Nado Natterings
A weekly column by David Axelson

23 September 2009 Issue #36

Coaching sports, particularly youth sports often equates to experiencing an intense roller coaster ride, spread over three months. Occasionally you can coach a team that is so good that all you need to do is stay out of their way. On the flip side, sometimes a group won’t mesh and even legendary UCLA Coach John Wooden’s Pyramid of Success gets dribbled on its ear and nothing you can do as a coach will correct that.

Usually teams fall in between and the peaks and valleys follow each other like crashing waves on Coronado’s Central Beach. As an example, the CHS Football Team two weeks ago had trouble maintaining possession of the ball in their one-sided loss to the Kauai Red Raiders in Hawaii. Fast forward two weeks and the Islanders traveled Friday night to Laguna Beach and spanked the Artists 69-20. The wild ride is on for the 2009 football season.

Coronado quarterback Kodie Englehart got the game underway with a 48-yard touchdown, run, which was followed in short order by an 84-yard Englehart gallop for another score. Charles Westbrook soon joined the action, scoring on a 68-yard touchdown pass from Englehart. Mix in a safety and a one-yard touchdown from Chris Page and you have a 29-0 Islander lead in the second quarter, which ballooned to a 43-8 mark at the half.

Westbrook also scored on runs of seven and 51 yards and Englehart in his alternate role as defensive back, returned an intercepted pass for 50 yards and a score. Back-up quarterback Austin Denson scored on a 63-yard scamper and Brenden McElmoyl capped the Islander scoring efforts on the evening with an eight-yard run.

Englehart carried the ball five times for a total of 176 yards and three touchdowns. McElmoyl toted the pigskin eight times for 88 yards and one score, while Westbrook carried three times for 52 yards and two touchdowns. To keep the score down, the Islanders only attempted four passes in the contest, completing three for 101 yards and a touchdown.

“We got explosive runs from a number of different kids for touchdowns,” said Islander Head Coach Bud Mayfield. “We just scored from long distance and we got one on defense. Englehart had a big game. He checked off and threw a long touchdown pass to Westbrook. Kodie got a good game under his belt and had the type of game at quarterback that we figured he could have. Kodie didn’t play at all in the second half. Everyone for Coronado who is a running back or defensive back got into the game, all of them. We didn’t have any turnovers against Laguna Beach, so that was a big turnaround right there. Also, we had very few penalties.”

The two teams played each other last year with Coronado prevailing. “They have a good quarterback,” Mayfield said of the Artists, “and they have a good receiver, but they were missing a couple of guys, which hurt them. Actually, they are picked to win their league. ”

On the defensive side of the ball, Mayfield praised Austin Copp and Andrew Toomey for their efforts. “They both played well at linebacker and both are juniors. They are really getting good. Toomey is a terror and he also does all of our kicking.” According to Islander stats maven Kyle Montague, Toomey had eight solo tackles in the game, four assisted tackles and two quarterback sacks.

Coronado plays their first home game of the season Friday night when the Islanders host Olympian High School, currently 2-0 on the season and under the direction of San Diego Section coaching veteran Gil Warren. “They beat Christian last week 21-17 and Granite Hills 41-21,” Mayfield said of the Eagles. “They play old-fashioned power football and we are more of a speed team. It will be interesting. These next two weeks are important to our whole season.”

Friday night’s varsity game will kick off at 7:30 pm.

CHS Girls Volleyball Wins Hilltop Invitational Tournament

Continuing our ‘Peaks and Valleys’ theme, a similar effort was turned in by the CHS Girls Volleyball Team last week. The Islanders lost to the Academy of Our Lady of Peace (OLP) in three games mid-week and then Coronado beat Morse in three games in their two Eastern League contests. To this point at least, OLP has the Islanders number, having defeated Coronado in all three of their matches this season.

Saturday, to compete  in the Hilltop Invitational, Coronado arrived at 7:15 am (foreshadowing alert here) for the beginning of tournament pool play. The Islanders won their pool, defeating Morse, Helix, Hilltop and El Cajon Valley along the way. With pool play concluded, Coronado drew El Camino in the quarter-finals and won, then they faced Hilltop in the semi-finals and won again.

A few weeks ago, Islander Head Coach Leilani Au Hoon in our pre-season preview, said that in her opinion Patrick Henry was the best team in the Eastern League. To perhaps prove that point, Patrick Henry defeated OLP in their Eastern League match earlier in the week. So logic would seem to dictate that since Coronado has trouble with OLP, they should lose to Patrick Henry in the Hilltop Invitational finals. Not so fast my friend. 

The Islanders spotted the Patriots the first game, losing 25-22, before Coronado rallied to take the second game of the three-game finale 25-22. Coach Au Hoon picks up the narrative. “In the third game we were down 10-5 (the third game of the match is to 15 points, win by two) and Annie Wilson caught us up with her serving and the game was tied 10-10. The scoring went back and forth for a while before Kori Fitzgerald got us a kill to win the game and the championship 16-14. It was really exciting.”

Re-capping, Coronado can’t beat OLP, Henry beats OLP, and Coronado beats Henry in the finals. The Islanders grabbed the championship trophy, as well as some tournament accolades as both Wilson and Fitzgerald were named to the All Tournament Team. Fitzgerald also earned Tournament MVP honors. The Islanders finally headed home at 8 pm or nearly 13 hours after they arrived that morning.

“Both of our setters Mariah Stacy and Alana Pompa played well in the tournament as did our libero Megan Moran,” Au Hoon said. “Annie Wilson (The Elder) and her sister Ally Wilson (The Younger) played really well. Ally plays wherever I need her to play. She is a sophomore and has been stepping it up.”

Au Hoon then paid her outside hitter Fitzgerald the ultimate compliment. “Kori never comes out. I don’t think I have ever taken her out of a match yet.”

This week the Islanders have their first home contest of the season when they host Serra Wednesday at 3:30 pm. Au Hoon knows the Islanders need to stay sharp. “Serra is pretty scrappy, which can be dangerous.”

Islander Boys Water Polo Battles Newport Harbor

Saturday the CHS Boys Water Polo Team traveled to Newport Harbor to engage the team considered to be the best prep water polo team in the country in a prime time battle. The Islanders came up on the short side of the 14-9 score. Alex Johnson led the scoring for Coronado with four goals, followed by Rex Butler and Tommy Schofer with two goals each, and single goal was scored by Patrick Geer.

David Rodriguez was credited with four assists, while Andrew Ireland drew two ejections and a penalty shot. Goalie Garrett Sabesky had nine saves and an assist.

Islander Head Coach Randy Burgess, who knew his team had their work cut out for them in their first regular season game, was upbeat about the experience. “The only thing we didn’t get out of the competition was a win. Newport is a very, very good team. They are really playing well and they are going to get better. They are big, fast and move the ball well. It’s good for us to see how good water polo is played. We had a few disappointments with our game, but I’m not surprised we did well. The game gave our guys a chance and the coaching staff a chance to see where we have to go. It was an out-of-section and out-of-conference match and we were guaranteed to play a good team.”

Despite trailing 12-5 at the end of three quarters, Burgess was of the opinion that the Islanders continued to play hard. “Our kids never stopped playing, which was great. We had a good result and we’ll see what happens Monday in practice. We weren’t the deer in the headlights. We have 30 more games to go. I hope we can play Newport Harbor again.”

A big chunk of the 2009 game schedule comes this week when Coronado hosts “The America’s Finest City” Boys Water Polo Tournament this Friday and Saturday as the teams are guaranteed five games. The Islanders will play Vista at the Brian Bent Memorial Aquatics Center at 2 pm Friday and then host Chaparral High School at 6:40 pm at the same site. The 24-team tournament continues play at the BBMAC, the Coronado Municipal Pool and at La Jolla High School on Saturday. If form holds, Coronado should play their first game Saturday morning at the BBMAC at 8 am.

Islander Girls Golf Continues Winning Ways

The CHS Girls Golf Team is off to a nice 4-0 start as they added a 252-267 win over Scripps Ranch to the plus side of their ledger last week. Senior Jackie Davis earned match medalist honors with a nifty score of 41 at Coronado Municipal.

“It was a great match,” CHS Head Coach Hanna Cohan said. “We’re seeing improvement from all of the girls. There is a real cohesiveness on the team, which is good to see.”

This week the team has matches Tuesday at Coronado Muni against Crawford and Wednesday the Islanders host Mira Mesa. Both matches will tee off at 3 pm.

Girls Tennis Evens Record at 2-2

Hilltop was the lone Coronado opponent in the world of Girls Tennis last week and the Islanders emerged with a 15-3 victory, according to Head Coach Rob LeBuhn. “We had a lot of girls playing in the match. Monica Holman and Brooke Gensler did well in their singles matches and the doubles team of Sarah Moore and Leila Zibinden won a couple of matches.”

This week the Islanders embark on play in the always tough Western League, when they travel Tuesday to Scripps Ranch. Thursday they host University City with both matches starting at 3 pm. “Hopefully we’ll be competitive with Scripps Ranch this year,” said LeBuhn. Our girls are getting better and improving.”

CHS Cross Country Athletes Compete in Major Events

Islander Head Cross Country Coach George Green riffs on his sport and the success of the CHS athletes over the past weekend. “Last Saturday was a big meet day for the sport of Cross Country in the bottom part of our state, with the huge Woodbridge Classic in Irvine and the Mt. Carmel invite at Morley Field.

Although the Mt. Carmel meet is by far the largest in our area with around 85 teams competing in a total of 16 races, the Woodbridge Classic draws mostly from the CIF Southern Section. The event hosts over 200 full teams and many individuals from other schools that compete in 40 races, over a 3-mile course. The competition ranges from novice divisions who compete at 7am, to graded and sweepstakes events at night, for the faster runners.

Once again we split our ranks with three of our girls running in the graded and sweepstakes races at Woodbridge and eight other team members running at Mt. Carmel.  The two race courses could not be more different. Although both Woodbridge and Mt. Carmel have their start and finish lines at the same level, Woodbridge is somehow all downhill and Mt. Carmel (at Morley Field) is all uphill.

If you compare the boys' and girls' times below for similar distances, the differences in the two courses really stands out.  Each year Woodbridge combines the times from all races and posts the Top 100 finishers for boys and girls.

This year only five girls from the San Diego Section made the list, one of whom was Islander Sallie Privett who ran 17:57 in the girls' sweepstakes race. Adie Davies and Meg Sweeney ran in the graded race with Adie posting a time of 18:27 and Meg only 12 seconds back in 18:39. 

At Mt. Carmel, Ashley Engleman picked-up the 16th place medal in the freshman Division II girls' race, with a time of 19:04 over the 2.75-mile Morley Field course.   Will Funk medaled in the boys sophomore race by finishing 36th with a time of 18:56 for 2.95 miles over the hilly route. Also competing in the sophomore race were Nicolas Robles and Luke McCue. In the boys junior race Aryan Shay clocked a time of 19:30. Kevin Siefert had our best time of the day with an 18:53 showing in the senior's race, followed by Chase Dalton in 21 minutes flat. Weston Bray got his first high school race under his belt with a good 24:44 effort in the boys’ freshmen race.

Pop Warner Football

It’s time for the Pop Warner Football report and Coronado was victorious in two of their games last week, as we’ll see from the following reports. “The Junior Midget Team learned a lot from last week's defeat and came out confident and ready to play this week.  Robby Weissenfels returned the opening kick-off for a touchdown and started the game off right. The Islanders never looked back on their way to a 28-0 victory.  

Outstanding blocking by Jimmy West, Casey Engelman and Andre Olsen established the Islander's running game in the first half.  Nick Castellanos, Austin O'Brien and Donnie Shepard provided the push they needed up the middle during the second half of the game to insure the team’s victory.  

Seven different running backs carried the ball on offense.  Ryan Wade scored the final points of the game on a quarterback keeper around the left side of the line to finish off the third quarter.  The Islander passing game was highlighted by a phenomenal 24-yard touchdown reception by Casey McPherson on a pass from Weissenfels.  

Great special teams play by the Junior Midgets was highlighted by a great hit from Spencer Awford on the kickoff team.  The Islanders will need to carry this week's attitude into their game next week, as they face Tierrasanta at the Coronado's High School field Saturday.

The Coronado Junior Pee Wees ran their record to 2-1 with a 19-12 victory over the South San Diego Jaguars.  The Islanders moved the ball behind linemen Quentin Ragland, Aaron Wright, Quinn Karney, Christian Hurrell, and Jack Rinko.  The big boys moved the Jaguars around the field all day.  Not to be outdone, Coronado’s defensive line worked hard as well. They were led by Evan Probert, Sean Banks, and Tyler Brians.  Ryan Brown, Clay Clark, and Jake Herman also had some nice hits on opposing running backs to help ensure the hard fought victory.

Girls Lacrosse CMS Clinic

A quick reminder that CHS Varsity Head Coach Jessica Battle will be holding a two-day Girls

Lacrosse clinic Oct. 10-11 from 9 am to 3 pm. The clinic is for beginning, intermediate and advanced players and costs $150 per person.

The age range for prospective players to participate in the clinic is third through ninth grade. Players should bring their own stick, running shoes/cleats, mouth guard and goggles. You should also bring your own lunch and water. Loaner sticks are available if requested in advance.

Joining Battle on the clinic staff are Coaches Liz Dierdorff and Julia Schelkun. If you have questions regarding the clinic, please contact Coach Battle at 619-459-0162 or by E-mail at jbattle@telecomfinders.com.

Chargers Facing Long, Uphill Battle for Playoff Slot

The good news from Sunday’s Chargers game against the Baltimore Ravens is that it wasn’t the most poorly played NFL game of the weekend. That dubious distinction went to the on-field opus turned in by the Oakland Raiders and the Kansas City Chiefs.

As readers may remember from past columns, Your Natterer grew up in Kansas City and at one time was a member of the Chiefs stats crew as a gofer. Compensation for gofer duties amounted to being able to see the game for free and filching sandwiches and soft drinks from the press room, as long as the media types left some food for the underlings.

The Natter Son watched most of the game with me. By the fourth quarter we were both in awe of how truly bad the game was, with the final score being 13-10 in favor of the Raiders. Turnovers, penalties and bad passing a plenty, oh my.

Now, let’s reflect on the Chargers. Losing All-Pro nose tackle Jamal Williams, San Diego’s anchor on the defensive front line, is a huge loss for Bolts. Losing two starters from the offensive line, plus losing Williams, borders on catastrophic.

That leaves the Chargers with two significant problems. First, they can’t run the ball on offense. Second, they can’t stop the run on defense. When future Hall of Fame running back LaDainian Tomlinson returns to action from his latest injury, don’t expect any 200-yard rushing afternoons from LT. The current offensive line can’t open the holes required to spring Tomlinson, Darren Sproles or Michael Bennett.

Watching Sunday’s Charger game reminded me of the old AFL days when the teams would throw the ball 50 times each. In fact Charger quarterback Philip Rivers aired it out 45 times for a total of 436 yards. AFL mainstays George Blanda and John Hadl would be so proud.

San Diego stayed in the game by stringing several big plays together, nearly all of them by getting the ball to a Charger in open space. That is exactly the kind of play that doesn’t work consistently in the Red Zone, defined as the last 20 yards on the offensive end of the field, when all of the players are in a confined area. 

In the official stats, a total of 16 Chargers defensive players were listed as having made a tackle in the game. No. 16 on the list was Shawn Merriman with one assist, or part of one tackle. The Charger coaching staff and Charger fans are going to have to face the truth that Merriman, who is playing on a re-built knee, may not be a factor in the Charger defense this season.

Back to the good news, the Chargers face the Chiefs twice this season. If San Diego doesn’t win both games, Charger Head Coach Norv Turner, like Merriman, may not be around next season.