Nado Natterings
A weekly column by David Axelson

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

18 Feb 2009 Issue #7

‘Nado Natterings’ leaps to life normally on Monday mornings and as the paper is rolled proverbially into the typewriter this day, Your Natterer finds himself wondering why NASCAR drivers refer to their vehicles as ‘The 44 Car’ or whatever number they have emblazoned on their drivers’ side door in three foot high graphics. On another note, watching a driving rain storm while listening to a Miles Davis CD appears to be a counterproductive combination for writing a prep sports column.

But I digress.

The 2008-09 winter sports season is drawing to a conclusion, with the CHS Girls Water Polo Team playing their first playoff game Wednesday. The other four teams, Boys and Girls Soccer, plus Boys and Girls Basketball all conclude their regular season festivities this week. The five teams are there or thereabouts in the chase for their respective league titles.

Islander Girls Basketball Resides Atop Central League

The CHS Girls Basketball squad had a bye in their normal Tuesday game slot last week and carried over their day off into the first half of Friday night’s home game with Clairemont. The effort was there, it was just that the scoreboard didn’t flicker very often. As proof of that concept, the Islanders and the Chieftains were locked in a 9-9 tie at the half.

The Islanders lone Central League loss this season was on the road at Clairemont, so the unexpressed thought through the first half was ‘Can this really be happening again?’ My educated guess would be that Coronado Head Coach Toler Goodwin raised that issue as he addressed his club at halftime.

A couple of notable stats from the first half included the Islanders being 3-16 from the field to go along with 15 turnovers. “We let them stick around for the entire first half,” said Goodwin. “Clairemont had a little confidence anyway, since they beat us the last game. I went back and watched Friday’s game film and we took a lot of bad shots and tried to play too fast. Some of the things we did weren’t too bad.”

The second half was another matter as the Islanders won the third quarter 17-11 and the fourth frame 8-1 on their way to a 34-21 victory. Angela Strohbeck had another strong double-double outing with 16 points and 16 rebounds. “She’s a good shooter,” said Goodwin of his senior center. “We slid her out to the wing a couple of times to give her some different looks at the basket.”

Also helping lead Coronado’s second half charge was Maggie Harris with six assists and three points. Peri Curtis had 11 points and six rebounds in the game; Cory De Marco added four points and five steals; and Alex Evans had four steals. “Alex is playing well,” Goodwin said, complimenting the freshman guard. “And Cory did a nice job,” complimenting one of his other freshmen, along with Curtis. 

Shooting in the second half picked up to 10-20 from the field, which is good at any level. The bad news is that the Islanders left a lot of possible points unconverted, shooting 7-19 from the free throw line for the game.

The Islanders have two regular season games remaining, a Tuesday tilt at Point Loma which features a 3 pm tip-off. Friday Coronado travels to Kearney for a 6 pm game. Coronado (13-7) finds themselves in an enviable position. “Basically, if we win the two games, we win the league,” said Goodwin. “If we win league we are guaranteed to get a home playoff game. We’ll probably be seeded in the seven or eight (out of 12 teams) range. Dumping that game to Parker earlier in the season may keep us out of the No. 6 spot. The kids believe they can do it. Now we just have to go out and execute.”

Boys Basketball Tops Clairemont 59-36

Both ends of Friday night’s Girls and Boys basketball doubleheader featuring Coronado and Clairemont were eerily similar, but both games resulted in Coronado victories. The CHS Boys Basketball Team (16-10 overall) struggled to a 19-13 halftime lead, but found their collective game in time to pull away from the Chieftains (1-22) in the second half to grind out a 59-36 Central League victory. In your scribe’s opinion, Clairemont is a far better team than their record would indicate.

“They cut the game in half by running their offense for 30 seconds (with a 35 second shot clock in effect for boys’ basketball),” Islander Head Coach Ken Caesar said. “They don’t play with a sense of urgency and that’s a trap. We beat them by 23 points and I was kind of shocked.”

Leading the way for Coronado was guard Justin Hebner who scored a game-high 19 points and was the only Islander in double figures for scoring. Krishna Samperio added eight points and nine rebounds, while Justin Parsons scored nine points and contributed eight rebounds. “Those were the guys who carried us,” said Caesar.

Danny Hebert, Blake Malkemus, Chris Maskevich, Bryan Beverly, Hunter Ralph (senior) and Harley Ralph (freshman) all had either four or three points to add to the offensive effort.

Kearney has already captured the Central League title for 2008-09, but with wins at home Tuesday against Point Loma (5 pm tip-off) and a road game victory at Kearney Friday (7:30 pm tip), the Islanders can clinch second place in the league. “We’ve got to get this game with Point Loma,” Caesar said. “I would really like to get a home playoff game.”

Girls Water Polo Begins Playoffs Wednesday

The CHS Girls Water Polo Team (19-9), which earned the No. 1 seed in Division II, will host No. 16 seed Serra (9-19) Wednesday night at the Brian Bent Memorial Aquatics Complex at 6 pm in their first game of the 2009 CIF Playoffs.  

Coronado earned the top seed at least in part due to a strong finish to the San Diego portion of home their schedule, which included a 14-3 victory over Cathedral Catholic last week, The Islanders final regular season game was a 6-3 loss to Foothill in a game played in Orange County. Hillary Estrada scored twice for Coronado and Kathryn Bailey scored the other Islander goal.

Never far from the minds of Coronado fans is the fate of Bishop’s (23-5) which earned the No. 2 seed. The teams split their two games played to date, each winning in the other’s home pool. Bishop’s will play Ramona in their first round game. Other top seeds include No. 3 La Jolla and No. 4 Cathedral Catholic. None of the teams are strangers, as all four of the top seeds compete in the Western League.

 “We’re excited to be in the playoffs,” said Head Coach Dave Throop. “And we’re looking forward to the week ahead.”

CHS Girls Soccer In Position for Western League Crown

Riding the No. 6 county-wide ranking in the “San Diego Union-Tribune’s” Coaches Poll, the CHS Girls Soccer Team has a rare opportunity Wednesday night in their home game against University City. If they defeat the Centurions, they win the Western League title outright. Although the team has won CIF titles in recent years, the Western League crown has never been worn by the Islanders. The game kicks off at 6 pm.

To put themselves in contention for the title, the Islanders put together a successful week, which included a 1-1 tie at Cathedral, followed by a 2-1 win over La Jolla. Also last week, needed help arrived from Wednesday night’s opponent University City, when they tied La Jolla 2-2 setting up the potential title game.

According to CHS Head Coach Kiko Medina, Monday’s game at Cathedral Catholic had an unusual component. “The wind was so strong that the team going with the win had the majority of the play and the chance to win the game. Both teams scored with the wind in their favor.”

Coronado’s goal came courtesy of Lauren Tobin on an assist from Mallory Mitchell. “It was a good game,” Medina said. “Cathedral is always competitive.”Andrea Davis was in goal for Coronado in the important draw.

Wednesday the Islanders fell behind early, but rallied to defeat the Vikings 2-1. “Honestly, in the first 10 minutes, I thought we were going to be down 2-0,” Medina said. “Then out of nowhere, Mackenzie Coutts hits the post from 30 yards out and it goes in to tie it up. In the second half, Kaitlyn Couture scored off of a corner kick. The defense got organized in the second half and we shut them down. With our win, we needed La Jolla to tie or lose one of their last two games and we got the tie on Friday.”

 When asked about standout players in the past two games, Medina replied, “Sandy Shepherd played really well in both games. Again overall, it seems like when some of the players are struggling, someone steps up and gets it done.”

As noted last week, the Western League title also comes with another bonus, the No. 1 seed in the CIF Division III playoffs.

Boys Soccer Pushes Winning Streak to Four Games

Although the injury bug seems to have permanently moved into the CHS Boys Soccer locker room, the Islanders keep winning. Last week Sergio Flores wasn’t able to play in the first game of the week, while Eduardo Sacal sustained a shoulder injury that may keep him out of the lineup for the balance of the season.

Coronado began their week with a 1-0 victory over Crawford, with their goal coming from Christian Herrera on a set play, according to Head Coach Brian Hiatt-Aleu. “We had a short corner kick and the player on the front post is supposed to check the ball to Christian. If the defense sends one player out, we let Christian go loose. Basically Christian can win a game when you need him to and he has the instinct to take the game over. It was an even game and we needed a moment of brilliance. We practiced the play the day before for 5 or 10 minutes and it worked. The game was tied with eight minutes to go. Christian worked a little magic. Great players can win games for you.”

The second game was a 1-0 victory at Madison, with the goal coming on a combination play resulting in Seth Willey finding the back of the net. “Seth probably had his best game all year,” said Hiatt-Aleu. “He had the composure on Thursday to not overpower the ball and placed it. It was a beautiful goal. The rest of the game he was brilliant. Patrick Toomey had two really good games in goal. He saved us Tuesday on a couple of one-on-ones. He was solid Thursday as well.”

The Islanders are now 13-3-4, which should be more than enough wins to make the CIF Division III Playoffs. “We have two games left,” said Hiatt-Aleu of the regular season. “We might have a chance to win the Central League title if we beat Hoover at home Tuesday. The Central League is a little disorganized. We’re not sure how many points Clairemont has. It’s a strong league, but a bit disorganized. If we win Tuesday and win Thursday, we may have a league title game on Friday. If we tie, then we’re out. We just don’t know where Clairemont is.”

Tuesday’s showdown with Hoover is at Coronado at 6 pm, and the Islanders complete their regular season Thursday at 3 pm at Lincoln. “That will be a tough match,” noted Hiatt-Aleu. “We beat them 2-1 at home in a very physical game. It’ll be interesting to see where we get seeded. Sometimes having a home game versus no home game makes a big difference.”

CHS Track and Field Meeting Slated for Thursday

Anyone interested in coming out for the CHS Track Team is invited to attend an informational meeting Thursday at noon at the classroom in the gym. CHS Head Coach George Green will be on hand to answer any questions you may have regarding the sport.

Greg Johnson Honored by CHS Athletic Department

Coronado’s own Greg Johnson was honored before last Friday night’s Boys Basketball game by the CHS Athletic Department for his involvement in Islander sports over the years. Johnson has coached both Girls and Boys Basketball for the Islanders. In addition, for many years, Johnson has served the CHS Football program by taping the game of next week’s Islander opponent.

While on the coaching staff of Sandy Dillon, Johnson was the Boys Basketball advance scout. As a result of his travels for football and basketball, Johnson has a nearly encyclopedic knowledge of the locations of high schools throughout San Diego and Orange County.

An accomplished electrician, Johnson repaired the scoreboards in the CHS gym last year, after the fire and subsequent water damage in the facility wreaked havoc on the electronics. CHS Athletic Director Robin Nixon, who presented an Islander letterman’s jacket to Johnson as a thank you gift, noted during her remarks that Johnson’s timely assistance in repairing the scoreboards insured home basketball games could be played last year.

Congratulations to Greg Johnson for his well-deserved honor and thanks for his past and future involvement in CHS sports.

An English Outlook on Sports

As a Christmas gift from a family friend, Your Natterer received a gift subscription to “The Economist,” an outstanding weekly news publication. Based in London, the editorial outlook of “The Economist” has a slightly different slant on life than we have in the U.S.

In the Feb. 14, 2009 edition, under the headline ‘Sports, Is it recession-proof?’ the story opened with this paragraph, “Gloomy days, these, for English cricket. On February 7^th the England Test (international) side was skittled out for 51 runs, its third-lowest total in 132 years and 880 matches, as it slid to ignominious defeat against the West Indies, one of the lowest-ranked Test sides in the world.”

Paragraph two dealt with the international sale of cricket players and it wasn’t until the third graph that last month’s Super Bowl was mentioned. NBA basketball and NASCAR were subsequently integrated into the piece, but all came well after England’s Premier Soccer League, was discussed. We may speak the same language, but the sports outlook is decidedly different. 

Save This Date for College Recruiting Presentation

By popular demand, the Islander Sports Foundation is bringing Jack Renkens and his ‘Recruiting Realities’ presentation back to Coronado Monday, March 23^rd at 7:30 pm. There will be no admission fee charged for the presentation, which will be paid for by the ISF and will be held at the Coronado High School Theater.

Parents of Coronado Middle School and Coronado High School athletes and all student-athletes themselves are invited to attend. The community at large, including parents and athletes from Christ Church and Sacred Heart also invited to attend.

Renkens appeared last year and was a resounding success. Officers of the Islander Sports Foundation thought the presentation was so important for parents and students to hear, that Renkens was contacted to return again in 2009.

For now, circle the date on your calendar. The presentation, which lasts for a total of roughly 90 minutes, is a no-nonsense, realistic recruiting seminar from a former coach and parent, who knows the topic and presents the recruiting information in an entertaining fashion.