Nado Natterings
A weekly column by David Axelson

30 September 2009 Issue #37

The CHS Football Team made their home debut Friday night against Olympian High School and it was a tale of two halves. The first stanza was won convincingly by the Islanders as they rushed their way to 169 net yards on the ground and gained another 24 in the air and took a solid 14-7 lead into the break.

But Olympian, which had a larger squad in numbers than Coronado, won the second half and eventually the game, by putting up 21 points. The Eagles also held the Islanders scoreless to prevail 28-14 in a non-conference clash between two of the better programs in Division IV of the San Diego CIF Section.

This year the Islanders focus their offense on the ground attack. Against Olympian, 40 of their 50 plays from the line of scrimmage were runs.

The game marked the Coronado coming out party for running back Charles Westbrook, who carried the ball 17 times for 111 yards and one touchdown. The speedy sophomore also caught a 24-yard pass from senior signal caller Kodie Englehart to help account for both Islander touchdowns. In addition, Westbrook had 48 yards receiving and another 46 yards in kick-off return yardage, all of which combined to equate to a spectacular home varsity debut.

Only Englehart topped Westbrook on the ground, as the two-sport star (lacrosse being his ‘other’ sport) rushed for 131 yards on 21 carries. Westbrook and Englehart separately accounted for the two most athletic plays of the evening. Westbrook ran down an Olympian ball carrier, a full sprint chase that covered most of the field, to temporarily save a touchdown. Head Coach Bud Mayfield said of the play, “That’s the kind of effort we are looking for from everybody.”

Englehart’s athletic play came late in the game. As the Coronado quarterback lined up in the shotgun formation, the ball was snapped well over his head. Englehart simply turned, ran back and caught the errant snap in the air, over his shoulder and continued on with the play.

All of that would be hard enough to accomplish catching a Frisbee on the beach, but wearing a helmet and full pads, it was an incredibly athletic play. As Mayfield said, “Englehart is amazing.”

Although a loss by two touchdowns appears to be convincing, Coronado had possession of the ball,  trailing 21-14 in the fourth quarter, when a 13-play drive stalled on the Olympian 25 yard line. Hope glimmered again when Olympian missed a 42-yard field goal attempt five minutes later, that would have iced the game.

Coronado regained possession on their 25-yard line, but another errant snap resulted in a turnover which was recovered by Olympian on the Coronado 6-inch line and the Eagles punched the ball into the end zone on the following play. That sealed the victory for Olympian.

“It was a great effort,” said Mayfield of his team’s performance. “We played hard but we made one or two mistakes too many. We gave up a punt return for a touchdown for the first time in I can’t remember when. We out rushed them, we out passed them and we had more first downs. We’re just an inch or two away on the passing game. There were some catches out there we should have made. We have to bring the receiving corps along as well. Improving the passing game would expand the offense and give us a chance to control the ball and field position. We ran for 272 yards, which is an achievement in itself. We have to learn to win.”

On the plus side, Mayfield said his team has really improved. “Our defensive ends came to play for the first time this year. Linebackers Austin Copp and Andrew Toomey keyed our defense. They are terrific little linebackers.”

Injuries are starting to mount, as junior center and defensive lineman Jack Mikesell is out with an injured left hand for the foreseeable future. Senior Bryan Beverly and junior Brendon McElmoyl are likely to be out for this week’s home game against Madison.

The War Hawks, who are the defending Central League champions and the beneficiary of a bye in their schedule last week, come to town for their Friday night showdown with Coronado. “They are running a similar offense to what we are running with Englehart,” Mayfield said of the Islanders primary rivals. “They also have deep downfield speed with their receivers. Having to stop both the run and the deep ball is tough. This game has been really nip and tuck for a long, long time. I expect Friday’s game to be that way again.” Kickoff is slated for 7:30 pm.

Islanders Finish Third in America’s Finest City Invitational

The Islander Boys Water Polo program hosted their annual ‘America’s Finest City’ Invitational Water Polo Tournament over the weekend, a 24-team affair, which was played at four sites throughout the county. As the home team and the winner of their pool, the Islanders never ventured from the Brian Bent Memorial Aquatics Center and eventually finished third.

Friday tournament play started with the Islanders dominating Vista by the score of 17-8. Senior Rex Butler scored six goals and assisted on four others, while fellow senior Alex Johnson scored three goals. Other notable contributions included a goal and two assists each from Brennan Casey, Van Burgess and Garrett Smerdon.

Later that evening the Islanders hit the pool again and took on Chaparral High School from Temecula and the Islanders emerged victorious, this time by the score of 19-6. Sophomore goalie Joe Rodgers manned the nets for the second half of play and was credited with two assists and two saves. Scoring leaders included three tallies from Asante Sefa-Boakye, two goals from sophomore Tommy Grall and several more from the normal suspects.

As we head into the second day of play, it should be noted that illness took a considerable toll on the Islanders, as goalie Garrett Sabesky, driver Lex Aponte, and center Eitan Peled all were unable to play. In fact at one point in practice last week, one-third of the 18-man varsity squad was out due to illness.

Saturday morning the Islanders had their first game, an 8 am affair against Davis High School. Coronado looked to be on their way to another easy victory, as they led 7-2 with two minutes remaining in the first half. Then Davis ripped off three goals in two minutes to make the score 7-5 at half time and then scored two goals to open the second half to level the score at 7-up.

At this point in the proceedings, Coronado’s offensive leaders Butler and Johnson, who would both be named to the All-Tournament Team, stepped up. Butler scored on a beautiful goal as he snaked himself and the ball around and over his defender and beat the goalie for a key score. Three minutes later, Johnson scored on a Butler assist and the Islanders earned a lead they would not relinquish. The two teams traded goals for the rest of the fourth quarter and Coronado was on to the semi-finals with an 11-9 victory.

Jackson Hummeldorf, who played a total of four and one-half games in goal over the weekend, had four steals and four saves in the Davis game, to earn credit for the victory. Butler had four goals and four assists, while Johnson had three goals and three steals. Tommy Schofer scored twice and single goals were scored by Patrick Geer and David Rodriguez.

Next up was Agoura High School and despite an early two-goal lead, the Islanders lost in overtime 11-10. Schofer scored four goals, with two each coming from Butler, Rodriguez and Johnson. “It was a tough loss, but a game we could have won,” said Islander Head Coach Randy Burgess. “After the game I told the team we had a 3-2 record and nobody we had beaten was that good. We lost to two very good teams in Newport and Agoura. The kids responded well and felt like they needed to finish well as a team.”

The third place game was with Carlsbad, a team which Burgess thinks will win the CIF San Diego Division I crown. “They will hands down, run away with Division I this year,” Burgess said of the tournament’s eventual fourth place team.

Coronado clipped Carlsbad 9-6 for third place, as Johnson scored five goals and single tallies were added by Andrew Ireland, Rodriguez, Butler and Geer. Burgess praised the play of Hummeldorf and Schofer. “Hummeldorf played the best game of his career against Carlsbad and had five saves. He got in the way of a lot of balls, plus the team had six field blocks. Schofer had been out all week due to illness and his fuel tank was running on empty (Burgess referencing singer-songwriter Jackson Browne). He played sparingly early in the tournament then he felt good and we just played him. His effort was all based on heart.”

Entering last weekend’s tournament, several of the teams had already played multiple games and in some cases another tournament, a fact not lost on Burgess. “Five games later, I feel good about the tournament. Guys are trying to find out what their roles are, which is most important. Our main concern now is health. While that is hurting us now, some kids are stepping up and earning playing time.”

Cathedral Catholic, a Western League and Division II rival of Coronado’s, went on to win the tournament. “Cathedral looks real good,” said Burgess of the Dons. “They are solid and there aren’t a lot of weaknesses. I’m very impressed with their team.”

This week the Islanders host Mater Dei of Santa Ana Saturday at the BBMAC. The exact game time is to be determined at press time, but will likely be in the late afternoon.

Islander Cross Country News

Head Coach George Green provides an update on his team’s activities last week. “This weekend's Cross Country adventure took place at Rohr Park in Bonita at the South Bay Invitational. We entered a varsity girls' team minus three of our top runners, Sallie Privett, Adie Davies and Meg Sweeney. This trio raced last week at Irvine and took this week off to get in some additional training.

Annie Lovering finished first for the Islanders in the girls' varsity race in fifth place with Sadie Gimber right on her heels in sixth. Annie's time for the 2.5-mile girls' course was 16:52, while Sadie's time was 16:01. Nicole Davies was the next Islander across the line in 15th place with a time of 16:42, followed by Ashley Engleman who finished 42nd in 17:49.

Maddy Danielson had been running among the top 30-35 runners until about the mile mark, when abdominal cramps slowed her pace to a jog/walk and she finished 108th out of the 160 runners. Even so, Coronado finished fourth out 23 teams behind Otay Ranch, Sweetwater and Valley Center.

 In retrospect we should have run Mollie Privett in the varsity race as well. Since it was her second high school cross country meet  however, we put her in the JV event where she finished seventh in 18:24 out of 220 finishers. Had she run the same time in the varsity race she would have placed 63rd and moved us up to second place.

In fact the computer-scored combined results showed just that with Otay Ranch, Coronado, Eastlake, Valley Center and Sweetwater taking the Top 5 spots out of 26 teams.  If the three other girls had run we most likely would have had six girls in the top 20 finishers. Due to scheduling concerns, we haven't had our entire varsity girls squad in the same race, but this will happen this Friday at the Saints Small School Invitational at Morley field. 

Following Mollie Privett in the JV race were Mary Grace Braun (60th), Yvonne Wood, Lindsay Garner, Alex Reidy, Melissa Wood, Deming Tobin and Sarah Alfano. 

In the varsity boys' race our top finisher was sophomore Ryan Keeney who placed 38th out of 175 finishers with a time of 17:55 over the 5k (3.107 mile) boys' course. He was followed in order by Will Funk, Aryan Shay, Kevin Siefert and Gabe Salvatierra. Jason Vance lead the way for the Islander team in the Frosh/Soph boys' race by finishing 54th  out of 179 finishers followed by Nicolas Beall, Grainger Lanneau and Weston Breay.

CHS Girls Golf Splits Two Matches Last Week

Last week the Islanders Girls Golf Team beat a surprisingly good Crawford team 251-280 at the Coronado Municipal Golf Course, in what turned out to be Coronado’s best outing of the season to date. The Islanders were led by Jackie Davis who was the match medalist with a 46. She was followed by Andrea Perez, whose score of 49 was her first time to break 50 in a match.

According to CHS Asst. Coach Randy Coutts, the team averaged close to 50 strokes per player, which is a strong outing. “We have two or three strokes per girls that we can improve,” said Coutts. “That’s what we need to do to beat OLP and to be competitive with Cathedral Catholic. We can compete with the rest of the league due to our depth of talent.”

In the week’s other match, a non-league affair with Mira Mesa, Coronado lost for the first time this year by the score of 263-269. “It all came down to the ninth (last) hole,” said Coutts. “We lost by six shots on the last hole. The girls learned a lesson.”

A change in the league alignment for Girls Golf was implemented this season, with Our Lady of Peace moving into the Western League and Mira Mesa moving over to the Eastern League. “That makes the competition fair for everybody,” Coutts said. “And it makes the matches more interesting.

Coutts likes what is going on away from the matches as well. “There’s a lot of extra practicing going on. I saw a lot of our kids on the golf course over the weekend. We have good athletes who are just a little short on match experience.”

Islander Girls Tennis Falls Twice

Illness and injuries hit the CHS Girls Tennis Team last week as the Islanders lost both of their matches and were forced to compete with a depleted lineup, according to Head Coach Rob LeBuhn. The Islanders lost to Scripps Ranch 13-5 and then lost to University City 9-7, where two of the three members of the team’s starting singles lineup had to miss the match.

“Our standouts against Scripps Ranch were Heidi Johnson and Jackie Hites,” LeBuhn said. “Heidi played No. 1 singles and won two of her three matches and Jackie played No. 3 and won two matches also. Jordan Vaughan and Nikki Kruger at first doubles won one of their matches.”

Hites (Achilles tendonitis) and Mary Mulvey (illness) were not able to play against University City. “Vaughan and Alex Rawlings won all three of their matches at No. 1 doubles,” said LeBuhn. “I think we will be able to beat University City next time, when we have our full squad. It was a tough match to lose.”

LeBuhn praised the efforts of Brooke Gensler and Abigail Andreassen, who stepped up to play No. 2 and No. 3 singles against U.C. “They each had three very competitive matches. Brooke and Abigail have done a great job so far.”

This week the Islanders host La Jolla Tuesday and go on the road to Cathedral Catholic on Thursday. “We have our hands full this week,” said LeBuhn of two of the top teams in the competitive Western League.

A Tribute to William Safire

Columnist and former presidential speech writer William Safire passed away at the age of 79 over the weekend. Anyone who has ever tried to string a few stray thoughts together recognized Safire’s ability to turn a phrase and his commitment to precision in the English language. Safire wrote, was read by millions and was a major political player on a national level for decades.

As a speech writer for the Richard Nixon administration, Safire penned the phrase “nattering nabobs of negativism” for then-Vice President Spiro Agnew to describe people who did not support the war in Viet Nam. As a former political science major, the phrase stuck with me and in 1997 while looking for a catchy title for this column, plus a word which also began with the letter ‘N’ to go with ‘Nado,’ and “Nado Natterings” was born.

I wish I could say that a lot of agonizing thought went into the creation of the title, but the whole creative process lasted about as long as it took you to read the preceding paragraph. On the other hand, Safire’s journalistic work will be admired for generations.

Pop Warner Football Report

The Islander Pee Wees hosted undefeated La Jolla Saturday.  Defensive end Anthony Ricketts made several tackles in the La Jolla backfield, while cornerback Tyler Umansky interrupted two passes and made two touchdown-saving tackles.  On offense, fullback Kyle Anderson ran for over 60 yards on power plays up the middle. Quarterback Christian Waterhouse completed a thirty-yard pass to tight end Thomas Scott.  Anchoring the offensive line was center Patrick Wamsley. The Islanders defense held La Jolla to just 14 points in the 14-0 loss.

The Jr. Peewees were on the wrong end of a shutout as their record fell to 2-2. Although outscored, they fought hard to the end, led by some hard hits from Greg Gonzalez, Wyatt Zolla, Zach Pine, and James Abate.  Ben Outlaw and Nick Lutteroth also stopped runs with nice tackles.  Juan Letayf, Austin Dozier and Nolan Andrus made some jarring blocks to spring runners for long gains for the Islanders.

The Coronado Junior Midgets won their second game in a row with a 16-14 victory over the Tierrasanta Cougars Saturday.  It was a tough battle that came down to the final minutes of the game.  When the Islanders chances had all but run out, on the next play from scrimmage, Seth Trujillo sacked the Cougar quarterback in the end zone for a safety and put the Islanders back in business.  Coronado drove the ball down the field after the ensuing kickoff and scored to take the lead by the eventual final score of 16-14.

Great Islander defense on the Cougars final series was capped off with an interception by Tanner Caldwell that sealed the Junior Midget's victory.  John Matamoras scored both touchdowns for his team with a kickoff return in the first half and the go-ahead touchdown on the Islanders' final drive.  Both Eric Thorliefson and Conner Schulte had tremendous games on offense and defense.  

Leland Orr and Joe Fernandez had several noteworthy tackles.  Marty Dykstra had a great game with good defense and powerful running up the middle.  The Junior Midgets (3-2) will face the Alpine Mountaineers Saturday at the CHS field.  Pop Warner games begin at 8:00 am.

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.

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. If you have questions regarding the clinic, please contact Coach Battle at 619-459-0162 or by E-mail at jbattle@telecomfinders.com.

Islander Basketball Clinics To Start This Weekend

CHS Girls Head Basketball Coach Toler Goodwin and CHS Boys Basketball Head Coach J.D. Laaperi are combining to run a series of basketball clinics each Saturday and Sunday during the month of October. The clinic times are from 3-5 pm Oct. 3, 4, 10, 11, 17, 18, 24 and 25.

The coaches plan to teach clinic participants proper shooting fundamentals, ball handling, post and perimeter offensive skills and defensive techniques. The clinic’s goals are to improve the young players’ overall basketball skills and game knowledge.

A single daily session costs $20 and a full weekend session is $35. Two full weekend sessions are a total of $65 and attending all four full weekend sessions is $120. Clinic questions should be directed to Coach Goodwin at 858-967-6732 or by E-mail at bbgood10@gmail.com.