 9-6 Wednesday on the road. “We came out pretty strong early,” said Burgess. “We played a little more conservatively early than I would have liked. Rex Butler, who has been sick since our NorCal trip, had three goals. Alex Johnson and Paul Pedrotty scoring twice each, while Adam Ratcliffe and Tommy Schofer had one goal apiece. Goalie Justin Parsons had eight saves and Andrew Ireland had three assists. Schofer had a nice game defensively with three of the team’s five steals.”

The ‘road trip’ theme continued for Coronado on to Friday, when the Islanders traveled to play Foothill of Tustin. Coronado avenged a 9-6 loss in the SoCal Invitational to Foothill, prevailing 7-4 in their regular season finale. “We caught Foothill on a down note,” Burgess explained. “Two days before they defeated El Toro in overtime, who had been Number 1 (in the county). Our guys played a pretty focused game. All of the starters except Johnson scored, but he still had what I consider a pretty nice game, drawing four exclusions. Schofer scored twice and Ireland, Pedrotty, Butler, Ratcliffe and David Rodriguez, who played a good amount, had the other goal.”

Coronado’s other male three-sport star Parsons (water polo, basketball and baseball) drew praise from Burgess. “Justin really stifled Foothill defensively. Four or five of his 10 saves came in the first quarter alone. He had some really nice saves in the opening few minutes. We came out and looked fantastic. Hopefully we’re hitting our taper and our peak at the right time.”

Burgess is approaching a coaching milestone, just two victories short of 600 for his career. “I’d like to go over 600 this year, because it would mean that we are advancing in the playoffs,” Burgess said. “One we reach the semi-finals, it’s a toss-up, with Bishop’s, Coronado, La Jolla and Cathedral. Santana and Valhalla could be in the mix. The playoffs should be very competitive. It’s been a great season and now we get to see what these guys can do.”

CHS and CMS Girls Cross Country Teams Win League Titles

Head CHS Cross Country Coach George Green covers all levels of cross country in his weekly update. “We knew the CHS Girls' Cross Country Team would win the Central League Championship after our first meet on October 8^th with our main rival Clairemont, but last week it became official with our 15-50 win over Crawford. There was no drama as the girls went through the motions of running the race before running the Morley Field hills to get in more work in preparation for the CIF Finals coming up on November 22. 

Most of the Varsity Boys Cross Country Team skipped the race completely to get in some quality training, leaving the others to contend with the Colts. David Grimes ran a hill workout then paced Aryan Shay and William Funk to personal best times of 18:50 and 18:53 respectively over the tough City Conference 3-mile course. Grimes was content to finish third, followed by Nick Robles, Chase Dalton and Luke McCue, all of whom were also pulled to their own personal best times.  This Wednesday we have the Central League Individual championships, then the CIF Finals on Nov. 22 for the varsity runners only, with the top seven on each squad competing.

The Coronado Middle School Cross Country season finished up last Thursday with the South Coast Middle School League Championships. Coronado sixth grader Irlanda Goulding led the Pelican girls to their seventh straight league win with a time of 9:33 over the 1.5-mile Route 56 Bike Path course hosted by the San Diego Jewish Academy. The top girl finishers, Goulding, Ashley Engelman, Taylor Ramos, Sierra Smith, Hope Newman, Bridgette Ginnane, Kristen Beck and Katie Shephard dominated every race in the seven-meet, 10-school series.

Led by Jason Vance, the CMS Boys' Cross Country Team placed second to La Jolla Country Day. In addition to Vance, Jake Christenson, Robbie Hemp, Casey Engleman, Josh Blore, Daren Owen, Chris Leary, Kingston Delaurentis, Michael Rodriguez, Bret Boatwright and Jeff Sourbeer were the key runners for the boys this season. Full results for both high school and middle school cross are available on Islandertrack.com.”

Girls Golf Advances Two Islanders to CIF Playoffs

Last week we noted that the Islander Girls Golf Team would compete in the two-day City Conference match. Well, not so fast, as Day 1 of the competition, which was to have been played at Balboa Golf Club was rained out. Rain? “The holes were filled with water,” said Islander Coach Randy Coutts. “There was a downpour at Balboa.”

So the two-day affair was cut in half and the players adjourned to Cottonwood the following day, where they played the new course, complete with sanded greens. “The girls competed,” said Coutts of the team. “Jackie Davis and Joy Jamison made Second Team All-City Conference. Joy was five strokes under her average. Ashley Mendham shot a 98 and Hillary Gibbs shot a 101. Everybody played to their scoring average, or better. Some of the girls had really good scores.”

In the somewhat arcane world of post season golf, a total of 15 teams made the CIF Playoffs, with Point Loma winding up in 16^th place and Coronado in 17^th. However, due to their season-long low scoring averages, Davis and fellow senior Mackenzie Coutts qualified as individuals and will play this week in the two-day CIF event at Warner Springs.

Girls Volleyball

Due to the uneven number of teams that comprise the Eastern League, the Islanders had one lone match last week, losing in three games at home to the Academy of Our Lady of Peace. “Both teams played their hearts out,” said Islander Head Coach Christina Lahr. “The Coronado seniors and everyone else left it all out on the floor.”

The loss left Coronado 7-5 in the Eastern League, good enough for third place behind undefeated Patrick Henry and second place OLP. So armed with the final regular season results, the CIF cranked out the pairings for the Division IV playoffs, which find No. 11 Coronado traveling to No. 6 Escondido Charter for their first round game. The match will be played Wednesday, Nov. 12 at 7 pm.

“Escondido Charter plays in the Frontier League,” Lahr explained. “The league isn’t incredibly strong, but they were 12-0 in the league. Other teams in the league include Tri-City Christian and Calvin Christian who have solid programs. I’m not sure what we are in for Wednesday. We’ll go in as prepared as we can be and see what happens.”

The top four seeds in the divisional playoffs were: No. 1 Santa Fe Christian, No. 2 Bishop’s, No. 3 Francis Parker and No. 4 La Jolla Country Day. If the Islanders are able to hold off Escondido Charter, their likely second round opponent will be Parker.

Volleyball Club Tryouts Announced

While we’re on the general subject of volleyball, tryouts for the Allen Allen Volleyball Club will be held Sunday, Nov. 30^th at Coronado High School. Girls 12 and under will have their tryouts from 11 am to 12:30 pm. Girls 13 and older will go from 1-3 pm. There is a fee associated with the tryout and then to participate in the club.

The program’s mission is to provide a club volleyball program for young girls where they can learn the fundamentals and complex skills of volleyball, in a fun and competitive learning environment. This year there will be three 12 and under teams, two 14 and under teams, and one 16’s team.

For further information, please contact club Director Allen Allen at allen2x@hotmail.com or Assistant Club Director Leilani Au Hoon at hulaomanini@hotmail.com or visit the club’s website at allenallenvolleyball.com.

Girls Tennis Advances to Western League Play

If you think the Girls Golf playoffs are confusing, try the Girls (and Boys for that matter in the spring) Tennis Playoffs. CIF Team play is held first, followed by conference tournaments throughout the county, then the CIF Individual Play events are conducted in both singles and doubles.

The Islander Girls squad didn’t make the draw into the CIF Team event, but virtually everyone that has held a racket in anger for Coronado this season will play in the Western League Tournament, which will be held at Morley Field. The event starts Wednesday at noon.

According to Head Coach Rob LeBuhn, the Coronado entry into the Western League Tournament that is drawing the most praise from other coaches, is the Islander doubles entry of Spencer Berman and Jennifer Carney, who drew the No. 8 seed out of 32 doubles entries. “I thought they would be seeded somewhere between No. 5 and No. 8,” said LeBuhn. I’m very proud of them.”

CHS Alumni Baseball Game Dec. 27

A quick reminder that Islander Head Baseball Coach Sam Ceci recently announced that the CHS Alumni Baseball Game will be held Saturday, December 27^th at 11 am. “It’s an opportunity for us to show off the improvements we have made to the field and our new scoreboard,” said Ceci. “In the past we have had as many as 30 players and as few as 12, but the more the merrier. If we have enough players, we’ll have two alumni teams play each other.”

The event format, which is pretty loose and designed for fun, starts with batting practice at 10 am. In theory the alumni play the current CHS varsity roster, although that can change without warning. “It’s really casual and we have a good time,” Ceci added. Afterwards hot dogs and hamburgers are served to the participants.

To participate, please contact Coach Ceci at 435-0854. Donations to the program are of course gratefully accepted.

CMS Sports Registration Wednesday, Nov. 12th

Wednesday, Nov. 12^th is the date for registration for the Winter Season of CMS sports. The sign-ups  will be held at 6:30 pm at Granzier Hall on the Coronado Middle School campus.

Sports provided during the winter include Boys Soccer, Girls Soccer, Boys Basketball, Co-Ed Golf and Softball. There is a $110 per child fee to participate in CMS sports. A child may only participate in one sport per season. Please note that proof of a current athletic physical must be provided before a child can attend tryouts or participate.

For more information, please visit IslanderSportsFoundation.com and follow the Pelican/CMS Sports links.

Stray Chargers Thoughts

While watching the San Diego Chargers 20-19 victory over the Kansas City Chiefs Sunday, the thought came to mind that on that day, the only two teams in the National Football League that the Chargers could beat were the Chiefs with one win and the Detroit Lions, who are on pace to never win another game. Fortunately for San Diego, the Chiefs were providing the opposition.

From the realm of full disclosure, it should be pointed out that Your Natterer used to be a runner on the Chiefs stats crew and I grew up in Kansas City. So, there is a soft spot for the Chiefs still in here somewhere. But the Chargers AFC West opponent has fallen on hard times during the past couple of seasons and if the Chargers are legitimate playoff contenders, they should have blown the Chiefs off the field.

Well, they didn’t. The Chiefs are probably better than their current 1-8 record would indicate, but the Chargers are barely above average, as indicated by their 4-5 mark.

The Chargers seem to me to be comprised of a handful of All-Pro players in quarterback Philip Rivers, running back LaDainian Tomlinson, tight end Antonio Gates, punter Mike Scifres and nose tackle Jamal Williams. Rivers and Scifres are having ‘career’ years, while Tomlinson, Gates and Williams are just now emerging from early season injuries. Linebacker Shawne Merriman, when healthy, deserves to be included in the All-Pro category.

The rest of the squad comes and goes and have not distinguished itself on a consistent basis. The defensive unit can’t mount a consistent pass rush, the offensive line cannot advance the running game and generally it’s a tough team to watch and get excited about. Apparently thousands of San Diego fans agree, as they lustily booed the hometown team throughout the game.

All the Chargers did this week was hold serve in their quest for the playoffs. In large part because the division leading Denver Broncos are so poor and banged up physically, much like the Chiefs, the Chargers are still in the AFC race. The Chargers desperately need to step up their collective game over the next three weeks at Pittsburgh and then at home against Indianapolis and Atlanta. If they don’t, three weeks from now the playoff discussion may not include San Diego as a viable option.