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Nado Natterings |
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weekly column by David Axelson |
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8 December 2010 Issue #49
An ‘Off-Broadway Opening” may be the best way to describe the CHS Boys Basketball Team’s early season schedule. Good talent and good opponents, but the action is going on a bit away from home. The Islanders played twice last week at West Hills High School in Santee. MapQuest says the school is located 27 minutes away from Coronado, but that must be via helicopter.
Anyway, the Islanders split their games, with the first being a 45-38 loss to Horizon Wednesday, a game which Coronado lead at the end of three quarters by one point. For the game the Islanders shot 16-62 from the field and the resulting 25.8 percent shooting percentage isn’t going to win most rec league games, much less a neutral-court contest played against a quality opponent.
Justin Hebner led Coronado with 22 points and no one else was in double figures for the Islanders. With that many misses, as you might imagine there were a lot of rebounds careening around. Harley Ralph was the rebounding leader with eight, Billy Schmitt claimed seven boards, with Luke Gillingham and Brice Robell grabbing six each. Chris Banks and Danny Hebert had five boards each.
“It was one of those nights and it happened that two of our better shooters were cold and we couldn’t overcome it,” said Islander Head Coach J.D. Laaperi, referring to Hebert and Ralph. “Justin tried to carry us and Brice showed us his competitiveness. Brian Turley came in off the bench and gave us five to 10 good minutes. He had a real good effort and it was good to see him step up a bit.”
In between the mid-week affair with Horizon and the Saturday game against Serra, Laaperi and the team, well mostly Laaperi, reassessed their offensive approach. “We spent the two days after the Horizon game practicing. I told the team, ‘We spend three months in the preseason running. Let’s take advantage of that and quick break and fast break every time we get the ball.’ We scored 73 points in the last three quarters of the game. About 85 percent of our points came on the fast break or shots taken in the first five seconds from a drive and dish. We forced 28 turnovers, which went a long way toward our scoring 83 points.”
Put this one in the win column, the result of defeating Serra 83-37. Hebert found his shooting range against the Conquistadors, going for 29 points, which melded rather nicely with 25 points from Hebner. Ralph added seven points, while Banks chipped in six more.
According to Laaperi, a couple of guys who didn’t score much had a big impact on the game. “Gillingham had nine rebounds and two long assists on outlet passes. Jordan Jacobs played his first 10 minutes of the season and went 2-2 from the field with four boards. He gave us the energy I thought he would give us and it was nice to see him in there.”
If anything, the competition gets tougher this week as the tournament continues play on Tuesday at West Hills, when Coronado plays Scripps Ranch at 8 pm. Friday the opponent is St. Augustine at 9 pm. The tourney concludes on Saturday with an opponent and game time to be announced, which will depend on Coronado’s overall record in the event.
Girls Basketball Wins Over Foothills Christian
Last week the Islander Girls Basketball Team hit the road and traveled to play Foothills Christian. The Knights are more widely known for their Boys Basketball program, which has competed for the state Division V title each of the past few years. Coronado returned home with a 52-16 victory, which pushed the Islanders above the .500 mark with a record of 3-2.
Islander Head Coach Toler Goodwin invoked the wisdom of ESPN College Football Analyst Lou Holtz and called the contest a ‘roster game.’ As in, everybody on the roster gets playing time. “It’s early in the year and what I hope to see is inspiration in our play,” said Goodwin. “I want to see our players give equal effort when they are out there, regardless if it is a good or a poor team. We have to make determinations on the tighter eight-man rotation that we would use as we move through the season.”
Leading scorers for Coronado included Peri Curtis with 18, Alex Evans with 12 and Samantha Kirk with nine. Evans was the leading rebounder with nine, despite playing only half the game. Nicollette Abrantes had four steals, Kirk contributed five thefts and Curtis added seven more. Alex Reidy supplied a positive effort scoring five points, with all of her tallies coming on free throws, the direct result of her attacking the basket.
Meganne Weissenfels continued her defensive assault on the opposition as Goodwin turned the junior ball hawk loose on the Knights best ball handler. “She played harassing defense and forced the ball to be given to her teammates,” Goodwin added.
Goodwin concluded his early season analysis with one negative and one positive thought. “We have to shoot better. Coming off of the Thanksgiving weekend, we’re still not shooting efficiently. We have to get more confident with our shooting, by getting into better positions and being ready to shoot when the ball comes to us. I’ve been pretty pleased with our rebounding. We have been attacking the glass pretty well and getting some good angles on things. I’m glad we’re going and getting the ball.”
The Islander Varsity is not scheduled to play this week, and returns to action Tuesday, Dec. 14th at home against Orange Glen. Thursday Dec. 16th they host Hilltop and both varsity games are scheduled to tip-off at 7 pm.
Girls Water Polo Splits First Two Games of New Season
It’s always good to get off to a positive start to a new season and the CHS Girls Water Polo Team did just that last week with a 6-4 win over La Jolla High School. Two days later the Islanders fell to Newport Harbor by the score of 14-5. Both were home games played at the Brian Bent Memorial Aquatics Center.
Coronado Head Coach Dave Throop guides us through the Islander roster for 2010-11. “We have seniors including goalkeeper Brooke Bernardy, Lauren Carroll, Candyce Day, Shelby Couture, Hannah Green, Morgan Karney and Kendall Martin stepping into leadership roles. As a result, Coronado looks as though it will be able to continue its tradition of being a perennial power come playoff time.
Senior Alexis Reza will take on the role of student manager this season. She had labrum and rotator cuff surgery and expressed her desire to continue being a teammate.
The seniors will be joined by junior Kendall Hoshko. Sophomores include goalie Emma Renly, Sarah Alfano, Gabbie Darlak, Nona Jones and Chantilly Otto-Smith. Three freshmen Rebecca Bayer, Kaitlin Seay and Jaicey Tyler will contribute as well.
It will be a good year, with a huge learning curve, as most of our expected contributors are first year varsity members. As the year goes by, the younger players will develop. If Coronado Girls Water Polo were a stock, you would buy, buy, buy.”
Back to the La Jolla game, Martin led the Islanders with three goals, four steals, one assist and one field block. Green contributed one goal, two assists, three steals and one field block. Couture had a goal and two assists, while Carroll had one goal and one assist.
Against Newport Harbor, Couture led the Islander attack with three goals, Day added two goals, and Martin, Renly and Bernardy all had an assist. Bernardy was also credited with eight saves the in goal.
This week the Varsity hosts Carlsbad at the BBMAC Thursday at 5 pm. Saturday the team travels to Belmont Plaza to play Long Beach Wilson for a game at 11 am.
Girls Soccer to Take on Division IV in 2010-11
Keeping up with the divisional assignments in the CIF San Diego Section is proving to be a challenge in 2010-11. Both CHS basketball programs are moving up from Division IV to III, while both soccer programs are moving down from III to IV.
Which makes the Coronado Girls Soccer situation unfortunate (as is the case with Girls Water Polo which moves from Division II to III) is that the Islanders won’t be able to defend their same CIF divisional title. Coronado also went undefeated in the Western League last year, so that should give the Islanders something to shoot for.
Coronado Head Coach Kiko Medina has a wealth of talent to choose from. However four players who had made the original 20 person roster have injuries in various stages from ‘out for the season’ to being in the final stage of diagnosing the severity of their injuries.
Senior Annie Lovering is out for the season with a torn anterior cruciate ligament and a torn meniscus, injuries which were sustained during the club soccer season. Senior midfielder Demi Waitley is still recovering from off-season surgery, while senior Lauren Tobin and junior Ariel Ochoa are awaiting a final diagnosis of their injuries. Missing talent of that caliber would devastate most teams however Medina dipped into another wealth of talent, this time at the JV level, to re-stock the program.
The returning seniors include Brianne Clifford, Cassie Callahan, Alison Culora, Kaitlyn Couture, Mallory Mitchell, Alana Pokorny, Mariah Stacy, Avery Woodhouse, Stephanie Hamilton and backup goalie Olivia Nebo. Callahan was the CIF San Diego Section Player of the Year last season, a remarkable achievement for a junior.
Junior class members include starting goalie Cory DeMarco, Katie Centeno, and Olivia Lillegraven. Medina elaborated on the junior class. “They are all going to be counted on to produce. Cory is coming back and has been a big part of our success. Katie will be counted on and we are going to try to keep Olivia up top this season. We called Gabby Pietkiewicz and Jessica Helmstetter up from JV.
Sophomores include Sydney Bennett and Grace Braun who was called up from JV. We have two freshmen training with us due to the injuries and they are Abigail Callahan and Taylor Ramos. We expect to carry no more than 20 players on the varsity.”
Medina assessed the competition in the Western League for this season. “Cathedral Catholic is strong and they didn’t lose too many players. University City didn’t lose a single player and they should have a really good run. I think this season it will be between us, Cathedral and U.C.” In the CIF Division IV race, Medina and Company will compete against foes from the Bishop’s School and Francis Parker and he believes they are the teams to beat.
To get his team ready for the rigors of the season, Medina has stepped up the non-conference scheduling by at least a few notches. Instead of competing in the Baron’s Tournament, as the Coronado program has done for several years, this year the Islander will compete in the Butch Lee Memorial and will face Torrey Pines, Carlsbad and Great Oak this week. Also over Christmas Break, the team will compete in an invitation-only event in Santa Ana. “We tried to get into this tournament for the past couple of years,” Medina added. “They have finally realized that we have a strong group. That should be a big test for us.”
As for the Butch Lee Memorial this week, that should be a challenge as well. “It’s going to be good to get some very good competition and these are all top-level teams. We’ll see where we are early and see how we are without the injured girls and the girls who are playing for them. It’s like putting together pieces of a puzzle.”
Islander Boys Soccer Off to Blazing Start
The CHS Boys Soccer Team began play this season in their own tournament, and have fought their way to the Islander Tournament Gold Division Finals by winning four straight games. The victories include four consecutive shutouts starting with a 4-0 win over King-Chavez High School, a 1-0 shutout over South Bay rival Mar Vista, a 5-0 victory over High Tech High and a 3-0 win over Ramona Monday evening.
Leading the scoring for Coronado is Kyle Koshland, who in addition to scoring a goal in every contest played thus far, including the game-winner against Mar Vista, has scored six total goals in four games. Luke Hoffmann has three goals, Andrew Orozco has two tallies, while Ryan Keeney and Tommy Hart have a goal apiece. Goalie Jake Nicholson has four shutouts in the early going this season.
Coronado hosts San Ysidro in the Gold Division Finals Wednesday at 5 pm.
CHS Cross Country Awards and Recognition
The CHS Boys and Girls Cross Country Teams held their post-season banquet last week. Their awards were distributed as follows: Boys MVP – Aryan Shay; Girls Co-MVPs – Annie Lovering and Sadie Gimber; Coaches Awards – Nicole Davies, Ryan Keeney and Will Funk. The ISF Award was presented to Meg Sweeney. Four-year letter winners included Gimber and Lovering.
Islander Football Banquet Results
Sunday the Islander Football Varsity Awards banquet was held and befitting the undefeated Central League champions, there was a lot of hardware thrown around. All-Central League First Team honors went to defenders Bobby Brandenburg, Jose Sanchez, and Andrew Toomey. First Team offensive honors were accorded Jordan Jacobs and Austin Copp. Islander quarterback Austin Denson was named Central League Offensive Player of the Year.
Central League Second Team honors went to Ryan Halvorson, Jeff Bona and Jack Mikesell on offense and Mike Byrne and John Nettleton on defense.
Islander team awards included: Super Scout Award – Dylan West; Co-Most Improved – Billy Ryan and Byrne; Team Captains – Copp and Jacobs; Most Valuable Back – Bona; Most Valuable Lineman – Copp; Scholar-Athlete – Copp; Heart of the Islander Award – Toomey, who became the only two time winner of the award; and Team MVP – Jordan Jacobs.
Boys’ Water Polo All-Star Game Coming to BBMAC
Coronado residents won’t have far to travel to see the best senior male prep water polo players in San Diego County. The Fifth Annual Senior Water Polo Classic will be held Saturday, Dec. 11 at the Brian Bent Memorial Aquatics Center on the campus of Coronado High School. The game will be played starting at 6 pm.
Representing the Islander water polo program will be Patrick Geer, Garrett Sabesky and Garrett Smerdon. The format is the smaller schools (Coronado, Bishops, La Jolla, Cathedral Catholic, etc.) compete against players from the larger schools (Vista, Carlsbad, Torrey Pines, etc.). Coronado Head Coach Randy Burgess, who was recently named the Small Schools Coach of the Year, will guide the small schools team in the game.
The event is sponsored by the San Diego County Aquatics Council, which uses the event proceeds to fund aquatic scholarships throughout the county. Admission will be charged. Adults will cost $7, Students $5 and Coaches are free.
CHS Baseball Alumni Game Set for Dec. 26th
In what has now become an annual event, the CHS Baseball Program will hold their Alumni Game Sunday, Dec. 26th, according to Islander Head Coach Sam Ceci. Batting practice will be held at 10 am and the game itself will start at noon.
“It’s just the way the date falls on the calendar,” said Ceci describing the concept on why the game will be played on Sunday. “It seemed like the best date to get all of the college guys who are in town for the holidays to attend. Last year we had about 30 alumni. It was quite a turnout.”
Although the number of participants tends to favor the more recent Islander grads, Ceci is making a push to get the older alumni to participate. “If any of the older guys need them, we have gloves and hats they can use. We have plenty of bats. We just want all of the former players to come and be part of it. You don’t have to wear spikes, although if someone wanted them, we could locate some.”
Another reason for attending the game would be to see the field itself, which is located behind Silver Strand Elementary School. “The field will be spectacular this year,” Ceci said. “Scott Meloche has been working on the field and I have been working on the outside. We want to show it off and get everybody involved that we can.”
One minor change in the format is that the program is requesting a $10 donation for the players’ lunch which follows the game. “We’ll be breaking in a new grill. The snack bar is in good shape and we’ve made a lot of improvements. We’ll also have t-shirts and hats for purchase on hand.”
The game format is loosely based on the current high school players competing against the alumni. But Ceci has been known to play fast and loose with the ‘rules’ to get everyone involved. There is a lot of good-natured trash talking after the event, and a lot of admiration for the alumni who came out to participate in the event.
For more information regarding the Alumni Game, please contact Coach Ceci at 435-0854.
Sunday was Bad Day on San Diego Pro Sports Scene
Sunday was the day that the San Diego Padres formally admitted that they can’t compete financially to retain a star player literally born in their backyard. Simultaneously it was also the same 24-hour period when the San Diego Chargers didn’t come prepared to play against the Oakland Raiders, a one-sided result that will likely cost them a post season playoff appearance.
Let’s address the Padres first. In 2010 they fell one game short of making the playoffs, losing their post season slot in the final couple of days of the season to the eventual Division and World Series Champion San Francisco Giants. Most fans realized that the Padres had become more than the sum of their individual parts and had overachieved spectacularly on the field.
There was a brief lull after the conclusion of the post season and then the Padres front office started to make their personnel decisions for 2011. Apparently chief among those decisions was that they could no longer afford to retain first baseman and Eastlake High School grad Adrian Gonzalez, even though he had one year remaining on a contract that would pay him $6 million next year.
Essentially they believed they needed to make a deal in the near term that would yield players that could help the Padres now, rather than get a lesser return on their investment by waiting. So the Padres unloaded Gonzalez to the Boston Red Sox Monday for three prospects and a player to be named later.
There are two major problems with that concept. First, Gonzalez was the only bona fide offensive threat the Padres possessed and with relief pitcher Heath Bell, the only two Padres to get within 100 miles of the 2010 All Star Game. Gonzalez is also a two-time Gold Glove winning first baseman. Second, they didn’t get any, as in zero, players back from the Red Sox who will start the season on the Padres Major League roster in 2011.
The Padres team player payroll in 2010 was $37.8 million and ranked 29th out of the 30 teams in the Major League. San Diego just touched out the lowly Pittsburgh Pirates for last place on the payroll list. So it wasn’t that the locals were correcting an overly-inflated payroll. They are further trimming the second lowest payroll in the Majors.
If the current ownership group of the Padres can’t financially compete, there is no harm or shame in admitting that. Find another set of owners to purchase the team and move on to other pursuits. In 2010 the Padres found lightening in a bottle and overachieved. Don’t be fooled into thinking it will happen again in 2011.
Then there are the Chargers. When faced with a must-win home game, against a divisional opponent, San Diego didn’t come ready to play. Simply stated, the game was more important to Oakland than it was to San Diego, and the Chargers fell 28-13.
Keep in mind that the Raider quarterback Jason Campbell has lost starting jobs in both Washington and Oakland. This is not the second coming of Johnny Unitas we’re talking about here, although Charger cornerback Antoine Cason might be convinced Campbell is just that. The Raider signal caller tip-toed past Cason on a naked bootleg play in the first quarter for a touchdown and Cason hasn’t seen or reacted to Campbell yet.
Charger quarterback Philip Rivers fell to earth Sunday and is officially out of the race for NFL MVP. There are too many candidates for that title who are helming their teams to winning seasons for Rivers to be taken seriously. On another front, first round draft pick, running back Ryan Mathews is healthy, in uniform and literally doesn’t play a down in the game? Is something wrong with this picture?
Stories run in the “San Diego Union-Tribune” in the two days after the Raider game, seem to indicate that the Chargers are now ready to play hard for the rest of the season. Oops, too late for that.