Entering Friday night’s CIF Division IV quarter-final football game against the undefeated Mission Bay Buccaneers, the Islanders knew they were going to have their hands full. The Western League champions from Mission Bay were also ranked No. 5 in all of San Diego County by the “North County Times Prep Football Poll.” Being ranked that high is an honor rarely accorded a Division IV school, as region-wide polls normally dominated by the larger North County schools.

Mission Bay played to their projected level as the No. 1 seed in the division and won handily 56-17. Mission Bay was aided by four Islander turnovers, three of which led directly to Buccaneer touchdowns.

The dominant player in the game was Mission Bay quarterback Dillon Baxter, who according to published reports will play his football at USC in the fall of 2010. Based on his performance Friday night, where Baxter rushed 15 times for 224 yards and six touchdowns, Baxter could play running back, quarterback, and ride the USC equine mascot Traveler simultaneously. For the season Baxter has thrown for 23 touchdowns, while rushing for 42 touchdowns and 2,402 yards.

An interesting play in Friday’s game involved Baxter running for a long touchdown, while being chased by Islander quarterback and safety Kodie Englehart. Englehart was running with Baxter, but couldn’t close the gap. The pair would have a great match-up in a 100-meter dash.

For his part Englehart had a fine game, rushing for 165 yards on 23 attempts and scoring both Islander touchdowns. The senior signal caller, who one year ago was a wide receiver, finished his season with 22 rushing touchdowns, complimented by 1,556 yards on 170 carries. That equates to an amazing 9.15 yards per carry or on average almost a first down every time he ran the ball.

In addition, Englehart threw for 1,004 yards and nine touchdowns. All of that will make him the likely overall first choice in the intramural fantasy league draft at the University of Vermont in 2009-10, where Englehart plans to play his ‘first’ sport which is lacrosse.

Linebacker, occasional running back and place kicker Andrew Toomey converted on a 25-yard field goal attempt and made both extra points to account for the balance of the Islander scoring. Toomey also contributed seven solo tackles and four assisted tackles from his linebacker slot. Fellow junior linebacker Austin Copp added two solo tackles, five assisted tackles, one sack and both caused and recovered a fumble on the same play. Senior defensive end Nick Freije chipped in with 10 assisted tackles.

The Islanders, who started their 2009 schedule by losing three of their first four games, went on to have a fine 7-5 mark, including a run of five straight wins at the conclusion of their Central League season. The team showed a marked improvement over the span of the 11 games they played, against tough competition.

CHS Girls Cross Country Concludes Season with Success at State Meet

Coronado High School Head Cross Country Coach George Green wraps up his team’s great season with coverage from the state CIF meet. “Although the Islander Girls' Cross Country Team entered the state cross country meet in Fresno last Saturday as the top Division IV seed, we knew that we'd face a tough battle from Southern Section powerhouses Harvard-Westlake, Serra of San Juan Capistrano and La Reina.

We'd beat all three at the Mt. SAC Invitational earlier in the year. However, since then two of our top six runners had health issues that forced them to lose valuable training time. Nicole Davies contracted the H1N1 flu virus and Meg Sweeney had a bout with pneumonia and strep throat. Neither was 100 per cent at the San Diego Section CIF Finals the previous week and both had to skip a couple of days of training to try to recover. Both were healthy for the state meet, but were still weak from their illnesses.

Even so it was a close team battle with our top three girls finishing within four seconds of each other and the fourth Islander runner coming in only 13 seconds back. Sallie Privett placed 30th overall with a time 19:23 over the Woodward Park 5-kilometer course, followed by Sadie Gimber in 31st and Annie Lovering in 34th. Adie Davies placed 43rd with a time of 19:40 followed Sweeney, Nicole Davies and Ashley Engleman in the 87th, 99th and 123rd slots respectively.

The team score of our top five girls was only one point behind third place finisher La Reina and, for a big meet, not that far back from the winner Harvard-Westlake (92 points) and the second place team Serra (129 points). When you consider the number of Division IV teams in the state, a fourth place finish is something for Coach Bill Davies and the girls to be proud of under any circumstances.”

Girls Basketball Opens Season With Thanksgiving Tournament

Last week we previewed the CHS Girls Basketball Team and the gist of the article was that the team though having several good athletes, was young and inexperienced. The good news from the first four games of the program’s Thanksgiving Tournament was that the team exhibited consistent strong efforts and showed flashes of promise. The bad news was that they lost all four games they played.

“I saw a lot of positives,” said Head Coach Toler Goodwin of the grueling four game schedule played over two days. “The results on the scoreboard weren’t in our favor, but we’ll find a way to make it work. We have a lot of elements we can work with and we have this week to practice and make ourselves better. We have young players, playing together. When they start feeling confident about what they can do, we’ll be okay.”

Perhaps illustrative of the challenges facing Coronado was their game against Imperial, which was the Islander’s third game of the season. Although the Islanders got down big in the early going, they continued to play hard.

Sophomore Peri Curtis led Coronado with nine points, seven rebounds, two assists and five steals. Cory De Marco contributed six points, three rebounds, two assists and three steals in roughly a half of play. Nicolette Abrantes had two points and five rebounds. Senior guard Maggie Harris added five points, two rebounds a steal and a blocked shot. As the team’s primary outside shooting threat, Harris had trouble finding her range in this game, but did well in the others. As the basketball saying goes, ‘shooters shoot’ and Harris has to continue to fire from long range for the Islanders to be successful.

“Peri probably had the best overall weekend,” said Goodwin. “She started to get the mentality that she has to be the active scorer for us. Peri has to improve on her combination of strength and meanness. She will get there. We’ll see a fine player emerge by the end of the year.”

Goodwin talked about a couple of the other team members and their contributions. “Cory had to split time between basketball and soccer. She shot the ball well in a couple of situations and overall did a good job of taking care of the ball. Alex Evans is a great athlete and we just have to have her find her basketball rhythm. If she can use her athleticism on the basketball court, she will be a breakout player and give us another dimension offensively. We’re not going to be a ‘pound it inside team.’ We’re going to have to attack the gaps in defenses.”

Goodwin added that the tournament served to toughen the team up. “We played four games in two days and we didn’t take big breaks between the games this year. We took one game off and played again. We need the challenge. We faced three different types of teams and different defenses. We just need to see more game action to gain experience.”

This week the Islanders host Foothills Christian Wednesday night at 6:30 pm, with a varsity game only. Saturday the Islanders play in their final game in the Thanksgiving Turnament at 1:30 pm against El Cajon Valley. The championship game will be played between Ramona and Mater Dei at 4:15 pm.

Islander Boys Basketball Competes in Scrimmage

The Islander Boys Varsity Basketball Team under the direction of new Head Coach J.D. Laaperi is taking a different scheduling approach to the beginning of their season. Friday they competed in a three-way scrimmage that included Mar Vista and Chula Vista and they don’t play their first regular season game until December 9th when they compete in the Annual Small Schools Tournament hosted by La Jolla Country Day.  

Laaperi, who played point guard at Coronado High School, is making the move from JV head coach to the Varsity chair, as former CHS Head Coach Ken Caesar moved to Mater Dei in a similar capacity. Laaperi has the advantage of having coached several of his varsity players at the JV level, and was also the head varsity assistant coach for the past two seasons.

Armed with that background and with a week of practice under his belt, Laaperi discussed his team. “The player that has impressed me most has been Josh McNeal, who has his confidence back. I coached him two years ago and he was the starting point guard on the JV. He scored 11 points in our scrimmage and he will play a wing guard. We will play three guards up top and Josh will play either the two (shooting guard) or three (small forward) for us.

Hunter Ralph and Peter Zeller will share time at the four (big forward). Peter is the defensive press group leader. He will come in with about two or three minutes to go in each quarter and be in the middle of our presses. He is long (tall) and causes havoc. Hunter will play the four and down low on defense. On offense, he will be positioned near the three-point line and from a percentage standpoint, he is the best three-point shooter we have on the team. He will help us stretch out the opponent’s defense a little bit. Josh McNeal and Hunter Ralph will be our Co-Captains this year.

Chris Maskevich is our starting big man and he has matured a lot from last year. He is taking on the vocal leadership role. Once he gets it going, people will follow him.”

To this point, all of the players mentioned have been seniors. Two juniors Billy Schmitt and Justin Hebner will play key roles on the team, according to Laaperi. “Five months ago Billy came to me and expressed an interest in developing his basketball game. He spent time both in the weight room and on the court. Billy is 6-7 and now is the strongest I have ever seen him. He showed in the scrimmage on Saturday that they can’t body him out. Offensively, he is our best guy with his back to the basket, while Chris is a little more comfortable facing the basket. Billy has worked on a drop step and a hook shot.”

“Hebner has developed nicely as our shooting guard and No. 1 scoring option,” Laaperi continued. “I told Justin that a player at the next level has to play defense and he has bought into it. He will lock down a player and work hard on help defense. He will be part of our press group and he competes.”

The sophomore class is represented by point guard Danny Hebert and forward Harley Ralph, the younger brother of Hunter. Harley, who comes off of a five-week sabbatical due to a broken ankle and returns to practice this week, will play a wing, according to Laaperi. “When he decides to go to the basket, he can score at will.”

Hebert shared the primary ball handling duties with Hebner last year, will have the point guard role primarily to himself this season. “Danny showed during the summer that he could handle the job against junior and senior guards,” Laaperi said. “He is still learning the position and he has grown 2 inches since last year. He’s 6-1 now and progressing nicely. His strongest offensive asset is his three-point shooting.”

The Central League schedule will again supply some challenges for the Islanders. Laaperi predicts that Point Loma, which returns their big man tandem and has size coming up from the JV, is the team to beat. “Christian has reloaded again this year,” Laaperi continued. “Kearny lost nine seniors and Clairemont has a new coaching staff. Madison returns their best player and they are always tough against us at their place.”

Although the Islanders don’t begin their season until Dec. 9, they do it in style as they play the Army-Navy Academy, considered to be one of the best two teams in Division IV of the San Diego Section.

Girls Volleyball Awards

The Islander Girls Volleyball program held their awards banquet recently and the varsity winners included: Most Valuable Player – Kori Fitzgerald; Most Improved – Jaclyn Wilson; Players’ Choice Awards – Annie Wilson and Brianna Giorgione.

The Junior Varsity Awards included: MVP – Ryanne Giorgione; Most Improved – Madeline Strifer; and Coaches’ Choice – Nicolette Abrantes.

A quick note for all girls volleyball players, CHS Head Girls Volleyball Coach Leilani Au Hoon will start a club program for all age groups and the first practice will be Sunday, December 6 from 2-4 pm at the CHS gym.

Girls Tennis Awards

CHS Head Girls Tennis Coach Rob LeBuhn announced his varsity award winners at their recent banquet. Winners included: MVP – Heidi Jonson; Most Improved Player – Brittany Kullberg and Layla Zbinden; Coach’s Award – Alex Rawlings; and Coronado Tennis Association Awards – Andrea Sassenrath and Katlyn McCue.

CHS Boys Water Polo Players Nominated to All-Star Game

When CHS senior water polo players Alex Johnson, Andrew Ireland, Rex Butler and Tommy Schofer play in the 4th Annual Water Polo Classic representing Division II, they won’t have far to travel. The event, which is a fundraiser for the San Diego Aquatic Council will be held at the Brian Bent Memorial Aquatics Complex in Coronado. The game is slated for 6 pm Saturday, December 5. Admission is $7 for adults and $5 for children.

The game features the best players from the CIF San Diego Section Division I schools (larger schools) against the Division II (smaller schools) All-Stars. The Division II team has won each of the three times the event has been held to date. Players in the game are selected by area  coaches, officials and the Aquatic Council.

Earlier in the day Saturday, at 1 pm, the CHS Girls Water Polo Team will host Newport Harbor.

Also, mark your calendar for Dec. 22-23 when the Olympians Water Polo Camp will be conducted by the Coronado Aquatics Club. Instructors at the camp will include former Olympians and CHS graduates Genai Kerr and Jesse Smith and USA National Team Members and CHS grads Thomas Hopkins and Tommy Corcoran.

Coronado Head Coach Randy Burgess serves as camp director and can be reached at rbpolo@gmail.com. The camp will run from 9 am to 2 pm both days. Group discounts are available for school and club programs.