5 January 2011
Issue #1
From a games-played perspective,
the Coronado Boys Basketball Team had
the busiest Christmas break, playing in five contests in their Coronado Holiday
Tournament, over a three-day span. Monday’s results included an 87-50 win
over High Tech High and a 76-45 victory over Guajome Park
Academy.
Tuesday’s games got a
little more serious, although the scores might not readily reflect that
concept. In their first game, Coronado
defeated a tough squad from Temecula High School 67-32. Justin Hebner provided
18 points and five assists, while Brice
Robell added 16 points and four rebounds. Jordan Jacobs posted a double-double with 10 points and 11
rebounds. Danny Hebert scored eight
points and led the Islanders with five steals.
The Islanders never trailed in
the game. However, Temecula put together a nice run to end the first half and
scored the first basket of the second half to make the score 35-24. Coronado scored 17
straight points to conclude the third period and the game for all intents and
purposes was over.
Tuesday’s second game found
the Islanders playing Preuss
Academy with a 90-minute
break between games. Although games that close to each other presented a
challenge, it didn’t hurt the home team as Coronado won 61-41. Preuss, a team which
competed in this same tournament a year ago, has improved markedly in the
interim.
This time Hebert had the starring
offensive role for Coronado
and scored 22 points. Other contributors included Harley Ralph with 13 points and 10 rebounds, Robell with 10 points
and seven boards, Luke Gillingham
with five points and five rebounds, Jacobs with five points and five rebounds,
and Billy Schmitt with four points
and five boards. Hebner orchestrated the offense and dished out five assists.
Barreling out of the other
bracket to serve as Coronado’s opponent in
the championship finale was Twentynine
Palms High
School, which is conveniently located in a city
of the same name. A nifty 179.67 miles separate the two schools. Basically from Coronado,
you drive north and take a right at Yucca
Valley. The city of Twentynine Palms on their
website proclaims the city to be a “desert oasis.”
As it relates to this discussion
however, they know the sport of basketball in Twentynine Palms and the Wildcats
came to play in Wednesday evening’s final. Coronado never had the lead, trailed at the
end of all four quarters, and eventually lost 61-49. The Islander backcourt duo
of Hebner and Hebner combined for 35 points and evenly shared eight rebounds.
Jacobs added six points and six rebounds, Robell had six points and three
boards, while Gillingham had two points and
battled for six caroms. Schmitt had six boards to tie Gillingham
and Jacobs for the team lead in that category.
Although the game was creatively
officiated, that wasn’t the reason the Islanders lost. Coronado committed 15 turnovers in the game
and yielded 20 points on Wildcat offensive rebounds. “From the tip on
Twentynine Palms played hard,” said Islander Head Coach J.D. Laaperi. “They got every
50-50 ball there was. We made silly mental mistakes. For 10 games in a row we
did what we needed to do to win. Then we went back to playing one on three or
one on four. We only had five assists, which shows we weren’t passing the
ball. We didn’t play defense well either. It was the perfect storm
against us.”
Laaperi noted the play of Robell
and Jacobs during the tourney. “Brice is starting to show offensively
what I thought he could be. Jordan
in a month’s time has come so far. In games he basically is finishing
every pass Justin gives him. It’s really good to have him.”
For you silver lining sorts, the
redeeming factor from the loss was that the style played by the Wildcats (I
just don’t want to type ‘Twentynine Palms’ again) will serve
as a preview of the Central League season. League play begins this week with a
Tuesday home game against Crawford and continues Friday night at Madison at 7:45 pm as the
second half of a Girls/Boys varsity basketball doubleheader.
“They sent five guys to the
glass and they have fast hands, which is what we’ll see in league,”
Laaperi noted. “It’s better to lose in December than when it counts
in league.” The Islanders are currently 11-4 heading into the league
schedule.
Speaking of the Central League,
some of the members have put together a good run in non-conference play,
according to Laaperi. “Madison
got their football players back after the playoffs and they have been doing
pretty well. Kearny
has been surprising everybody. They had a couple of kids who were ineligible
last year and got them back. They beat Mt. Miguel
and Santana, which were a couple of good wins for them. I think Madison and
Coronado are the co-favorites in the league. If we play like we did in the
Sweetwater Tournament (won by the Islanders), we’ll be fine. But I think
the winner of the Central League will have three losses.”
Islander Girls Soccer Competes in Excalibur Tournament
Unleashing my favorite LeBronism
to start the New Year, the Coronado
Girls Soccer Team took their talents to Orange
County shortly after Christmas to
participate in the Excalibur Tournament hosted by Foothill High School.
The 32-team event is considered to have one of the strongest tournament fields
in the state.
Tournament organizers
didn’t do the Islanders any favors, as Coronado’s
first opponent was Los
Osos High
School, which ran the table and won the 2010
tournament title. The Islanders lost 1-0 to Los Osos and were only one of two
teams to play the champions to a one-goal result. “The first game was a
tough one,” said CHS Head Coach Kiko
Medina. “Again it’s the luck of the draw. If you get in the
right side of bracket, you can go far.”
Game two for the Islanders was a
1-0 win over Cypress High School and Medina
describes the winning goal which came from Stephanie
Hamilton. “We got a good ball from the midfield up top and Olivia Lillegraven did a good job of
flicking it on. Stephanie made an early run and she finished it.”
The third contest was played
against Rosary of Fullerton and was scoreless at the end of regulation. The tie
was settled by penalty kicks with Coronado
on the short end of the result. Technically it was a 1-0 Islander loss, which
places their record at 1-4-3 on the season.
Playing three games that close,
against good competition, must mean Coronado is
doing something right, a concept Medina
agreed with. He then highlighted the contributions of several members of his
team. “Brianne Clifford is
getting a little more comfortable in a leadership role in the back (defense)
and organizing. Mariah Stacy had
some good moments. The midfield is doing really well and is making it a little
easier on them in the back. Cassie
Callahan has been steady and is filling in a little more in a defensive
role due to injuries. Demi Waitley
looked good in the time she played. Katie
Centeno has a good work rate in the middle, is staying busy and working
hard.”
Medina also noted the play of goalie Cory DeMarco. “She had some big
saves when she needed to. In the penalty kicks, she made a save to give us a
chance. Cory has been stepping up.”
The Islanders don’t play
again until Friday when they host Eastlake.
The game time has been changed to 4:30 pm and according to Medina, “It should be a good game. Eastlake have had some
good results against some big schools. A lot of the club players compete for Eastlake. That means our
girls will be playing against their teammates in club, which puts a little more
on the line in terms of trash talking.”
Islander Girls Water Polo Loses Once to Weather, Once to Los
Alamitos
Only three of the five winter
sports teams competed over break. The third team of the hard-working trio was Girls Water Polo, which had to postpone
their game with Irvine
High School due to severe
weather. The second contest was a home game against Los Alamitos and Coronado
Head Coach Dave Throop picks up the
narrative. “Dec. 28th we played Los Alamitos at the BBMAC and
we lost 15-4. Honestly, Los Alamitos is a superior team and the score was
indicative of the respective experience level of each team.
Los Alamitos is one of the better
teams at the high school level and they played as such, while we played
tentative at times. They were simply a better team than we are, and they
killed us with basic skills and tactics. It's the context and timing of
situations we need to stay focused on, and a game like Los Alamitos is a great
opportunity to learn. Shelby
Couture had two goals, while Hannah Green
and Kendall Hoshko each added one. Brooke Bernardy was credited with four
saves.
I made mention going into the
break we would get better, and I honestly believe we're moving in the right
direction. We don't schedule any easy games and we've been a little overwhelmed
at times this season in the early going. We had some really positive
training occur during the break, and the players that were able to take
advantage of the training will see their efforts pay dividends. Our team is
almost entirely new to the varsity level, at least in their respective roles.
The attitudes have been good. With that level of inexperience, it takes a
while to see the context and necessity for things done a certain way, and we've
had some great opportunities to learn so far. We've evolved as a team and
have learned what it'll take now we need to apply it to our practice and
training.
Our goal is and has been to get
better with each passing week and month, and I believe we're a better group
then we were in November, and turning the calendar, I see a tremendous January
ahead of the team. We have a couple weeks to keep focusing on the little
details, the minutia that can and will make a difference. We've played a
lot of young players thus far into the season and that can only be a positive
moving forward. We don't play again until January 14th at the Santa Barbara Tournament of Champions,
and I believe we'll be competitive and surprise a team or two.”
CHS Alumnus Parsons in Goal for Cal in NCAA Water Polo Finals
Over the break we had a chance to
catch up with Justin Parsons (CHS
’09), while also running into Rex
Butler (CHS ’10). Since this is a water polo world and we are all
just players in it, Parsons and Butler
had important roles in the recent NCAA Men’s Water Polo Championship. Butler scored 11 goals
for USC (28-2) this season as a freshman and this spring will receive a
championship ring as the Trojans (28-2) defeated the Cal Berkeley Golden Bears
(24-4) by the score of 12-10 in overtime to win the NCAA title.
Parsons was the starting goalie
for Cal as a
sophomore. According to the NCAA.com website, “Parsons in particular had an outstanding Final
Four and made a couple of crucial fourth-quarter saves against Loyola Marymount
in the semifinals along with a spectacular game-saving block at the end of the
fourth quarter on a power-play try from USC’s Mace Rapsey in the finals.”
Parsons comes from an athletic
family, and was a three-sport standout himself at Coronado playing water polo, basketball and
baseball. Justin’s younger sister Shiloe
Parsons, a sophomore at CHS currently, was a starting opposite hitter on
the varsity volleyball team this fall. Shiloe was also the winner of the Rookie
Golden Volleyball Award at the team’s post season banquet, emblematic of
the rookie varsity player who made the biggest impact on the team.
Justin, who is now six feet, six
inches tall and weighs 215 pounds, has been playing water polo pretty much
non-stop for the past year. “This past summer I was training with the
Senior National Team and the other senior team goalies. I missed the Cal summer trip to Serbia
because I had to stay here and train for the Junior Pan Am Games in Miami.” Parsons is
the starting goalie on the Junior National Team, which is for players 20 years
old and younger. “This summer the Junior Worlds are in Greece,”
Parsons said. “We’ll be traveling for a month or a month and a half
in Europe. In Greece we’ll play against the
European powerhouses.”
I asked Parsons if the Olympics
were in his future. “It’s a goal of mine. I’m already
climbing that ladder. It probably won’t be in 2012 unless there are some
injuries, but 2016 definitely. The starting U.S. goalie for the Beijing
Olympics is returning in 2012. After college I might play some professional
water polo in Australia or Europe before the Olympics. Australia
is where a lot of players go to gain a year of experience before they make a
decision to play in Europe. It’s a lower
caliber of play, but it’s the experience of going to Australia.”
After such a close loss to USC in
the NCAA Finals, in a game played in Cal’s
home pool, I asked Parsons if a return to the NCAA Finals in 2011 was a
possibility. “We have a great chance to make it back. The Final Four is
at Berkeley
again next year. We lose two of our big seniors, but we have a couple of our
Serbian players and a bunch of good guys coming back. We were number one in our
conference all year, but we couldn’t pull it out against USC when it
mattered. But we have three-quarters of the team back. Other teams are losing
players as well, so we’ll be right there with them”
The championship game against USC
was played in a driving rain storm, which had an impact on Parsons. “When
our team was on defense, it didn’t affect me as much. But it’s a
whole different story playing in the rain. I had to make shorter outlet passes
because the visibility was poor. The Final Four was pretty remarkable. My
adrenaline was running pretty high against Loyola Marymount in the semi-finals
and USC in the finals. We have something to work toward next season. I hope to
continue for another two years (at Cal)
and win an NCAA championship.”
Jesse Smith Earns CIF Top 50 Athlete Honors
The California Interscholastic Federation, San Diego Section,
recently celebrated its 50th Anniversary by naming ‘The 50 Top
Athletes of the First 50 Years of the CIFSDS.’ Included on the list was Jesse Smith (CHS ’01) in the
sport of water polo.
Smith, the all-time leading
scorer in Coronado
history with 352 goals, was a four-time high school All-American. Smith was
also a member of the U.S. Olympic Men’s Water Polo Teams in both Athens in 2004 and Beijing
in 2008. The U.S. team won
the Olympic silver medal in Beijing.
Smith is currently playing
professionally for R.N. Savona in the Italian professional league. Savona is located in the Liguria
coastal region of Northwest Italy.
Smith and Ericka Lorenz, also an Olympian who played at Patrick Henry
High School, were the
only two water polo players to make the Top 50 list. Smith was the lone Coronado representative.
Sanchez Earns Sectionsports.com Second Team Football Honors
Coronado High School
senior Jose Sanchez, a two-way
lineman for the Islander Football Team
last season, was named to the Sectionsports.com Second Team Defensive Team as a
defensive tackle. Sanchez paced the Islanders in tackles
in 2010 with 35 solo tackles and 35 assisted tackles. He also helped lead Coronado to an appearance
in the CIF Division IV quarter-finals. The Islanders ended the season with an
overall record of 9-3.
Registration Dates Set for Boys and Girls Lacrosse Clinic
The Coronado Boys and Girls Lacrosse Clinic will be held on five consecutive Saturdays at the CMS field,
from Jan. 15th to Feb. 12th, 2011. Clinic times will be from 3-5 pm.
The clinics are designed for boys and girls in first through eighth grades. For
new players the clinic presents an excellent opportunity to learn skills and
the strategy of the game. For
experienced players, it’s a great chance to sharpen skills before the
spring season. The clinic fee is $110 per player, with checks made payable to
Coronado Schools Lacrosse.
Each session is coached by the
Coronado Varsity and JV coaches, as well as current CHS and NCAA experienced
players. Included in the fee is a U.S.
Lacrosse Association membership, a Coronado Lacrosse decal and a reversible
jersey. Players provide their own stick
and shoulder pads are required for boys.
Boys’ helmets, gloves and arm pads are available to be loaned on a
first come, first served basis. A deposit is required. Girls should
provide their own sticks and goggles. A limited number are available for loan.
Clinic registration dates are
Jan. 7th from 4-6 pm, Jan. 8th from 8-10 am, and Jan. 15th from
2-2:45 pm. Registration will be held at
the Sixth Street
entrance to the CHS football field. Proceeds benefit the Coronado
Middle School and Coronado High School
lacrosse programs. Questions may be directed to Megan Stanley at megandyno@sbcglobal.net, or Sue Runyon at suerunyon@sbcglobal.net.
