Nado Natterings
A weekly column by David Axelson

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

14 Jan 2009 Issue #2

Paced by 12 points and eight rebounds from senior center Angela Strohbeck last Tuesday, the Coronado High School Girls Basketball Team won their first home outing in Central League play this season against Madison by the score of 37-23. The Warhawks were unable to reach double figures in scoring in any of the four quarters of play.

“We played well and collectively we’re starting to do some good things,” said Islander Head Coach Toler Goodwin. “We have to learn to score consistently and work on our rebounding. We’re turning the ball over more than we need to. If we get better with the basketball, we won’t have to carry games into the fourth quarter.”

Despite the seemingly easy victory, Coronado held a scant two point lead at halftime, before putting on a 15-4 run in the third stanza. “We played a solid third quarter,” Goodwin added. “We took care of the ball and didn’t give them any extra opportunities.”

Other scoring contributors in the Madison victory included Maggie Harris with seven points, Natalie Brooks and Peri Curtis with six points each, and the trio of Arrielle Luna, Cory DeMarco and CoCo Abrantes added two points each.

Perhaps as importantly, the Islanders were able to simultaneously win their second Central League tilt Friday night at Crawford and even their overall season record at 5-5. All of that came in their 37-33 victory, which contained some unusual aspects. “We didn’t make a free throw until the last minute of the game,” said Goodwin. “We missed our first eight free throws. Crawford made eight three pointers in the game, and four of the eight banked in. But, we did what we needed to do and finished the game.”

Strohbeck again led the way with 12 points and 12 rebounds, followed by Brooks with 11, Harris with eight, Abrantes supplied four points and Curtis contributed two.

In addition to the consistent effort from leading rebounder and scorer Strohbeck, Goodwin discussed the roles of some of his other players. “We’re seeing good ball handling from Natalie Brooks and we’re seeing development and leadership coming from different people at different times. I was impressed with Maggie Harris, who was more under control Friday night when things got chaotic. She played at an even keel and got us set defensively, with was nice to see.”

The Central League added Point Loma and Kearny to the roster this season, while losing Hoover. Goodwin assessed the conference race after the first week of play. “We’ll have to see how the new teams shake out. Everybody in the league is very similar. We all have very young teams from everything I have seen. Some of the numbers (players in the program) are down. As an example Christian is only running a varsity program this year. Our freshmen have been playing and they have played some decent competition. They had to learn some things early on, but we can play with anybody in our league.”

Tuesday the Islanders play at Francis Parker at 5 pm. Friday night, the Girls play the front end of a varsity doubleheader, hosting Christian at 6 pm.

Boys Basketball Splits Pair in Central League

The CHS Boys Basketball Team opened their Central League season with two road games, the first being a 62-60 victory at Madison in triple overtime. One of the many interesting elements in this contest was that the Islanders trailed the Warhawks by 20 points at halftime, including a 14-0 Madison bust out to start the game.

One of the stars from the Coronado perspective was senior center Krishna Samperio who contributed 16 points and 18 rebounds. Another was freshman guard Danny Hebert who added 17 points and seven rebounds. “Krishna was huge for us,” said Islander Head Coach Ken Caesar. “He got into foul trouble late in the game and didn’t foul out. He really played well. Hebert made some big shots. We have to find ways to get him more involved offensively, catching and facing up. Danny stays around and rebounds. We fought in that game. We weren’t very productive, but we won the game. With our off season conditioning, we were ready for the game. Sometimes you just have to grind it out. Winning that game was huge.”

Other scoring contributors included Justin Hebner with 14, Blake Malkemus with nine points, Josh McNeal with five points and Chris Maskevich with two.

Friday night’s game at Crawford was another matter, as the Colts handled the Islanders 83-49. Perhaps worn out by Tuesday’s triple overtime contest, Coronado committed 30 turnovers and gave up 18 three-pointers. “We just got rattled and everybody was part of it,” said Caesar of his troops. “At halftime I calmed everybody down and told them to just chip away. Crawford had a three-point shot that hit the front of the rim, went up and came down, hit the back of the rim, went up and went in. They just made shots. Crawford is a team that takes a lot of bad shots, but they went in. They boxed us in and got physical with our guards. Crawford won’t be able to do that at our place.”

The Islanders played without post man Justin Parsons in both games, who is out with a sprained ankle. They were led in scoring in the Crawford game by Malkemus with 12 points, followed by Maskevich with nine, while the backcourt of Hebner and Hebert scored eight points each. Bryan Beverly scored four points and Samperio scored two.

The Islanders, now 10-8 on the season, are off until Friday night when they host Christian in the back half of the Girls/Boys doubleheader. Tip-off for the Boys game is set for 7:30 pm.

Girls Soccer Returns to Action with Victory Over San Dieguito

Fellow Division III school San Dieguito supplied the opposition in the CHS Girls Soccer Team’s lone game last week, a 2-0 road win for Coronado. The contest was a non-league game.

“Since they are in our division, the game was important for CIF playoff seeding when it comes around,” said CHS Head Coach Kiko Medina. “I’m hoping it was a breakout game for sophomore Lauren Tobin, who scored both of our goals. San Dieguito never really tested us. Goalie Cory DeMarco (who also plays point guard on the Islander Girls Basketball Team) didn’t have an actual save. We scored two goals in the first 10 minutes. We put them on their heels early and rode them out.”

Assists on the Tobin goals were supplied, in order, by Mallory Mitchell and Kaitlyn Couture. Medina noted the fine play of defender Avery Woodhouse in the victory.

An interesting development occurred in a Western League game played between La Jolla and Cathedral Catholic, where the Vikings defeated perennial soccer power Cathedral 4-1. “Cathedral lost a lot of players from last year,” Medina noted. “They’re in a rebuilding year, but they are still one of the top three teams in Division III. La Jolla had a good game plan.”

This week the Islanders complete the non-conference portion of their schedule with a home game Tuesday night against Chula Vista at 6 pm. Wednesday night at 7 pm they host Otay Ranch. Western League play begins Friday afternoon with a 3 pm game at Christian.

Boys Soccer Wins and Loses in Central League Play

A different scheduling approach faced the Boys Soccer Team, as they inaugurated their Central League schedule with a 1-0 loss at Clairemont. “It’s tough to play at Clairemont,” Islander Head Coach Brian Hiatt-Aleu noted. “We didn’t do ourselves any favors there. We made a key mistake and that basically cost us the game. We never finished the opportunities we had. The other team had eight saves. We’re just not finishing.”

One of the many good things about prep sports is that there is almost always another game just around the corner, and this one was a 4-1 victory at Christian. Islander scores were turned in by Connor Marcone, Gerardo Llanos, Peter Kittiaysawadi and Eduardo Sacal. Goaltender Sergio Duck was credited with the victory in goal.

When asked who played well during the week, Hiatt-Aleu mentioned three players in particular. “Kittiaysawadi played very well and was very consistent. Defender Sergio Flores played really well in both games. And Ruben Perez-Burton one of our other defenders played well. We really held Clairemont to minimal scoring opportunities. We only used two or three subs due to injuries and sickness. Hopefully they’ll get better because we have two tough games this week.”

The contests on the docket this week include a home game against Montgomery Monday night and a game at Crawford Thursday at 3 pm.

Islander Girls Water Polo Has Busy Schedule

Although they didn’t officially hit the water to compete last week, the CHS Girls Water Polo Team makes up for that oversight with a busy schedule this week. Wednesday they host archrival The Bishop’s School at 3 pm for the first of what will probably be three games this season. Thursday Coronado travels to La Jolla for a 3 pm game. Both of these contests are Western League games.

Friday the team begins participation in the Santa Barbara Tournament, which is one of the best events in the nation each year. Coronado will continue play at Santa Barbara through Saturday.

CHS Sailing Team Participates in Rose Bowl Regatta

CHS Sailing Team Head Coach Jon Rogers provides an update on his team’s recent competition schedule. “We had the privilege of competing at the Rose Bowl Regatta, January 3-4, hosted by the Alamitos Bay Yacht Club and the Olympic Sailing Center in Long Beach. This event is unique to high school competition in that college teams are competing on the same race course.

It was a great opportunity to watch the best college sailors in the country, plus it gives us the chance to meet the competitors and their coaches.

Sailing in the Gold ‘A’ Division for Coronado was the team of Philip Lozier and CC Childers. The Gold B squad was Team Captain Alex Wood and Katie Dowling. The Junior Varsity A team was comprised of Sally Harris, Alexa Cavalieri and Jenny Melnick. Junior Varsity B consisted of the pairing of Kaitlin Dunphey and Karisa Chapa.

The team has three more regattas for the season, the ‘Cardinal’ hosted by the Stanford Sailing Center, the ‘Gaucho’ hosted by the Santa Barbara Yacht Club and the PCC’s hosted by the Mission Bay Yacht Club. If all goes as planned, the team will qualify for the Nationals in May to be hosted by the St. Petersburg (Fla.) Yacht Club.”

Coronado Middle School Golf Update

Randy Coutts, who along with Hanna Cohan are the CHS Girls Varsity golf coaches and are now running the Coronado Middle School Golf program, called recently with news about the First Annual (yes, I know that is a contradiction of terms) Middle School Golf Tournament. The event was played January 7^th at the Admiral Baker South Course and par for that portion of the course was 37.

Finishing in first place among the 13 entrants was seventh grader Cara Barker, who shot a 41. In other words, Barker as a seventh grader, was a scant four shots over par. Tied for second place were twins Jordan Summers and Cole Summers, who both shot rounds of 44. The first eighth grader was Jordan Oval, who shot a fine round of 52.

“A great time was had by all,” said Coutts. “It was better golf than we expected and all of the kids shot really well. More than half of the kids broke 60. The future is bright for all of them.”

CHS Girls Soccer Fundraiser Slated for Feb. 6

The Second Annual (Now, that’s more grammatically correct) CHS Girls Soccer Golf Tournament fundraiser is scheduled for Friday, February 6^th, and will have a 12 noon shotgun start. The tournament will be played at the Sea N Air Golf Course at NAS North Island.

Fees are $100 per player or $400 per team. The tournament fee includes greens fees, golf cart, box lunch and a drink ticket. The registration deadline is Jan. 23^rd. For more information please go to islandergirlsoccer.com.

Author Westlake Will Be Missed

Aside from watching sports, my favorite avocation is reading. One of my favorite authors Donald E. Westlake passed away last week at the age of 75.

Westlake was a Grand Master of the mystery genre and is best known for writing comic mysteries. Over the weekend I read “God Save the Mark,” written in 1967, which earned Westlake the Edgar Allan Poe Award as the best novel of that year.

One of my Top 10 favorite books, regardless of subject matter, was his 1990 novel “Drowned Hopes.” The book featured the fictional character of John Dortmunder, a criminal mastermind, who could never quite get his nefarious and overly complicated plans to work. It takes a quick and facile mind to come up with the plot points that Westlake sprinkled throughout his frequent works.

“God Save the Mark” would be a good 200-page intro to the Westlake’s style, while “Drowned Hopes” a more accomplished work, weighs in at twice that length. Give the master a try next time you visit a bookseller near you.

Quote of the Week

From noted scholar and former Dallas Cowboys defensive back Adam ‘Pacman’ Jones, comes this nugget after he was released by his former team last week. “Now it’s time to love me some me.” Where do you start in an attempt to analyze that pearl of wisdom?

Chargers Fall to Steelers in AFC Semi-Finals

Last week in this space, Your Natterer went out on a limb and predicted a Steelers’ victory over the Chargers in their American Football Conference semi-final game Sunday. Unfortunately your scribe was correct in his prediction.

Specifically, the prognostication included the following, “…The Steelers have the defensive personnel to stop (running back) Darren Sproles and force Charger quarterback Philip Rivers and his receiving corps to attempt to beat them with the passing game… For the Chargers to win they have to have no turnovers from Rivers and they must put constant pressure on Pittsburgh quarterback Ben Roethlisberger… Making it four wins in a row (playoff wins, including the must win vs. Denver), with Tomlinson hurt, is too tall an order for the Chargers.”

Honesty compels me to report that I thought the game would be a low scoring affair, as opposed to the 35-24 final score from snowy Pittsburgh.  After the Steelers nearly eight minute scoring drive to open the second half, the Chargers were realistically never in it.

The Chargers this year were a second-tier team, meaning they should be ranked somewhere in the No. 5-12 range among the 32-team NFL. Good enough to make the playoffs, but not with nearly enough talent to win it all. In fact Peter King, NFL senior writer for “Sports Illustrated” picked his 28-man All-Pro Team and nary one Charger was included. Even the lowly 5-11 Oakland Raiders placed three players on Kings list.

In truth six Chargers, if not injured, or if the team had put forth a better showing, would merit All Pro consideration. Tight end Antonio Gates, tailback LaDainian Tomlinson and defensive nose tackle Jamal Williams were all hurt or in the process of recovery for most of the season. Linebacker Shawne Merriman made a cameo appearance at the outset of the current campaign before having his knee essentially rebuilt. Punter Mike Scifres, who had a great season, deserves an All Pro nod eventually. Quarterback Philip Rivers had an outstanding season, but his continuous chatter to the opposing team, the media, fans nearby, or anyone else for that matter, makes him a guy people love to vote against when the post season ballots come around.

In Sunday’s game against the Steelers, Sproles was asked to be Tomlinson, an assignment for the 5-6 and 180 pound speed burner that he simply couldn’t accomplish. Get Sproles into space with a step on a linebacker, or a full head of speed on a kickoff return, and that’s another matter. Make him pound it inside on the Steelers defensive line, and he has no chance.

It’s going to be an interesting off season for the Chargers. They have many gaps to fill and decisions to make. The offensive line, as presently constituted, isn’t capable of establishing the dominant running game needed for playoff success. The defensive secondary is soft and mistake prone. Special teams and the passing game skill positions seem to be in good shape, but the bottom line is that the Chargers are a finesse team. In the NFL, eventually power will dominate finesse in the playoffs.

In summary, Pittsburgh Steelers personnel said all week before the game, “We’re going to run the ball against San Diego.” Then they did 39 times for a total of 169 yards. No trash talking. No gimmicks. Just here we come, try to stop us. Until the Chargers can attain that level, stop the run on defense and control the ball with their own running game on offense, the Super Bowl is out of reach.