Nado Natterings
A weekly column by David Axelson Back to Index

1 December 2010 Issue #48

Friday night’s CIF Division IV Quarter-Finals playoff game between Coronado and Santa Fe Christian, played in brisk weather conditions at La Costa Canyon High School, reflected the Islander’s season in microcosm. About the time you thought it was time to count Coronado out, they came roaring back. However at the end, the Eagles used their team speed to outrun the Islanders and earn a 63-35 victory.

The contest had an inauspicious start for the No. 5 seeded Islanders (9-3), who ran three plays from scrimmage on their first possession and then had to punt. The Eagles conversely scored on a 35-yard touchdown scamper on their third play from scrimmage. The Islanders fumbled the return kickoff and Santa Fe Christian scored six plays later to take a 14-0 lead.

Since the temperature at La Costa Canyon, the site of the game because the Eagles’ home field doesn’t have lights, was in the upper 40’s with a wafting but persistent breeze, your scribe could have been talked into sacking the footballs and heading home at that point.

With 3:15 remaining in the first quarter team Co-Captain Austin Copp caused an Eagle fumble, which was recovered by Jose Sanchez and the Islanders set up shop in the SFC 35-yard line. A 13-yard pass completion from quarterback Austin Denson to Ryan Halvorson, a 13-yard run by Denson and a nine-yard touchdown pass from Denson to Mason Copp (sophomore brother of senior Austin) got the Islanders back into the game.

On the first play from scrimmage after the Islanders kicked off, the Santa Fe Christian quarterback went on a 70-yard jaunt, and was caught from behind by defensive back Jeff Bona, who not only saved a touchdown, but also created a fumble that the Islanders recovered. It was an outstanding effort from Bona, who covered a considerable portion of the playing field on a diagonal plane to make the play. Shortly after the start of the second quarter, the Eagles scored again to take a 21-6 lead.

But the Islanders chugged back into contention, putting together a 75-yard drive that was punctuated by several mid-range passes and culminated in a six-yard toss from Denson to Co-Captain Jordan Jacobs for a touchdown. On the Eagles next play from scrimmage, lineman Jack Mikesell created a fumble that was recovered by the ever-present Mason Copp and the Islanders had another scoring opportunity on the Eagles 22-yard line. Denson found Jacobs again for a 15-yard score and a two-point conversion pass attempt from Denson to Bona was successful. All of that activity tied the score at 21-all.

The final six minutes of the first half brought a flurry (notice the continued use of weather imagery) of scoring, unfortunately most of it by the Eagles. An eight-play Eagles’ scoring drive was followed by an Islander turnover and another Santa Fe Christian quick score. The most dynamic Coronado scoring play of the evening came on ensuing kickoff, when Halvorson, a tight end and linebacker by trade, returned the ball 83 yards for a score. The run was punctuated by an outstanding stiff arm that Halvorson laid on the Eagles defender, stopping the pursuer in his tracks.  

However, three plays later the Eagles scored again, this time with 1.7 seconds remaining in the half. Santa Fe Christian held a 42-28 lead at intermission.

Coronado’s defense checked the Eagles to start the second half, and the Islanders pieced together a nifty 70-yard, nine play scoring drive. At this point, everyone in the stadium knew the Islanders had to throw the ball to stay in the game, and Denson did his part. A 36-yard completion to Mike Byrne, a 27-yard pass to Copp the Younger, and a four-yard scoring strike to Jacobs highlighted the drive. At this point the score was 42-35 with 4:22 remaining in the third quarter. Coronado would not score again in the contest, while the Eagles added three touchdowns to their side of the scoreboard.

The Islanders were without the playing services of senior linebacker and tailback Andrew Toomey, who sustained a shoulder injury in Coronado’s First Round victory over Escondido Charter. “We were handicapped without Toomey,” said Head Coach Bud Mayfield. “He’s a big part of our offense and he provides key speed on the outside as a linebacker. Santa Fe Christian was little and quick. They had more speed than we did to the outside and that was a key. Giving them field position and falling behind 14 points immediately didn’t help. We did battle back. It was like an old-time AFL (American Football League) game. They didn’t pull away until the final quarter.”

Mayfield, a football lifer and gridiron historian, appreciated the stiff arm from Halvorson that lead to the touchdown. “Halvorson has a great future ahead of him. That was a terrific run and the stiff arm was awesome. That was the best since Marvin Dingle (former Islander tailback) did that against San Diego in 2000. Then Ryan accelerated away and was not to be denied. The kids were their gritty selves. The team scored over 375 points this season, after being shut out by Grossmont in the first game.”

On the defensive side of the ball, Bona had five solo tackles, two assisted tackles and a fumble recovery; Sanchez was credited with four solo tackles, three assisted tackles, a fumble recovery and two hurries; while Billy Ryan had three solo tackles and four assisted tackles. Thanks to Islander statistician Kyle Montague for his statistical support again this year.

A couple of offensive milestones of note were achieved in the game. Bona ran for 32 yards, which put him at 1,013 for the season. In total for the season, Bona rushed a total of 149 times and averaged 6.8 yards per carry.

Denson was 17-30 passing for 251 yards and four touchdowns against Santa Fe Christian. The junior left-hander did a fine job of finding different receivers and spreading the ball around. He threw six times to Jacobs for 54 yards, three times to Halvorson for 53 yards, four times to Copp for 66 yards, three completions went to Bona for 42 yards and Mike Byrne had one catch for 36 yards. Denson threw for 1,487 yards and 19 touchdowns for the season.

Next week we’ll have coverage of the Islander post season banquet and the team awards.

Girls Cross Country Concludes Successful Season at State Meet

The CHS Girls Cross Country Team took their talents to Fresno (thank you LeBron James for that multi-purpose quote) and the CIF State meet Saturday. The Islanders earned the right to participate at the state level by virtue of their second place finish to Del Norte High School in the CIF San Diego Section meet the previous weekend.  

State-wide, Division IV is particularly strong, especially among schools in the Greater Los Angeles area. The Islanders acquitted themselves well, finishing in 17th place in the division. The leader for Coronado was Sadie Gimber, who finished 48th overall with a time of 20:14. She was followed by Islanders Meg Sweeney (73rd in 20:39); Nicole Davies (92nd in 21:00); Elise Umansky (101st in 21:10); Ashley Engelman (104th in 21:16) and Sierra Smith (125th in 21:57).

Gimber and Sweeney are seniors, while Davies (junior), Umansky and Engelman (sophomores) and Smith (freshman) figure to be among the leaders of next year’s squad.

Islander Girls Basketball Off to 2-2 Start

A coach’s perspective can change over time. CHS Girls Head Basketball Coach Toler Goodwin admitted that a week ago he would have been happy with a 2-2 mark after the first weekend of play in the annual Coronado Thanksgiving Tournament. But once he got into the season, the one that got away, which was a loss to Chula Vista, was the game that could have made his team 3-1 to start the year.

The tourney started for the Islanders with a 37-30 win over San Dieguito Academy. The first quarter really and truly looked like the first eight minutes of the first game of the new season, as the score was 7-5 in favor of Coronado. For their contribution, the Islanders didn’t score for the first six minutes of the game, but held the Mustangs scoreless for the final two and one-half minutes of the first frame and continued the defensive shutout for the next six and one-half minutes of the second quarter as well.

The Islander starting five, which included Captain Peri Curtis, Cory De Marco, Alex Evans, Samantha Kirk and Coco Abrantes, appeared to have the opening game jitters. In any event Coronado had enough to hold on for a 13-9 lead at the half. After the first quarter, Coronado never trailed although their lead did get down to only three points with 4:15 remaining in the game. A Curtis layup, followed by one free throw from Abrantes, a free throw from Curtis and a layup from Kirk proved to be enough for the victory.

Curtis scored 14 of her 16 points in the second half. Evans, who does a lot of the dirty work for the Islanders, accumulated eight points, 16 rebounds and six steals to go with two assists. As Goodwin said in a phone interview a couple of days later, “Yeah, we can go ahead and highlight her. Alex was outstanding.” Kirk added seven points and six rebounds, Meganne Weissenfels and Abrantes had three points each to round out the scoring.

Friday night’s second game was a 33-19 loss to Chula Vista, which was somewhat unusual because the Islanders had dominated the Spartans in a scrimmage three days before. Hence, the prior reference to “the one that got away.” Let’s summarize the game by saying Coach Goodwin wasn’t happy with the loss.

Coronado faced San Marcos in the first of their two games on Saturday and came away with a 31-21 win. This game was won in the trenches, as the Islanders held the Knights scoreless for the last minute of the first quarter, all of the second quarter and for the first three minutes of the third. That’s exactly 12 minutes of shutout basketball. Coronado held a 15-6 lead at the half, and was ahead 22-10 at the end of three quarters.

Remarkably Evans almost exactly duplicated her performance in the tournament opener, this time with 16 rebounds, five steals and five points. Curtis was again the leading scorer for Coronado with 12 points and she added 10 rebounds and four blocked shots to complete a nice all-around effort. Abrantes had seven points and seven rebounds. Weissenfels added seven rebounds and two steals. Others players scoring in the contest included De Marco, Kirk and Martha Byrne, all with two points each. Camille Wilson added a point to the winning effort.

Weissenfels, whose main claim to fame is as the starting goalie on the CHS Girls Lacrosse team, is nevertheless a force on the basketball court. She’s never met a loose ball she doesn’t like. Combining Weissenfels’ constant defensive pressure, with the fact that Evans had at least 12 caroms in each of the four games, endears both to Goodwin. “You have to admire the effort Meganne and Alex put out.”

Goodwin is modifying his team’s defensive concept this season, a concept he discussed. “We have a lot of growth to come defensively. We played zone the last two years and the mistakes we were making this week were early-stage man-to-man mistakes. We weren’t quick enough on rotations, and we weren’t aware on the weak side. The players were a little ball-watchy. We gave up 10 backdoor layups against Chula Vista because we didn’t have weak side help plugging up the lane. But collectively we played defense well in three of the four games.”

Goodwin summarized the first four games of play for his club. “This weekend overall was a solid education in basketball, especially in the speed of the game and awareness. You have to pay attention and learn about the game. We were playing all larger schools and we came out 2-2, which is a fair weekend for us.”

This week the Islanders travel to Foothill Christian Wednesday for a 5 pm game, which is a varsity-only engagement. Saturday the Thanksgiving Tournament has the final round of games, minus the Islanders, who due to scheduling problems on Imperial High School’s part, travel to face the Tigers in January and play their fifth opponent in the event. The final round begins at 1 pm as Crawford plays Grossmont; at 2:35 pm San Dieguito and San Marcos play; and the finale is Ramona against Chula Vista at 4:15 pm.

Coronado Boys Basketball Starts Regular Season Today

While the Girls Basketball Team was toiling away in their tournament, their Boys Basketball counterparts were traveling hither and yon to scrimmage and prepare for their regular season opener Wednesday. ‘Yon’ turned out to include a journey to Sweetwater High School Saturday morning as Coronado participated in a three-way scrimmage held among the host team, the Chula Vista High Spartans and the Islanders.

The Islanders won all four of the quarters they played, with the pair against Sweetwater being competitive while the two against Chula Vista could be charitably described as ‘one-sided.’ Let’s just say that in your Mesa League office pool, Chula Vista wouldn’t be your first choice.

‘Hither’ was a Monday evening scrimmage against Mater Dei, a team led by former Islander Head Coach Ken Caesar. When the starting units were on the floor, the play was competitive, with Coronado holding a slight overall advantage.

All of this leads to the season opener against Horizon High School in a tournament game to be played at West Hills High at 6:30 pm Wednesday. Let’s add that West Hills is a long ride in a Cadillac from Coronado, but the game should be very competitive.

Islander Head Coach J.D. Laaperi has a veteran club assembled for the 2010-11 campaign and they enter the season as the defending Central League Co-champions. Seniors include starting shooting guard Justin Hebner and starting center Billy Schmitt, who are joined by classmates Chris Banks, Jason Fielder Jordan Jacobs, and Josh Torres.

“Justin and Billy bring senior leadership and three years of varsity time to the team,” said Laaperi. “The team is looking to them for on and off court leadership. Jordan and Chris give us athleticism inside that we haven’t had in a long time. Jason and Josh will be valuable contributors off the bench.”

The junior class supplies the other three starters, including point guard Danny Hebert, small forward Harley Ralph and power forward Luke Gillingham, a transfer to Coronado from Florida. Brice Robell, a transfer from St. Augustine can play either the big guard or small forward slot. Other juniors who will receive considerable floor time include Brian Turley and Collin Green. Dylan Gouthro and John Scales will represent the sophomore class.

Most of the team’s scoring will come from the guard combo of Hebner and Hebert. “Danny and Justin together, when they have it going, you can put them up there with anybody in the county,” said Laaperi. “They are as good as it gets from what I have seen.”

New this season is a CIF designation of Division III for the Islanders, a step up from Division IV where the school has competed in basketball for many years. The CIF divisions, which are based on student enrollment, have been re-drawn to add more playoff opportunities to schools in virtually all sports. When asked about competing in Division III, Laaperi responded, “I’m looking forward to the challenge. We have been able to see Bishop’s and Francis Parker for the past 10 years. Now it will be fun to see some new faces.” Laaperi listed La Jolla, St. Augustine and defending CIF champion Mt. Miguel as the Division III programs to watch.

In the Central League, the competition will be familiar to followers of the Islander program, according to Laaperi. “Clairemont brings everybody back. We beat them both times last year, but it was a battle. Point Loma will be the biggest team we face all year as they are 6-4, 6-5 and 6-6 across the front, which will pose an interesting challenge. Madison shared the title with us last year, but they lost the Central League MVP to graduation. Crawford has an influx of foreign talent and a whole new coaching staff, so they could be the wild card.”

In addition to the game against Horizon Wednesday, the Islanders will face Serra High School Saturday at 6 pm, also at West Hills High School.

It’s Late November, So Chargers Have Their Collective Foot on The Accelerator

Last week in this space we noted that in coming off of their bye week, the Chargers defense was flying to the ball and wreaking havoc on the Denver Broncos. Sunday evening San Diego traveled to Indianapolis to take on Peyton Manning and the Colts and the San Diego defense was outstanding again, pinning back the ears of the Colts quarterback and their entire offense.

The Bolts brought the defensive pressure early and often and never allowed Manning and the injury-riddled Colts offense a chance to get started. The result was a dominant 36-14 win by the Chargers.

San Diego quarterback Philip Rivers did exactly what he needed to do and that was take care of the ball. Rivers was 19-23 passing for 185 yards and no touchdowns and no turnovers. Tailback Mike Tolbert ran for 103 bruising yards and the team’s lone offensive touchdown, while Nate Kaeding booted five field goals. The Chargers defense returned two intercepted Manning passes for touchdowns and the night belonged to the Bolts.

With the win, the Chargers are now in second place in the AFC Western Division, one game ahead of next Sunday’s opponents, the Oakland Raiders. San Diego in turn trails division leader Kansas City, their opponent at home December 12th, by one game. Now the Chargers season really gets interesting.

Three Henken Siblings Named to U.S. Sailing Development Team

A total of 55 youth sailors have been named to the United States Sailing Development Team and three of them are members of Coronado’s Henken Family. Hans Henken 18, along with Sterling Henken and his twin sister Paris Henken both 14, have been named to the team. This is the third time for Hans to be included on the squad and the first for both Paris and Sterling.

Hans is a senior at Coronado High School, where he is joined by his freshman siblings. All three sail for the Coronado Yacht Club and for the CHS Sailing Team.

Paris and Sterling were two of six athletes chosen for the 29er or skiff class. Hans was one of 14 athletes who will participate in the 49er class, which is a two-person high performance dinghy.

According to a press release announcing the selections, the benefits to being in the program include receiving elite-level coaching, guidance and mentoring. United States Sailing Development Team (USSDT) members benefit from training against other top, young sailors from across the United States. The Olympic Sailing Committee will also support these athletes with shipping and logistical assistance and advice. They also have access to the sailing committee’s performance enhancement team of physical therapists, trainers and nutritionists.