Nado Natterings
A weekly column by David Axelson Back to Index

6 October 2010 Issue #40

Islander Football (2-2, 1-0) returned to the winning side of the ledger Friday night in their Central League opener against Crawford, as Coronado prevailed 41-6. The Colts (0-4, 0-1) gridiron program has experienced some lean years of late. Although Crawford was game to the end, this one was over early.

The Colts received the opening kickoff and on their first play from scrimmage threw a medium-range pass, which was promptly intercepted by the Islanders Jeff Bona. Now on offense, Coronado’s Austin Denson ran the ball for 40 yards on the Islanders first play and then Bona scored on a 15-yard jaunt of his own. Robert Bell was good on the conversion attempt. All of that transpired in the first 13 seconds of the game.

Attempting to summarize the first quarter, the first four times Bona touched the ball he intercepted a pass on defense and ran for touchdowns of 15, 5 and 87 yards on his way to gaining 111 yards on the evening. Somewhere in the midst of all of that, Denson threw a 26-yard touchdown pass to sophomore tight end Ryan Halvorson, who made a nice leaping grab at the apex of the ball’s flight. The score at the end of the first quarter was 28-0 Coronado.

Somewhere in the early throes of the second quarter, the game went to a running clock, meaning that game time stops only for team timeouts. Unfazed by that development, Coronado scored with 3:43 remaining in the first half on a 38-yard pass from Trey Jasonek to Jordan Jacobs. At this point Bell was worn out and yielded to Mason Copp who kicked the extra point.

Due to the running clock and the fact that they were scoring early and often, Coronado ran only 11 plays from the line of scrimmage in the first half, which was matched by a mere 11 additional plays in the second half. On the evening the Islanders averaged 12.8 yards per play from scrimmage.

Denson, who gained 56 yards rushing in the game, capped the Coronado scoring with a six-yard run at the beginning of the fourth frame. Jasonek added 50 more yards rushing and between the two quarterbacks, they threw for a total of 64 yards. A fine effort was turned in by Mike Byrne, who ran back his first kickoff return for 59 yards and another one for 18 yards.  

On the defensive side of the ball, Jacobs was credited with three solo tackles, four assisted tackles, one sack and one caused fumble. Bobby Brandenburg had five assisted tackles, and pass interceptions were turned in by Bona and Bell.

Head Coach Bud Mayfield discussed his team and their contributions mid-way through the season. “Jeff Bona has done a great job. Our offensive production is down this season, but without him we wouldn’t have the points we have. He’s carried the load. Austin Denson has done a good job and Jordan Jacobs is averaging 25 yards a catch. Ryan Halvorson is playing every down both ways. He plays tight end and strong side linebacker and he plays on special teams. That was a great throw and catch with Austin and Ryan Friday night. It was a difficult catch and Ryan got it. He’s been a great addition.”

This week the Islanders play Kearny High School, which presents more of a challenge than in years past, according to Mayfield. “Kearny is way improved, scary improved. They have some athletes and they are playing with a lot of enthusiasm. They have a kid who is as fast as I’ve ever seen who runs back kicks, can catch the deep ball and runs the sweep. Generally I feel pretty good playing them but not this year.”

Kearny is 1-4 on the season, and won their Central League opener last week against Clairemont by the score of 32-14. The kick-off for the game, which will be played at Kearny, is 3 pm.

CHS Frosh Football Defeats Cathedral 7-6

We don’t normally delve below the varsity level in “Nado Natterings,” but we do make exceptions. Last week the Islander Freshman Football Team defeated Cathedral Catholic 7-6 on a touchdown scored by Robbie Weissenfels. Coronado had another scoring opportunity as Logan Lister attempted to reach across the goal line with the ball, but had it knocked out of his hand before crossing the plane of the goal. To paraphrase noted sports analyst Martha Stewart, a football victory over Cathedral Catholic is a very good thing.

North County Times Prep Football Poll

John Maffei sportswriter for the “North County Times Newspaper” organizes the weekly Prep Football Poll. This poll has 21 voters, including Your Natterer, who contribute each week. Here are this week’s results: No. 1 Vista, No. 2 Eastlake, No. 3 Helix, No. 4 Torrey Pines; No. 5 Valley Center; No. 6 Oceanside; No. 7 Steele Canyon; No. 8 Mount Miguel; No. 9 La Costa Canyon; No. 10 Mission Hills. Also receiving votes (in order) Ramona, Rancho Bernardo, Grossmont and St. Augustine.

Islander Girls Cross Country Runs Over Rivals

The CHS Cross Country program had another good week, especially the Girls portion of the team. Head Coach George Green provides the details. “The Saints Cross Country Invitational serves as an early-season indicator for smaller schools (mostly Division IV), where everyone currently stands.

 It’s run over the same course as the CIF Championships at Morley Field. The Islander Girls’ squad continued their undefeated run this season with a 43-point margin of victory over the second place team, Our Lady of Peace, a Division III team. Our closest Division IV rival, Bishop’s, was four points farther back in third place.

Sadie Gimber was the winner in 17:27 over the girls’ 2.75-mile course. Gimber used her 400 meter sprinter speed to pull away from Bishop’s Lauren Collins, who ran 17:42.  Nicole Davies was third in 18:00 and was followed by Annie Lovering (fourth in 18:09), Meg Sweeney (fifth in 18:13) and Mollie Privett (ninth in 18:42) to round out the scoring. Following Privett, Maddy Danielson placed 13th and Ashley Engleman 24th. 

In cross country the top five finishing places are added, with the lowest score being best. Coronado scored 22 points, OLP 65, and Bishop’s 69. Our nearest Central League rival in the race was Madison in ninth place with 251 points.

Looking to the future, the Girls’ JV race was also a Coronado romp with five out of the top 10 finishers wearing the Islander green and white. In that race freshmen Sierra Smith, Martha Byrne and Taylor Ramos placed 1-2-3 respectively, followed by freshman Vanessa Tortolero in sixth and sophomores  Sydney Bennett and Mary Grace Braun in ninth and tenth respectively.  Sophomores Lindsay Garner and Madison McBride placed 44th and 45th followed by Adrienne Reyes, Yvonne Wood, Emma Renly and Sarah Alfano. The top three team scores were Coronado 21, Bishop’s 55 and OLP 61.

Aryan Shay was our top finisher in the Boy’s varsity race in 13th with a time of 17:43 over the boys’ 3.04-mile course. He was followed by Will Funk (18:36), Ryan Keeney (18:50), Nate Wilson, Jack Gold, Drew Findley, Paul Rodriguez, Carlos Montes and Casey Engelman. This placed us third among Division IV teams and first among the Central League teams in attendance, including last seasons’ league champ Christian High School. 

In the Boys JV race Nick Beall had a nice run that got him the fifth place medal with a time of 19:45. He was followed by Jason Vance (16th), Chris Leary (18th), Ryan Herrmann (20th), Grainger Lanneau, Weston Breay, Michael  Cerdinio, and Kingston De Laurentis. Check out our website IslanderTrack.com for hundreds of photos of this year’s teams.

CHS Girls Golf Splits a Pair of Matches Last Week

Coronado’s Girls Golf Team played twice last week and got rained out once, so their record could best be summarized as 1-1-1. The two matches they did play were on the Torrey Pines South Course, which is a pretty nice gig if you can get it.

In the first match, they lost to La Jolla 230-289. Coronado scoring average leader freshman Cara Barker  but wasn’t able to play due to an injured thumb, but sophomore Tori Davis in her first match of the season was able to lead the Islanders with a round of 50. Liza Logan carded a 52 for the second best round for Coronado.

The following day it was back to Torrey Pines South, with University City supplying the opposition. Coronado won 275-298. Barker returned to action and shot a 42, which was her fifth time in the low to mid-40’s. In addition, Barker has shot a 39 three times this season. Erin Dupree shot a 49, the fourth time she has shot under 50 this year.

“Our match with Our Lady of Peace will be re-scheduled for later in the month,” said Head Coach Hanna Cohan. “We’ll probably make it a tri-match with another school.” This week Coronado plays Point Loma Monday at Balboa and Tuesday has a tri-match with Cathedral Catholic and Madison.

Islander Girls Tennis Falls to Cathedral Catholic

Two of the better tennis programs in the county are in the Western League. Two weeks ago it was Coronado’s (8-5) time to play La Jolla and last week the other shoe dropped in the form of a match with Cathedral Catholic. Ironically, the scores against both schools found the Islanders on the short side of a 15-3 result.  

The three set victories were earned by Jackie Hites, Elena Wang and the doubles tandem of Brooke Gensler/Alex Rawlings. “The match was fun and Cathedral is as strong as La Jolla,” said Head Coach Rob LeBuhn. “It was a great learning experience for our team. The players have been working on their game. The effort is there. I see it in the girls this year.”

Their second Western League match of the week, which was to be played Thursday against Scripps Ranch, was rained out. “The highlight of the week was going to Disneyland Saturday,” LeBuhn noted. “We had a great time there and the weather was good, although we got rained on in the morning.”

In other tennis news, the JV Girls squad is having a successful campaign so far this season and is currently 8-0. So far their standout victories have included wins over Cathedral Catholic, La Jolla, Our Lady of Peace and La Jolla Country Day.

This week the varsity Islanders travel Tuesday to University City for a 3 pm match. They host OLP Thursday, also at 3 pm.

CHS Boys Water Polo Falls Twice

For Islander Water Polo Head Coach Randy Burgess, how his teams compete in the playoffs has always been more important than regular season results. Last week was a trial by fire of sorts, as Coronado lost 20-7 on the road to arch-rival Bishop’s Wednesday. Then Saturday the Islanders lost a home game to the team considered to be the best in the nation, Mater Dei of Santa Ana, by the score of 16-10.

Burgess was typically frank in his assessment of the loss to the Bishop’s Knights. “They hammered us and that is the bottom line. We knocked them out of the CIF Finals last year and they took it out on us. We did not come ready to play. We were more physically ready to play than mentally prepared. We weren’t ready to go when the game took off. Bishop’s was mentally prepared and physically aggressive and we didn’t respond. But I thought it was a valuable game and we’ll get more out of that loss than the wins over Davis and Carlsbad. We will be more competitive the next time we play them.”

Tommy Grall scored four goals and Garrett Smerdon scored three, with Van Burgess handing out two assists and three steals being credited to Patrick Geer.

Saturday Coronado faced Mater Dei, which was fresh off of winning the championship in the South Coast Tournament last weekend. “They are a stronger team than Bishop’s,” Burgess said. “They are a very good team and they showed it. We played better Saturday than we did Wednesday. Smerdon and Geer scored three goals each, with Eitan Peled scoring twice and Dylan Peterson and Grall scoring one each. Van Burgess had three assists and three steals. Garrett Sabesky played in goal for three quarters and had seven saves and three steals. Braydon Hummeldorf played the last quarter of both games.”

It doesn’t get any easier for the Islanders this week as they play defending Division II Champion Cathedral Catholic Wednesday at home at 5 pm. Friday they compete in the S&R Invitational in Irvine and draw Long Beach Wilson for their first round game at 11 am. Coronado will play twice Friday and twice Saturday in the 16-team event.

Padres Conclude a Near-Cinderella Season

Veteran readers of this column may remember that Your Natterer is a life-long Chicago Cubs fan and a third generation one at that. My grandmother Florence Axelson, who lived in Coronado in the later years of her life, knew more about baseball than all but a few men I have known. She passed Cubdom to my father and I in turn passed it along to our kids.

So while my heart and baseball allegiance resides on the North Side of Chicago, my head greatly admires the 2010 edition of the San Diego Padres. The Cubs essentially took the first two-thirds of the season off and rallied strong to finish 12 games under .500. If they had played with the grit and determination of the Padres, they would be in the playoffs now instead of on the 12th tee at a neighborhood golf course.

The Padres finished in a dead heat for the eighth best record in baseball. In fact their mark of 90-72 would have tied them with the Texas Rangers atop the American League West. Pitching and defense were the hallmarks of the Padres this season. They needed a little more offense added to the mix to push them over the top.

Padres’ management did a nice job of adding two players to the squad for the playoff run. Shortstop Miguel Tejada and outfielder Ryan Ludwick both did a nice job, but actually reversed roles from what I thought they would bring to the Padres playoff run. I was sure Tejada (36) was over the hill from a career perspective and was certain that Ludwick (32) was still in his prime. Tejada hit for a .268 average, with an on-base average of .317, while Ludwick (.251 and .325 respectively) didn’t live up to his offensive billing. Both played well defensively.

The truth of the matter is the Padres weren’t talented or deep enough in their everyday lineup to sustain a successful pennant drive. Only first baseman and South Bay native Adrian Gonzalez is a day-in, day-out threat at the plate. Ludwick was acquired to protect Gonzalez and to give him more hittable pitches and for the most part, that didn’t work. Third baseman Chase Headley contributed only 11 home runs and 58 RBIs in a position that demands power and offensive production.

I had a fortuitous encounter with friend and fellow sports fan Craig Turley in the Albertsons parking lot and together we solved the Padres problems going forward. Turley opined that the low-budget Padres, with the 29th ranked payroll ($38 million) out of the 30 teams in Major League Baseball, couldn’t afford both closer Heath Bell and Gonzalez next year. My thinking was to keep Gonzalez and move Mike Adams into the closer role, hoping he can make the big leap from the set-up slot. A lot of promising set-up guys can’t make that move. As the saying goes, the final three outs in baseball are the toughest to get.

The really unfortunate part of that discussion was that baseball rosters shouldn’t be an exercise in zero-sum economics. To be a successful owner in professional sports you have to have stupid money. The Phillies, perhaps the most talent-laden team not playing in New York, has a payroll of $141 million, and field All-Stars at most positions. They also have perhaps the best three-man pitching rotation in baseball with Roy Halladay, Cole Hamels and Roy Oswalt. Those three hurlers will earn $37 million among them this year or in aggregate roughly 97 percent of the total Padre payroll.

The counter-balance to stupid money is playing in a large market, from which your franchise can glean significant income from radio, television and cable outlets. Usually stupid money and large markets exist simultaneously (New York Mets and Yankees), but not always (Los Angeles Dodgers). The Padres have smart money and a small market. Long term that’s not a recipe for continued success.

None of that detracts from the Padres performance this season, which was admirable. As Turley noted in our problem-solving discussion, San Diego Manager Bud Black got everything he could out of his team. But over a grueling 162-game schedule, talent is the deciding factor. And the Padres weren’t quite there.

Chargers Stray Thoughts

I was glad to ‘see’ that the Chargers got back on track with a resounding win over the Arizona Cardinals Sunday. My total exposure to the game was a brief highlight package on ESPN.

I enjoy watching the Chargers, but to be honest, if they aren’t shown on local television due to a blackout, I suddenly have three free hours to do something else. The old-fashioned notion of protecting home attendance by not showing the game on television is a major faux pas.

Televised games are three-hour commercials for the product of the two teams involved. If the teams are competitive, which the Chargers are, the franchise is losing a valuable marketing opportunity due to a defensive, protectionist philosophy from the 1960’s. That is a mode of thought that is literally 50 years old. The NFL makes very few mistakes, but this one is a dandy.

So this week the Chargers are back in the chase with big win over Arizona, or so I am told. The next two weeks are equally important and San Diego needs to win on the road at Oakland this week and at St. Louis the following week. Then the schedule stiffens with the New England Patriots coming to town Oct. 24.The Chargers need to get to 10 wins to make the playoffs and the race is officially on with the Chargers 2-2.