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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
31 Dec 2008 Issue #50
The
championship final of the Islander Boys Holiday Basketball Tournament featured
At
the end of the third quarter,
Islander
sophomore Justin Hebner had his best game of the season, scoring 21
points and along with backcourt mate freshman Danny Hebert (six points),
bore the brunt of the ball handling responsibilities against the seemingly
relentless Oceanside pressure defense. The Coronado front line of Justin
Parsons (12 points), Krishna Samperio (six points) and their
collective replacement Chris Maskevich (two points and five rebounds),
battled the Pirate front line all night for rebounds and more than held their
own. Blake Malkemus played a fine defensive game and contribute four
points.
As
occasionally happens with big players in a confined space, and a physical game,
there was a brief temper flare-up near the game’s end, which was quickly
handled by the game officials.
Another
way to look at the game would be that if you are the head coach of another
Central League team, a grouping that includes Christian, Clairemont, Crawford,
Kearny, Madison and Point Loma, when you read the box score in the morning
paper, you’re not happy seeing that Coronado played Oceanside that close.
Central League play starts Tuesday, January 6. The Islanders now have a record
of 9-7 on the season.
Overall
the Holiday Tournament featured eight varsity teams and eight junior varsity
squads and a total of 33 games were played.
Friday
night’s evening session found the Islanders hosting a tired team from
Saturday’s
first game for Coronado was a 79-27 convincing defeat of Lutheran High School,
a program that has been competitive in recent years, but were outmanned in this
year’s tourney. Coronado’s front line lead the scoring against the shorter
Knights, with Parsons totaling 17 points, Malkemus 15, and Samperio and
Maskevich each adding nine points.
Prior
to Monday night’s championship final against Oceanside, the next most
competitive game for Coronado was the Islanders 73-60 victory over San Ysidro.
Quick, but extremely short as a squad, the Cougars tried to defeat Coronado
with long jump shots and three-pointers, which for the most part didn’t fall.
In
this game it was Samperio’s turn to dominate the opposition and the 6-6 post
player went for 20 points, most of them on offensive rebounds and subsequent
follow shots. Hebner scored 14 from the guard position, while Parsons added 13
points and both Brian Allen and Chris Maskevich added nine points each. Danny
Hebert, who spent much of the night passing to the Islander big men inside, had
four points and seven assists.
In
summary the tournament, which serves as the major fund raiser for the Boys
Basketball program, accomplished its task, which was to let the Islanders play
some competitive games which will prepare them for Central League play.
Honors and Awards
Last
week we mentioned that several Coronado High School athletes had been honored
by the San Diego Sports Hall of Fame in the sports of water polo with Justin
Parsons and Alex Johnson being honored as All CIF First Team
members. In football Blake Malkemus and Keith Englehart received
Second Team All CIF honors.
The
San Diego Sports Hall of Fame voting is conducted separately from the All-CIF
teams “The San Diego Union-Tribune” compiles. Some of the honorees are the
same, but some are quite different. In the Union-Tribune’s football list,
Coronado quarterback Mason Mills was named to the Second Team All-CIF
Defensive Team as a utility player. Your Natterer witnessed nine of the
11 games Coronado played this season, and I don’t believe that Mills
participated in for a single snap on defense. But the honor is well-deserved
and recognizes his fine season and the fact that he helped lead his team to a
fine 9-3 mark and a slot in the CIF Division IV Semi-finals.
Parsons
and Johnson reprised their roles from the San Diego Sports Hall of Fame team on
the Union-Tribune’s First Team in water polo and were also named to the
All-Western League First Team. Rex Butler and Tommy Schofer were
named to the All-Western League Second Team. Parsons was also named Western
League and Division II Player of the Year.
In
Cross Country, Sallie Privett, Annie Lovering, Sadie Gimber, and
Nicole Davies earned First Team All-Central League slots. On the Boys side,
David Grimes earned First Team All Central League honors as well. In
Girls Golf, Jackie Davis and Joy Jamison earned positions on the
Western League Second team.
For
the first time in several years, the City Conference football coaches, which
represent schools from the Eastern, Western and Central Leagues, combined to
select an All-Conference Team. Earning First Team All Western League honors
were Mills, Malkemus, kicker Christian Herrera, Englehart and Brad
Hughes. Congratulations to all of the athletes who were honored from the
fall sports season.
Islander Baseball Alumni Game a Success
Off
and on for the past few weeks, we have made mention of the CHS Alumni
Baseball game that was played last week. According to Head Coach Sam Ceci,
there were 25-30 alumni on hand to participate in the game and another 50 fans
in the stands to watch the proceedings.
“The
day worked out real well and everyone had a good time,” said Ceci. “We had
about twice as many alumni players than we had varsity kids. The high school
team won 4-1 and (returning staff ace) Bryan Crabb was pitching. Morgan
Cummins (CHS ’03) got a double off Crabb, but he was the only one who hit
the ball hard. Tom Kelleher (CHS ’74) got a hit and scored.”
Ceci,
who was a member of three NCAA title teams at USC, got to face one of his
former Islander pitchers Joe Woerman, who played AA and AAA ball for the
Seattle Mariners in 2008. “Joe was throwing at a whole different speed than
I’ve seen in a while,” Ceci laughed. “He was probably in the mid-80’s and when
he has it cranked up, he’s in the upper 80’s or low 90’s.”
Talk
of ‘What might have been,” was furiously circulating around the Islander
Basketball Tournament following the event, as players Ed Shanholtz (CHS
’81) and John Coolidge (CHS ’75) were conjecturing that a hit here and
bloop single there might have made the result different. Unless the Alumni pool
their financial resources and buy out Woerman’s contract with the Seattle
Mariners organization, the result is likely to be the same in 2009. Coolidge
was quick to point out, and Shanholtz confirmed, the he stole a base in the
Alumni game.
“It
was a fun day,” said Ceci in summary. “It was fun to see everybody roam around
out there. We had a good time too.”
But
the true star of the show may have been Islander Field itself, which has been
over-seeded, top-dressed and generally spiffed up since the end of last season.
A new addition is the field is a gently used scoreboard, which was formerly
located at USC’s Dedeaux Field and now adds to the overall ambiance of Islander
Field.
Ceci
credited the current Baseball Booster Club President Scott Meloche and
Immediate Past President Rick Fink for their time and effort in
preparing the field. “The field looks fabulous for this time of year and I have
to give accolades to Scott and Rick for their work. We have the grass in real
good shape. Next week we’re bringing in 30 tons of soil for the dirt part of
the infield. We’re going to laser-level the dirt, which we haven’t done in
about 10 years. The infield dirt develops high and low spots over time and it
needs some work. I remember when I played at USC, this field is 10 times
better. After we laser-level the dirt that will make our facility first rate.
We are constantly raising money and that goes back into the field.”
On
a related baseball note, local residents including Ceci, Shanholtz, Coolidge
and Mark McNary recently won the 38 and Over ‘A’ Division championship
of the San Diego Adult Baseball League as members of the Coronado Baysox. “It
was a fun team to hook up with,” Ceci said. “They already had a full team and I
was an add-on. I can still hang with the younger guys, but I pay more of a
price (physically) than they do for a couple of days after the games.”
Chargers Blitz the Broncos to Earn AFC
Playoff Spot
While
watching the San Diego Chargers dismantle the Denver Broncos Sunday
evening, by the score of 52-21, my recurring thought was, ‘So where was this
effort for the first 12 games of the season?’ For the record the Chargers became
the first team in NFL history to start the season 4-8 and make the Playoffs.
They also became only the second team ever (Cleveland Browns 1985) to win a
divisional race with an 8-8 record. In short, the Chargers were extremely
fortunate.
Although
the Chargers ramped up their game at season’s end, a great deal of ‘credit’
should be given to the Denver Broncos who neatly folded their tents in early
December. The Broncos were a sub-par defensive team all season, and their lack
of effectiveness against the Chargers offense Sunday was startlingly poor.
Don’t expect the same lack of effort from
Good
friend Lee Pontes asked me Monday night at the
The
Vegas line at this writing favors the Colts by a point and a half. If