Coronado’s Boys Water Polo Team won twice last week in the CIF Division II Playoffs, to advance to the semi-finals Wednesday night against arch-rival Bishop’s. In the process, the Islanders posted yet another 20-win season, and pushed their overall record to 21-8.

If you are new to the sport of prep water polo, especially in the San Diego Section of the CIF, you need to know a couple of basic truths. First, the power in the section is in the Division II or smaller school bracket. The best couple of teams in Division II are almost always better than their counterparts in Division I. Second, there are almost never any upsets in the first two rounds of the playoffs. The seeded teams play to their expected level and true to form in 2009, the four remaining teams are ranked one through four.

Last week the Islanders, seeded second, which put them in the opposite half of the draw from top-seeded Cathedral Catholic, dismantled El Capitan 18-5 in their first round contest. Head Coach Randy Burgess provides the details. “It was a well-balanced game as we had 11 different players who scored. We were able to spread the wealth. Eitan Peled was our leading scorer with four goals. It was a total team effort. All of the kids were involved and there was lots of energy. We also had nine different people with assists. One of the highlights of the game was sophomore goalie Joe Rodgers playing in the second half. The junior goalies (Garrett Sabesky and Braydon Hummeldorf) split the first half and Joe played the second half.”

The second game was only slightly more competitive as Coronado dismantled fellow Western League foe University City 10-6. Rex Butler led the Islanders with four goals, while Patrick Geer had two scores. Single goals were scored by Andrew Ireland, Lex Aponte, Asante Sefa-Boakye, and Tommy Schofer. The leader in assists was Schofer with three. Sabesky played the first three quarters in goal and was credited with 10 saves. Hummeldorf played the fourth frame and had a pair of saves.

The game was more one-sided than the score might indicate as the Islanders had a 10-3 lead at the end of three quarters. “Every player on the roster played quite a bit,” said Burgess.

While the Islanders battle Bishop’s at 7:30 pm, the prelim game at 5:45 pm will feature Cathedral Catholic against No. 4 seed Santana High School. The two semi-final winners will play Saturday, Nov. 21 at 7:30 pm in the Division II championship game. Both of the semi-final games and the finals will be played at the La Jolla Coggan Family Pool.

Islander Football Earns Last Minute Victory Over Morse

The Islander Football Team started the season on a series of grim notes, losing three of their first four games. Included in that run was the game that would eventually decide the Central League crown, a tough loss to the Madison War Hawks.

Since that low point, Coronado has won five of their last six games,  including four straight over Central League teams Crawford, Kearney, Clairemont and last Friday afternoon, Morse. Coronado completed their regular season 6-4, which was good enough for them to earn the eighth seed in the CIF Division IV playoffs.

“It was a thriller,” said Head Coach Bud Mayfield of the Islanders 22-21, come-from-behind victory. “Morse is having their best year in a long time and they made the Division II playoffs.”

The Islanders opened the scoring festivities with a four-yard touchdown gallop by quarterback Kodie Englehart. Morse responded with two touchdowns of their own. Sophomore receiver, kick returner and occasional tailback Charles Westbrook later scored on a 36-yard pass from Englehart and the score was knotted at 14-all at the end of the third quarter.

Morse put together a scoring drive to take a 21-14 lead, but later yielded a safety to Coronado, to allow the Islanders to close the gap. Opting to kick the ball off after the safety, as opposed to punting, Morse deposited the ball into the hands of Westbrook, who Mayfield had thoughtfully positioned in the middle of the return team. Westbrook toted the ball to the Morse two-yard line to set up an Englehart touchdown run on a sweep, to give Coronado the lead.

However, with a minute remaining, the fireworks were far from over. Morse marched down the field and threatened to score. Then Austin Copp created a Morse fumble, which was recovered by Bryan Beverly, to secure the victory for the Islanders.

On the evening Englehart carried 18 times for 79 yards and two touchdowns. He also threw for 121 yards. Westbrook had four receptions for 75 yards and one touchdown. Jordan Jacobs lead the defense with six unassisted tackles and one assisted tackle. Austin Branch had two solo tackles and six assists. Chris Page, Austin Denson and Beverly all had pass interceptions.

Mayfield is proud of his club, which was young and relatively inexperienced entering the season. “It was a hard fought game. Morse is big and physical and we stood toe to toe with them. We’ve grown enormously and we’re finishing games. Now we have the hang of it. This game went down to the last play and the kids responded.”

Beverly, who Mayfield mentioned as having his best game of the season, was named Game MVP. “He had a nice save in the end zone, he recovered the fumble that Copp caused and he made a nice catch when we were attempting to sustain a drive in the fourth quarter. He just had a good all around game.”

All of which inevitably leads us to the Division IV Playoffs. By defeating Morse, Coronado earned the No. 8 seed, which with 12 teams making the playoffs, means the Islanders will host a first round game Friday night at 7 pm against the Escondido Charter School. The White Tigers (presumably Siegfried and Roy are on staff) were 8-2 in Pacific League play this season.

“They are surprisingly big,” Mayfield said of this Friday night’s opposition. “They have a 215 pound fullback and a 350 pound offensive tackle. We got the home game due to a tougher schedule, so the scheduling paid off.”

One of the interesting sidelights of the game is that former Torrey Pines Head Coach and local coaching legend Ed Burke is an offensive advisor to the team. Burke is a strong proponent of the Winged T offense. “They are a lot like Santa Fe Christian, but not as talented,” Mayfield said. “It will be a grind ‘em out type game. It’s always good to be playing in November.”

Please note the game’s starting time is a CIF-mandated start of 7 pm, not the 7:30 pm start most fans are accustomed to for Islander home football games. Also, admission lines are normally longer due to CIF ticketing requirements. So, the bottom line is, leave home a little earlier for the game.

North County-Times Prep Football Poll

Your Natterer votes in the “North County Times Prep Football Poll” and here is the collective wisdom of those sage and wise men: No. 1 Oceanside, No. 2 La Costa Canyon, No. 3 Eastlake, No. 4 Cathedral Catholic, No. 5 Mission Bay, No. 6 Vista, No. 7 Valley Center, No. 8 Escondido, No. 9 Mission Hills and No. 10 Valhalla.

Islander Girls Cross Country Wins Central League Crown

CHS Head Cross Country Coach George Green provides the good news from the Central League Championships, held last weekend. “Having suffered a nine point loss to Clairemont back in October, due more to the flu virus than Clairemont's superiority, the Girls' Cross Country Team faced the Chieftains  again last Thursday. This time with the Central League Championship on the line.

Since their initial match-up, both teams had chalked-up big wins, with Clairemont winning the Nike Pre-Nationals Division II title and Coronado capturing the Mt. SAC sweepstakes against the top five Division IV teams in the state. A big win at the Kit Carson invite earned Clairemont a sixth place county-wide ranking and our big win at Mt. SAC has Coronado now ranked as the top Division IV girls' team in the state. 

The Central League Finals turned out to be everything the pre-race expectations hinted they'd be. The team title was decided when the 10th runner crossed the finish-line with 5 runners from both Coronado and Clairemont taking the Top 10 All-League spots. The individual league championship was won by Coronado's Annie Lovering in a sprint to the finish over Clairemont's Michelle Read. This and a couple of other close finishes gave us a five-point victory and the 2009 Central League Title.

It's unusual for the Central League to have one, not to mention two ranked teams and this was a very exciting race to watch. Christian placed third and Madison fourth based on the combined dual meet and won/loss record format now used to determine the final standings.

Lovering's time over the three-mile City Conference course was 18:41. She was followed by Adie Davies who placed third in 18:54, Sadie Gimber (fifth in 18:59), Sallie Privett (sixth in 19:06) and Meg Sweeney (10th in 20.04).  Nicole Davies was 11th followed by Mollie Privett (13th), Ashley Engleman (14th), Stephanie Pietkiewicz, Maddy Danielson, Mary Grace Braun, Yvonne Wood, Alana Pokorny, Melissa Wood, Lindsay Garner, Deming Tobin and Sarah Alfano.

In the boys' race, Clairemont's Eamonn McCarey did what he's been doing all year by finishing over a minute in front of his nearest competitor. On paper the team race appeared to be a close match-up among four teams, but an injury to Madison's top runner and with the flu bug affecting a couple of Coronado's runners, the race turned into a contest between Clairemont and Christian.

In the last dual meet of the season Christian beat Clairemont in a 28 to 28 tie with its soxth runner breaking the deadlock. In the boys' finals they each scored 38 points with Christian again winning by the sixth runner tie-breaker giving the Patriots an unbeaten season. Clairemont took the runner-up position with Coronado third and Madison fourth.  Had they been healthy, the Coronado boys had a good chance to win this one but with Gabe Salvatierra too sick to run and Will Funk running while too sick, we were lucky to place third. 

The Islander boys came away with three All-League awards, led by Ryan Keeney who placed fourth in 17:11, Aryan Shay who placed seventh in 18:00 and Kevin Siefert  who finished in 10th in 18:27.  Funk, who if healthy, would certainly have also made All-League, was 18th followed by Chase Dalton, Nicholas Beall, Jason Vance, Nick Robles, Weston Breay, Luke McCue (also sick) and Grainger Lanneau III.

If you want to see how dominant the Coronado girls' team is this season, stop by Morley Field to watch them run in the CIF Finals this Saturday at 10:40 am.  Then hang around until 11:20 am to watch the Division IV girls' awards ceremony. Linger a little longer until 12:20 pm to watch the Division IV boys race featuring Ryan Sweeney, who is attempting to make the All-Division team and trying to qualify for the state meet.

Islander Girls Volleyball Wins and Loses in CIF Playoffs

Tuesday the Islander Girls Volleyball Team hosted the Calipatria Hornets in a first round Division IV Playoff game and the Coronado earned a convincing 25-16, 25-14 and 25-10 victory. Calipatria, which is roughly 120 miles from Coronado (drive to El Centro and turn north, and keep going) arrived with a strong contingent of fans, but fell to the Islanders in a match that lasted approximately 50 minutes. The combination of all of those elements probably lead to a somewhat reserved return trip home for the Calipatria faithful.

The first game was won in pretty routine fashion by Coronado, which put together only one run of four consecutive points, but played steadily enough to win. In the second game, the Islanders were trailing 14-11 before senior standout Kori Fitzgerald stepped to the service line. She proceeded to serve for 13 consecutive points to run the Hornets off the court. Simultaneously with Fitzgerald’s serving superiority, fellow senior Lainey Mebust dominated the game at the net with five kills and several other good plays. The serving and front line play kept Coronado on a roll.

Game three was similar to the second as the Islanders kept their momentum with a kill shot from Annie Wilson for a sideout, followed by three straight winning serves from senior Heather Rowan and Mebust again contributing at the net. The big run that clinched the match was 12 straight points served by junior setter Alanna Pompa, which carried the Islanders to an 18-4 lead. At this point Islander Head Coach Leilani Au Hoon was substituting freely and virtually every player on the squad saw playing time. The final point of the match was an anticlimactic service error by one of the Hornet players.

Friday night the Islanders traveled to No. 4 seed Francis Parker for a quarter-final match. Coronado lost in straight sets by the scores of 25-16, 25-15 and 25-11. This concluded the Islanders successful season, where they finished third in the very competitive Eastern League and compiled a final overall record of 11-7.

CHS Surfing Report

November 14th the CHS Surf Team nearly pulled off an upset against power house Torrey Pines in the Interscholastic Surfing Association’s Division II surf contest held at Avalanche near the Ocean Beach Pier.  The contest format has three surfers from each team competing against one another in 15 minute heats, with the best two waves being scored for each surfer.

Individual surfers score points for their team by their ranking in the heat, first through sixth. CHS Coach Lorton Mitchell said “We are always solid in long board, but this year our short board boys are much improved which gives us a good chance to upset one of the bigger beach schools.”  

Stand outs in the contest where Tyler Smith, Curtis Nixon and Mallory Mitchell, all finishing first in their heats. Freshman short boarder Jack Alldredge is leading a talented group of freshmen joining the team this year and turned in a very respectable second place finish in his heat.  Sophomore long boarder Jake Willis has little contest experience, but pulled off a second with some impressive “style points”.  Sophomore long boarder Reis Stanley and short boarder CJ Becky placed third in their respective heats, while freshman Michaela Branscomb placed third in the girls long board.  The final score was Torrey Pines 61, Coronado 56.

Girls Basketball Thanksgiving Tournament Around the Corner

A quick reminder that the CHS Girls Basketball Program will be hosting their annual Thanksgiving Tournament Friday, Nov. 27; and Saturday, Nov. 28. The final round will be played Saturday Dec. 5.

A 10-team tournament this year, Pool A consists of Coronado, Mater Dei, Imperial, Francis Parker and Hilltop. Pool B includes Crawford, Ramona, El Cajon, Chula Vista and San Dieguito.

Games begin at 11 am Friday, with contests played on both courts simultaneously at the CHS gym. The final game each of the first two days is slated to begin at 5:40 pm.

Coronado will play at 2:20 pm Friday against Parker and again at 5:40 pm against Mater Dei.

Saturday the Islanders will play Imperial at 12:40 pm and Hilltop at 4 pm. The Dec. 5 game schedule is based on the results of the first two days of play.

The Thanksgiving Tournament is the largest fundraiser annually for the CHS Girls Basketball program. Admission will be charged at the gate and the snack bar will be in full operation.