Nado Natterings
A weekly column by David Axelson

2 September 2009 Issue #33

Well, if the outside temperatures are really warm, then it must be time for football. As if on cue, Southern California summer arrived in our surrounding environs just in time for the annual Coronado High School Football scrimmages, involving all of the Islander teams including the Frosh/Soph, Junior Varsity and Varsity.

As is often the case, the Frosh/Soph teams got the short end of the stick, or in this case the high end of the thermometer, as they played at 3:30 pm on the campus of San Ysidro High School Friday. The JV followed shortly thereafter and the Varsity took the field at 7 pm.

In CIF football scrimmages, typically three teams are involved and they play a round-robin sort of affair. According the CHS Head Coach Bud Mayfield, the three schools involved this year, San Ysidro, Coronado and University City decided to run 12 offensive plays and 12 defensive plays against each other. “All three teams wanted to keep the injury level low,” said Mayfield. “Their stadium is on a mesa and by 7 pm the weather was a little better. We had a little breeze.”

The wind may have been generated by the Islander offense, which scored seven touchdowns in 24 plays, including their first play from scrimmage, and tossed in a defensive touchdown for good measure. “No one scored on us until University City scored at the very end,” recounted Mayfield. “We had a goal line stand as well. It was a good first effort for a young team.”

The varsity squad has about 25 members, so most of the players you see on offense, will also play on defense. Kodie Englehart will be the team’s starting quarterback and he will be an important part of the Islander ground game, along with tailback Chris Page, according to Mayfield. “In the past our runners were described as thunder and lightning. This year it’s more like lightning and lightning. And the itty, bitty back attack is back. We have three running backs who are all the same height and speed in Brendan McElmoyl, Charles Westbrook and Andrew Toomey. They are all pretty interchangeable.”

Every Islander football season a dominant lineman seems to emerge and at least in the early going junior Austin Copp is filling that role in Mayfield’s estimation. “Austin is the bell cow on the offensive line. He played every play of every game last year. He has really grown in his understanding of the game. Glenn Smith is next to him at tackle and Jack Mikesell is our center. On the other side Kevin Clay is at guard and Jose Sanchez is the offensive tackle. Brian Beverly is one of our wide receivers and we are a little unsettled on the other side.”

With a team short on numbers, which Division IV teams pretty much are by definition, almost everybody plays both ways. Mayfield describes his substitution system. “The starting 11 players just about completely flip over (to the other side of the ball). We’ll rotate some players in and then we’ll wheel the starters back in again, so they don’t have to play every down. That’s Islander football.”

Mayfield believes the Central League race will be tough again this year. “Madison is the defending champion and they still have kids coming from the Lincoln area. Morse has come on tremendously. They have more than 3,000 kids and are a Division I team. (Coronado’s enrollment is roughly 1,100 students.) That’s an unfair deal. Morse will be our last game of the season. Those are two schools that are obstacles to our path to the championship.”

Although the re-emergence of Morse would have to be labeled a surprise to most observers, there are no stunning developments in the list of teams who Mayfield thinks will compete for the Division IV title. “It’s the usual suspects and we hope to be counted among them. Santa Fe Christian, Mission Bay, Valley Center, Madison and Coronado are really good football programs. You would have to put Mater Dei in there too. Many people thought the Coronado vs. Valley Center game last year was the CIF championship game.”

Tuesday the Islanders wing their way to, well, the Islands, as Coronado has a date to play Kauai High School Friday evening in Hawaii. In the past some of these games have not been overly competitive with Coronado outplaying the opposition, but Mayfield looks for a battle this season. “Kauai is the dominant program of the three high schools on the island. Last year they were 8-1. They have a good quarterback and a good passing game. They run a spread offense and it should be a shootout. There may be some rain in the forecast, which we haven’t had the last couple of trips we made.”

Coronado’s first mainland regular season game is Sept. 18 at Laguna Beach. The Islanders first home game of the 2009 season is against Olympian Friday, Sept. 25 at 7:30 pm.

Coach Leilani Au Hoon Brings Upbeat Outlook to CHS Girls Volleyball

Our Island theme continues as we delve into our CHS Girls Volleyball Team preview, where Hawaiian native Leilani Au Hoon is now the head of the program. To the outside world Au Hoon presents an upbeat and positive demeanor, but trust me, she doesn’t accept less than a total commitment from her players.

A couple of weeks ago during CHS registration week, parking was scarce due to a Junior Olympic swim meet at the Brian Bent Memorial Aquatics Center. Long story short (too late for that), I was running late and thought cutting through the gym at 7:58 am wouldn’t be a problem. As I scurried through the gym which was hosting girls’ volleyball practice at the time, Au Hoon was in the middle of addressing her team regarding their practice habits. I felt like I owed her some pushups and probably some laps just for walking around her practice.

Au Hoon has 16 players on her squad this season, including seven seniors, seven juniors and two sophomores. The reason is to develop the depth of the program according to Au Hoon. “We’re carrying a lot of younger players because we are graduating so many seniors this year.”

Returning players who will contribute include outside hitters Kori Fitzgerald and Heather Rowan, middle blockers Lainey Mebust and Annie Wilson, liberos Megan Moran and Brianna Giorgione, and right side opposite Morgan Bower.

The team received some bad news Friday when starting senior setter Mariah Stacy found out she will miss the entire season with torn knee ligaments. Junior Alana Pompa inherits thus inherits Stacy’s mantle as starting setter and she will be backed up by senior Krista Baszak.

“The strength of our team is that our defense is really good,” said Au Hoon of her team, which will again compete in the Eastern League. “We are really stressing passing and serving this year, which to the girls are the most boring skills. But, they are the most important. Everybody wants to hit, not pass.”But the team has some power too according to Au Hoon. “Mebust, Fitzgerald and Wilson are heavy hitters.”

The Eastern League expanded to include Mira Mesa and for 2009-10 includes Our Lady of Peace, Patrick Henry, Morse, San Diego, Serra, Mission Bay and Coronado. Au Hoon doesn’t lack confidence when it comes to her club. “I honestly think we have a chance to finish first, but Patrick Henry had a strong team last year. We should have beaten OLP last year, and I hope we can compete better this year. I have high hopes.”

The team’s first regular season match will be Sept. 2 against Holtville in Coronado. Game time is scheduled for 6 pm.

Big Time Coaching Job Turned in by CMS Baseball Staff

For the first time, the ISF CMS Sports program includes fall baseball. The program is fortunate to have most of the CHS High School staff, under the direction of Head Coach Sam Ceci instructing the kids. Two teams representing CMS have enrolled in the Sweetwater Union School District league. Due to differing school calendars, Coronado got a much later start than their counterparts. CMS registration was held last Wednesday, practices were held Thursday and Friday, with the first games held Saturday. Both CMS squads emerged victorious, and both scored runs in the double digits.

My theory is it has to be the coaching, with Ceci, Jerry Brown, Chris Barbera, Chris Blanton, Morgan Cummings, Bobby Koczon and David West all involved in the on-field instruction. Congratulations to the players, coaches and parents.

Chargers Meander Into Final Pre-Season Game

With network-level announcers Greg Gumbel and Dan Fouts calling the Chargers third pre-season game at Atlanta Saturday, Your Natterer can leave that issue alone this week. So on to the game itself.

Saturday I was attending a social function and the collective interest of the assembled was much more attuned to the Chula Vista Little League game (or Park View, or California, or West or Green Machine or Blue Bombers, you pick) than it was the NFL game. And may I say, with good reason. My DVR whirred away successfully and I attempted to watch the first half of the Charger tilt three times, with the game literally putting me to sleep twice.

With NFL All-Pros Antonio Gates, LaDainian Tomlinson and Jamal Williams not participating, the result clearly wasn’t important to the Charger coaching staff. In this week’s final pre-season game, to be played Friday night in San Diego against the San Francisco 49ers, you probably won’t recognize any of the players’ names on the field. All of the stars, regulars and aspiring regulars will be resting in anticipation of the regular season opener the following week against the Oakland Raiders.

A couple of tidbits of note did come from the broadcast. Charger running back Darren Sproles, generously listed on the official Charger website at 5 feet, 6 inches tall, is the shortest player in the NFL. Wide receiver Vincent Jackson, who is 6-5 and nearly (actually) a foot taller than Sproles, may be coming into his own as a big play threat.

It occurred to me that the best all purpose running back on the field, now that Tomlinson is advancing in years,  may just be former Charger and current Falcon Michael Turner. Former USC and Kansas City Chiefs stand out Tony Gonzalez looks very different in a Falcon uniform. The Chargers held the lead at 14-10 when the starters started coming out of the game, which was a victory of sorts. Since the Flacons staged a late rally to win the game, a victory of sorts was all the Chargers could claim during their trip to the Deep South.

The game, which in the first half featured six Charger penalties for a total of 45 yards, could be described as dull at best. Your Natterer will pull a pass on Friday’s game. Feel free to join me if you wish.

Pop Warner Football Highlights

Pop Warner Football began their season last weekend and we have reports from two of the teams which competed.

The Islander Pee Wee Team began their season with a loss to the Lakeside Longhorns. Injuries forced nearly every Islander to play both ways against an opponent with multiple reserves. The heat soon took its toll.

However, Luke King turned in an impressive first-time performance at running back, while Tyler Clark assumed a team leadership role, giving 100 percent on every play. Thomas Scott completed passes and gained yards in his first appearance at quarterback. Tyler Umansky made a phenomenal one-handed tackle to save a touchdown, while Patrick Wamsley was the anchor of the offensive line.

The Islander Junior Midgets started their season off right with a victory over Lakeside. Despite temperatures over 100 degrees and a multitude of penalties, the Islanders won 9-6. 

Tanner Caldwell kicked a game winning, 25-yard field goal with less than two minutes remaining, to put the Islanders ahead for good.  The team’s lone touchdown came on a 55-yard scamper down the sidelines, turned in by John Matamoros in the first half.

The team's efforts were highlighted by great line play on both sides of the ball.  Standouts were Jake Kitchner and Seth Trujillo.  Kitchner stepped in at center for Adam McNeil who was injured and was the cornerstone for Saturday's win. 

The defensive effort was led by Ryan Wade who had 14 tackles. Eight of his tackles were unassisted and six were for a loss of yardage. Robby Weissenfels had an interception to go with his eight tackles.