Nado Natterings
A weekly column by David Axelson Back to Index

29 December 2010 Issue #52

Since weather has impacted all of us over the past several days, it’s not a surprise that rain also negatively influenced the Coronado High School sports schedule over the same period. So far the tally from impacted events includes the Islander Girls Water Polo home game scheduled for last week against Irvine High School, which was postponed due to the stormy weather.
Also lost to the inclement weather was the Islanders Alumni Baseball Game, which was cancelled due to wet grounds. Islander Head Coach Sam Ceci reported that several players showed up at the field and had a chance to stand around and exchange stories, but the game couldn’t be played. So despite losing two potential sections from this week’s opus, we’ll muddle on. Or perhaps puddle on.
Boys Basketball Wins Sweetwater Tourney, Coronado Tourney Finals at 6:30 pm Wed.
Driven by the play of their starting guards Danny Hebert and Justin Hebner, the Islander Boys Basketball Team stormed (yes, more weather imagery) through the Sweetwater Tournament last week. Other coaches in the tournament recognized the contributions of the Islander backcourt combo, naming Hebner the Tournament MVP and including Hebert on the All-Tournament Team.
For the four contests, Hebner averaged 18.3 points, 6.5 assists and 4.3 steals per game. Hebert was the team’s leading scorer from the guard slot, averaging 20.8 points per game. As Head Coach J.D. Laaperi summarized the duo, “Justin had the all-around game, while Danny had the scoring.”
If you follow basketball, you know that even two fine players can be contained by a good defensive scheme, which makes the presence of a third offensive threat important. Of late and for most of the Sweetwater Tournament, the third scorer role has been filled by Harley Ralph. The junior small forward was produced double digit scoring in three of the four games, including a 20-point effort against Patrick Henry.
Another component that comes into play on successful teams is the ability to control the boards, which has become the responsibility of the triumvirate of Luke Gillingham, Jordan Jacobs and Billy Schmitt. Against San Diego Southwest, the trio snared 29 rebounds among them. They upped the ante by grabbing 35 caroms in the title game against Sweetwater, with Schmitt adding five blocked shots for good measure.
Other key contributions are coming from Brice Robell, who contributes both scoring and rebounding when needed. Robell was the team’s leading rebounder in tourney game number one with seven and threw in 10 points in the final game against Sweetwater.
Coach Laaperi credited guard Brian Turley with a superior effort in the title game, which found both Hebner and Hebert in foul trouble from the outset. “I told by guys after the game, that if we presented game balls after victories, this one would have gone to Brian. From six minutes into the game until the end of the third quarter, Brian played the one, the two or the three, (point guard, shooting guard, and small forward in order). He played defense, took care of the ball, and had timely rebounds and assists. He did everything he needed to do to fill in.”
The starting lineup includes Hebner, Hebert, Ralph, Robell and Gillingham. “We have a nice rotation going,” Laaperi said. “Four or five minutes into the game, we go to ‘The Bigs’ and bring Schmitt and Jordan into the game. It’s nice to see The Bigs come in after we have beaten them with speed and have them get all of the rebounds.”
In order the victories included a 60-43 win over Patrick Henry; a 54-43 win over Fraser Valley High School from Canada; a 73-45 win over Southwest and an 82-76 title win over Sweetwater. The last game was a trying one for Laaperi. Due to a bench technical called on Coronado for dunking during warm-up drills, the game officials told Laaperi he couldn’t leave the bench or he would be ejected. “It was just hell,” Laaperi allowed, “But I didn’t want to risk it. I sat there and held my tongue. We had to fight through the bad calls, foul trouble, and the missed opportunities. But I found a way to do it.” The game was a back and forth and very physical affair, with Coronado holding on for the victory.
Despite defeating Sweetwater in a tough battle, Laaperi said Coronado’s best-played game was played Dec. 22nd against 2010 Division III semi-finalist Southwest. “Everything we did turned out to be the correct move or the correct shot. We beat them by 28 points.”
This week the Islanders started play in their own Coronado Holiday Tournament with two games Monday. They competed against Guajome Park and High Tech High, winning both games handily by the scores of 76-45 and 87-50 respectively. Hebert was Coronado’s leading scorer against Guajome Park with 21 points, followed by Robell with 18, and Hebner with 10. Jacobs accounted for four points and 10 rebounds, while Gillingham contributed eight points and seven rebounds.
Hebert again led the way in scoring against High Tech High with 25 points to go along with four assists and six steals. Schmitt had a breakout scoring effort with 20 points, with Hebner adding 18 points, eight assists and five steals. Gillingham, Robell and Jacobs accounted for 26 rebounds and 18 points among them.
Their recent win skein runs the Islanders record to 9-3, including eight wins in a row. Tuesday Coronado plays Temecula and Preuss Academy. If early form holds, the Islanders may play Twenty-Nine Palms in the Tournament Finals at 6:30 pm Wednesday evening.
Islander Girls Basketball Plays Five Games in Crawford Tournament
The Coronado Girls Basketball Team did well in the recent Crawford Invitational Tournament, which included five games against solid, San Diego-based teams. The odyssey started with a 31-28 victory over Otay Ranch, which was close throughout, according to Head Coach Toler Goodwin. “It was a one-point game at the half. We played a poor third quarter and trailed by five points early in the fourth quarter. Then we shut them out in the last three minutes, executed our offense, made free throws and held on for the win. We did a pretty good job defending against them.”
Alex Evans had nine points, followed by Peri Curtis with nine and Nicollette Abrantes chipped in with eight more. In addition to the defensive effort, Goodwin was pleased with his team’s balanced scoring.
The next game came against Hilltop, which was unusual in the respect that the two teams had played each other just four days before. After their first encounter, which Coronado won, Goodwin was afraid that a late Lancers’ rally might carry over to the second game. Well that didn’t happen as Coronado won handily 41-27.
“We were familiar with them and we had confidence in what we were doing,” said Goodwin of his squad. “Hilltop made a miracle run at the end of the first game. This game was very physical and very chippy. They had 24 fouls and we had nine or 10.”
Fouling to get back into the ball game, on the chance that the Islanders would miss their free throw attempts, Islander sophomore forward Samantha Kirk was on the receiving end of an aggressive foul from a Hilltop player. Unfortunately the foul involved a blow to the face, which allowed Kirk to show her resolve and competitive spirit as she knocked down her two free throws to help preserve the Islander’s victory. “That was a tough situation,” said Goodwin. “I was proud of Samantha. She had seven rebounds in the game as well.”
Curtis had 16 points, with Evans adding 10 points and Meganne Weissenfels contributed six points. “Meganne was a big part of that game,” Goodwin added. “She made a perimeter shot against their 1-3-1 zone and she made a couple of baskets on backdoor cuts against the zone.”
The wheels on the Coronado party bus fell off temporarily in a 55-24 loss to Eastlake. “We helped them with several turnovers and we were 8-24 from the foul line,” said Goodwin. Curtis scored 10 points, Abrantes added seven and Evans scored six points.
The fourth game was the one that got away and that was a 39-38 loss to Lincoln on a buzzer-beater by the Hornets. Evans, who does the bulk of the rebounding and is a significant offensive presence on the team, went down early in the game after a knee-to-knee collision with a Lincoln player.
According to Goodwin, the game against historic rival Lincoln was winnable. “We had opportunities to close it out in the final minutes, but we had some great passes from teammates that went through our hands. We missed some layups early and we were 8-22 from the line and lost by one. We were shorthanded with Alex out and that had something to do with the game.” Curtis had a fine effort with 22 points, Cory DeMarco and Abrantes added six points each.
The fifth game was another squeaker, this one a 37-36 victory over La Jolla. Goodwin related how close the game was throughout. “The game was never more than two possessions apart in any direction. We were tied at the half, down by three at the end of three quarters and we won by one. We made a couple of plays down the stretch. Peri had a three-pointer to tie it. Samantha made a drive to the basket in the last minute to give us the margin to win it.” Curtis scored 15 points, Evans had 10 points, Demarco six, Kirk four and Rachel Brennan added a pair.
The Islanders, who start their Central League campaign Tuesday at Crawford, are a basket away in close losses to Orange Glen and Lincoln, from having a really good season going. Still a 7-5 record against a good level of competition is nothing to sniff at. “We’ll have three or four solid days of practice this week,” Goodwin added.
Chargers Bow Out Gracefully to Bengals
Bengals 34, Chargers 20. Seriously?
Like many of you, I flushed three and one-half hours Sunday watching the Chargers post season hopes go down the drain in Cincinnati. Although I briefly considered starting an Antoine Cason Fan Club in the waning moments of the game, the membership drive might have been difficult to execute successfully after cornerback Cason was burned for the touchdown that sealed the Chargers fate. I’ve personally seen Pop Warner coaches erupt over plays less egregious than Cason’s mental blunder that left Bengal receiver Jerome Simpson uncovered and wide open. More on Simpson later.
Here are some fun facts from the Bengals side of the ball. Carson Palmer, the former USC Heisman Trophy Winner and starting Bengal quarterback, who has had a very tough season in Cincinnati and is rumored to be on his way out of the Queen City, had a passer rating of 157.2.That preposterous stat is courtesy of the No. 1 ranked defense in the NFL, allegedly referring to the Chargers.
Simpson, the 46th player selected in the 2008 NFL Draft, caught six passes for 124 yards and two touchdowns Sunday against San Diego. During the 2010 season, he didn’t even play in 11 games. In two other games where he did play, he had zero catches. His first two receptions of the season came the week prior to the Chargers game, against Cleveland. A total of 66 percent of his career catches, over three seasons, have now come in one game against the Chargers.
The final Bengals touchdown was scored by second-year running back Bernard Scott. The 10-yard scamper was the first touchdown of his career. To be fair the Chargers hadn’t counted on the ‘addition by subtraction’ element found on the Bengals sideline. Cincinnati wide receivers and divas-in-residence Chad Ochocinco and Terrell Owens were injured and did not play. The Bengals took the opportunity to let a couple of players who actually wanted to compete, get on the field. Cincinnati Head Coach Marvin Lewis will remember this game fondly after he is fired at the conclusion of the current 4-11 season. And the Chargers lost to these guys in a must-win game?
Truth be told, the Chargers were never able to recover from their Week 13 home loss to Oakland by the score of 28-13. All of the misplays, the lack of effort in games they should have won in the first 12 weeks of the season could have been overcome with a win over the Raiders. The Oakland game was San Diego’s Waterloo. The Bengals game confirmed what in our hearts we already knew, that this wasn’t the Chargers year.
Sunday’s season finale at Denver is a character check for the Bolts franchise, nothing more. They have a chance to finish the season on an uptick, with a mark of 9-7. It’s a season that could have been and should have been much, much better.