Nado Natterings

by David Axelson

Events surrounding the Coronado High School Boys Basketball Team developed quickly last week, all of which yielded positive results. The final week of the regular season began as a day off from school Monday, which was quickly followed Tuesday by the final Central League contest of the year at Kearny High School.

Paced by a 26-point scoring effort from sophomore guard Danny Hebert, the Islanders prevailed on the road 69-64. But it wasn’t as easy as all that, as described by Islander Head Coach J.D. Laaperi. “With four minutes to go, we were up by 14 points. I told the kids to slow it down. Then Kearny hit a couple of threes. We tried to turn the intensity back on and it just wasn’t there. Kearny had the ball, down by three points, with seven seconds to go. Danny hit a couple of free throws to seal the victory.”

Senior Josh McNeal, one of the guards in the Islander backcourt rotation, had what Laaperi described as, “The game of his life.” McNeal was 8-11 from the field, including a three-pointer to account for 17 point. The smallish, but ultra-quick McNeal also contributed five defensive rebounds and two assists.

Coronado’s inside tandem of Chris Maskevich and Billy Schmitt also played strong roles in the victory, scoring eight points each. Maskevich snared 12 rebounds and blocked two shots. Schmitt had six rebounds and three blocks.

“Danny had a great all-around game, shooting, rebounding and attacking the basket,” Laaperi said. “He was shooting and hitting his mid-range jumper. Josh hit a three and a couple of long-range two-pointers. He stepped up to the challenge.”

Then things started getting interesting off the court. Rumors swirled that Christian, which had won the Central League title the weekend before by defeating Coronado, would be forced to forfeit several games for using an ineligible player. To make things more interesting, the same afternoon Coronado defeated Kearny, Madison hung the first Central League loss of the season on Christian by the score of 58-55.

Thursday the rumors were confirmed and Christian, which had been rated No. 5 in San Diego County by the “North County Times” Prep Writers and Broadcasters Poll, had to forfeit several victories, including two over the Islanders. Coronado’s Central League season was complete due to a bye in the conference schedule. However Madison had one game left at Point Loma, which the Warhawks won 43-34. Goodbye Christian and hello Central League co-championship. Coronado and Madison were tied at 10-2 atop the standings.

Friday night the Islanders hosted Borrego Springs and the game wasn’t close as Coronado prevailed 70-24, with the 40-point differential, running clock, mercy rule invoked early in the fourth quarter.

On the plus side, all of the eight seniors on the team earned considerable playing time, including sharpshooter Hunter Ralph who was ‘en fuego’ and converted on five three-point shots on his way to 21 points. Fellow seniors Eric McAdam and Tyler Hill-Hanson drew praise from Laaperi. “Eric has been in the program for four years and stuck with it. He works hard in practice. Going in, I told him he would play the entire game, unless he asked out. With 90 seconds left, I substituted for him and he got a standing ovation from his teammates. Tyler is a little under-sized, but he tries and tries and tries. He handled himself well at point guard all night.”

If that wasn’t enough activity for one week, Saturday the CIF Playoff schedule was released, with Coronado earning the No. 5 seed and with that designation, the right to host a home game. Tuesday evening Coronado will welcome Mater Dei and former Islander Head Coach Ken Caesar to the Blumenthal Sports Complex. When contacted by phone Sunday night, Laaperi was watching game film on the Crusaders, despite their 6-16 mark, including a 0-10 record in the Mesa League. Laaperi knows that Caesar will have his team ready and that he brings an extensive knowledge of the Islanders personnel to the fray.

Coronado 21-6 and 10-2 in the Central League will play at La Jolla Country Day Friday night at 7 pm if form holds. In the meantime, a new league championship banner needs to be ordered for the boys basketball team, as the existing one is full. “We ran out of room for boys basketball,” said Laaperi. “We’ll start the new one.”

Girls Water Polo Moves into CIF Semi-Finals

Water Polo’s playoff schedule always starts a week ahead of all other sports. Perhaps that’s because spending the bulk of your free away from school in a swimming pool gets old after a while. That’s conjecture on my part.

In the mean time, the Islander Girls Water Polo Team is taking names and easily navigating their collective way through the Division II bracket of the CIF Playoffs. Entering the playoffs as the No. 1 seed and Western League champions, Coronado entered the pool as prohibitive favorites in the first two games.

Or, as Head Coach Dave Throop broached the subject, “We have 17 girls on the varsity and in both games 17 girls played. It was what we anticipated. We have to figure out how to balance what we need to get out of the game, while at the same time being respectful.”

Allow me to translate. The starters have to get enough work in to stay sharp, because at the end of this week the Knights from The Bishop’s School and the Islanders are odds-on favorites to be in the same pool in search of a Division II title. Plus we don’t want to embarrass the other team in the process.

For the record, the Islanders opened with Monte Vista and came away with a 15-4 victory. After taking an 8-0 lead in the first quarter, Throop began frantically substituting. Goalies Colleen Moore, Brooke Bernardy and Emma Renly all saw action in the contest. Ashley Young’s three goals led the Islander attack.

It was the same song, second verse Saturday afternoon when the tournament switched locations to the Coggan Family Pool at La Jolla High School. This time Coronado dominated University City 14-2 in the quarter-finals. Sidney Hoshko, Lauren Carroll and Young all scored three goals, as Throop left the starters in until part way through the second quarter. The Islanders scored three goals in the first 90 seconds of the game on their way to an 8-0 lead at the end of the first quarter. Coronado was scoring on average a goal a minute.

“We were attacking, but conservative,” said Throop as he characterized his team’s approach. “Our second group did a good job also. At this point we are focused on what we need to do. We’re excited about playing a semi-final game Wednesday night. The team that handles all of the activity will have the best opportunity to win.”

Coronado (22-8) will play Cathedral Catholic Wednesday at 5:45 pm in one semi-final, with Bishop’s playing La Jolla at 7:30 pm in the other semi-final. The winners will meet Sat. Feb. 27 at 7:30 pm, with all games played now played at La Jolla High School.

CHS Girls Soccer Earns Division III No. 1 Seed

All five CHS winter sports teams qualified for the CIF post-season, with the Islander Girls Soccer Team joining the aforementioned CHS Girls Water Polo Team as No. 1 seeds in their respective sports. The footballers have the added distinction of not having lost a game in 82 days and counting, or since they fell to Bishop’s 2-0 on Dec. 2, 2009. Plus they are ranked No. 2 overall in San Diego County to Bishop’s by the XKSanDiego.com poll.

Last week Coronado marched out and hung two shutouts on the Western League. They emerged with only a 2-2 tie with Cathedral Catholic as an ever-so-slight blemish on their undefeated run through the toughest prep soccer conference in San Diego.

Their first encounter last week was Tuesday at Christian, where positive results for Coronado are often hard to come by. Well, that wasn’t the case this time as the Islanders scored four goals in the first 20 minutes of the game and romped to a 4-0 victory. “The girls impressed me and stepped up,” said Head Coach Kiko Medina. “We had great leadership from Stephanie Pietkiewicz. She had the first goal and we rolled on from there. One of our other goals came on a great shot from 25 yards out by Demi Waitley. Kaitlyn Couture scored from just inside the 18 and Olivia Lillegraven scored a goal off of a cross.” Goalie Cory De Marco earned the shutout.

The second game was played Thursday at home against the Academy of Our Lady of Peace and resulted in a 3-0 Islander victory. “We had a little bit of a struggle finishing in the first half,” Medina said as he continued the countdown of the week’s events. “At halftime we talked about keeping our composure and technique; to not rush the shot and put it on target. We put it together in the second half. Pietkiewicz had the first goal of the game after we had struggled to score. Alana Pokorny had a goal. She has been hurt or sick for awhile. We haven’t been able to keep her out there consistently. At the end of the game we pushed Cassie Callahan up and the finished with a goal.”

Injuries are starting to crop up for the Islanders at the end of the season. The team has lost Lauren Tobin for the playoffs with an injured ankle. Although she has been out of action for a while, Tobin is still the team’s leading scorer. Medina continues to hope that midfielder Danielle Gillberg will be able to compete in the post season. “Danielle played a little bit against Christian, but wasn’t feeling good. We’re hoping to get her back for the playoffs. Our depth is taking care of us when girls get hurt.”

With a 12-team playoff bracket in Division III, Coronado (17-1-3) as the No. 1 seed earns a first round bye. Friday night at 6 pm the Islanders will host the winner of the Canyon Crest vs. OLP game. If form holds, Coronado will host a semi-final game Tuesday, March 2, also at 6 pm.

Islander Boys Soccer Earns No. 6 Seed in Division III

The CHS Boys Soccer Team has a number of elements in their favor as they enter the CIF Division III playoffs this week. Since January 20th, the team has posted a strong 7-1-1 mark, which pushes their overall record to 15-4-2. Coronado emerged with a second place finish in the Central League and in the words of Head Coach Brian Hiatt-Aleu, “We have no injuries, everybody is eligible and nobody is sick. We are confident right now.”

On the minus side, the Islanders drew Desert League champion Central of El Centro in the first round, and even though Coronado is the higher seed at No. 6 as opposed to Central’s No. 11, the Islanders have to hit the road Wednesday to go inland. Way inland. Like pack a lunch for the trip inland; and maybe a snack for the return home.

Hiatt-Aleu, is never one to mince words. He could be thought of as the Ozzie Guillen (Chicago White Sox manager) of prep soccer. Not surprisingly, Hiatt-Aleu has at least two opinions of the seeding process. “You shouldn’t get a home game, just because you are a league champion. We talked about it in the post-season and pre-season coaches’ meetings with the CIF. I don’t understand the rule and neither does any other coach. They (the CIF office) drag their feet on a ton of issues.”

And on the other hand. “I don’t mind going there for a game. Their teams play in our high school tournament. There is no point in complaining. We’ll go out there and play. The boys are fine with it.”

As noted above, the Islanders finished their season in a strong fashion, including their final regular season game which resulted in a 4-0 victory over Crawford. The win pushed Coronado into a second place finish in the Central League behind Clairemont. “We gave them a spanking Friday night,” Hiatt-Aleu recounted. “We came out hard from the beginning and took the first 12 shots of the game. We were all over them.”

Islander goals came from Seth Willey, Eddie Vita and two scores arrived courtesy of Jacob Lujan. Patrick Toomey earned the shutout in goal.

Hiatt-Aleu says the playoff game against Central will provide a contrast in styles. “Our team has a big, physical presence. We are much taller and a more physical team than they are. Our biggest challenge is grinding the game out and sticking to what we do best. Once we lose our emotions, we lose tactical discipline. What we might lack in technical discipline we make up for in unity of the team. We have a lot more harmony this year. Last year we had more talent. If you would have told me before the season that we were going to go 15-4-2, I would have signed that contract. We have a bunch of good athletes and we play a tough schedule. There are 23 teams in Division III and only four, including Coronado, have 15 wins this season.”

Wednesday’s game in El Centro will kick-off at 7 pm.

CHS Girls Basketball Draws No. 7 Seed

The same seemingly bizarre playoff assignment concept befell the CHS Girls Basketball Team as it did the CHS Boys Soccer Team. Despite a second place finish to Kearny in the Central League race and earning the No. 7 seed in CIF Division IV, the Islanders will travel to Escondido Charter School Wednesday evening for a 7 pm contest against the No. 10 seed.

Escondido Charter won the Frontier League with an 8-0 record and are 18-3 overall. Despite their impressive record, it is fair to characterize competition in the league as ‘minimal.’

The Islanders completed their season by splitting their final two games. The first game of the week was a home loss to Kearny by the score of 41-29. Coronado Head Coach Toler Goodwin characterized the contest as, “A game we had opportunities to win. In many ways we beat ourselves. We had turnovers at the wrong time of the game and we were 4-17 from the foul line. We got the game to being within two points of Kearny and then we had six straight turnovers in the third quarter. We had turnovers that lead to layups for them.”

The game had an unusual ebb and flow, with Coronado never quite able to get over the hump. Peri Curtis scored 15 points, grabbed 12 rebounds and blocked four shots, while both Alex Evans and Samantha Kirk had eight rebounds. Although the rebounds were spread among three contributors, only Curtis was in double figures in scoring, with Nicollette Abrantes the Islanders’ second-leading scorer with five points.

Friday night Coronado hosted Borrego Springs in the front end of a Girls/Boys doubleheader. Much like their male counterparts, the CHS Girls took no prisoners on their way to a 54-15 win. The highlight of the night was supplied by senior Maggie Harris, who has an injured knee. Unless there is a Lourdes-esque healing miracle in her immediate future, Harris will not be able to participate in the playoffs. Harris is the club’s Co-Captain and played at the varsity level for three seasons.

 Goodwin made the symbolic gesture of starting Harris on Senior Night and Harris responded by getting behind the Borrego Springs defense, taking a pass and converting a layup opportunity. It could be described accurately as a ‘feel good’ moment.

Abrantes was the game’s leading scorer with 17 points, followed by Curtis with 13 points and 13 rebounds. Evans contributed 12 points, six rebounds and four steals. Cory De Marco had four points and nine assists. Katiani Lynch, who along with Harris, are the lone seniors on the club, had two points, seven rebounds and five steals. Kirk chipped in four points.

The Islanders completed the season with a record of 15-10 and 9-3 in the Central League. Tip-off for Wednesday night’s playoff game at Escondido Charter is 7 pm.

CHS Boys Golf Tryouts Extended for This Week

CHS Boys Golf Head Coach Randy Coutts is extending tryouts for the team through Friday of this week for any boys interesting in competing. The team has a mixture of returning players including Alex Valle and Brian Turley, some players from last year’s successful Coronado Middle School program, and a few players new to the school.

If you are interested in joining the team, please attend tryouts at 3 pm this Wednesday through Friday at the Coronado Municipal Golf Course. The team meets at the driving range daily at that time. Or, you can contact Coach Coutts at 435-1272 for additional information.

David Blumenthal Remembered

A more formal tribute to David Blumenthal, former CHS principal and Coronado Unified School District superintendent appears in these pages this week. Blumenthal had a positive impact on sports in the community and his name appears on the high school’s sports complex, which includes both the football stadium and the gymnasium.

In addition, Blumenthal was an assistant coach with the CHS football program and was one of the Coronado citizens who helped bring Pop Warner youth football back to the island. Blumenthal also umpired Little League baseball, which is perhaps the ultimate labor of love from an athletic perspective.

A gifted athlete in his own right as a youngster, Blumenthal played a prominent role in making Coronado the fine community we enjoy today.