Tony Isabella was named head coach of the Coronado High School Football program Monday according to a press release issued by Coronado Unified School District Superintendent Dr. Jeffrey Felix. “This fills the vacancy of retiring 2010 Meritorious Coach of the Year Bernard, ‘Bud’ Mayfield. Coach Isabella is currently the varsity Women’s softball coach and has years of successful coaching experience for Coronado Pop Warner, the Coronado High School Freshman Football Team and most recently as varsity defensive line coach for Eastlake High School.

Coach Isabella plans to begin immediately to develop sportsmanship, teamwork, and discipline for every student-athlete who desires to play football at CHS. He will also continue to be involved with community activities that establish a sense of community pride in the entire sports program.”

Felix continued to say, “A five member committee led by CHS Principal Karl Mueller assisted with interviewing Coach Isabella earlier this month. The committee recommended Isabella as the preferred candidate and as superintendent, I endorse this recommendation.”

Contacted shortly after his appointment was announced, Isabella was still at Islander softball practice. “I have a grin from ear to ear,” said Isabella. “My jaw hurts from just smiling. I plan to meet with the kids (football players) within the next two weeks. We’ll start planning our spring drills and the summer schedule as well. It’s amazing. I didn’t think it would happen this week. I want to continue the winning tradition we have had under Coach Mayfield.”

Isabella noted that he had put considerable thought into his staff already. Among those who will be on the staff is former Islander quarterback Cote Perkins and returning coaches Mike Pompa, Mark Davis, Terry Leary, Matt Pontes and Dusty West. “I expect them to all be on the staff,” Isabella said. “Plus I have four or five more who will be helping out with the Junior Varsity and at the Freshman level. It’s all about the boys. I hope it works.”

Islander Track and Field News

Freshman and sophomore girls from Coronado High School’s Track and Field Team performed well last weekend, as Head Coach George Green picks up the narrative. “The two best Islander performances at the Crusader Track Invite held at Escondido High School last Saturday we're by freshmen Abigail Callahan and Ale Bruyere.

Abigail won the high jump with a leap of 5 feet, 4 inches. Ale dominated the sprints while winning the Frosh/Soph 100 meters in 13.06 and the Frosh/Soph 200 meters in 27.21 seconds. Although running in the Frosh/Soph heats, her times would have also won the varsity races. For their efforts Callahan was awarded the Girls Field Frosh/Soph ‘Athlete of the Meet’ and Bruyere the Girls Track Frosh/Soph ‘Athlete of the Meet’ trophies.

Other excellent marks were Sierra Smith's mark of 5 feet, two inches in the high jump and a personal record by Lauren Bartsch in the pole vault of 9 feet even. The boys were well represented by top marks in both the Frosh/Soph shot put and discus throw by freshman Logan Lister. Logan won the Frosh/Soph shot put with a throw of 37 feet, 1 inch and placed second in the Frosh/Soph discus with a personal record of 111 feet, 9 inches. 

All of the above mentioned athletes are among the top Frosh/Soph athletes in the county with Callahan's and Smith's high jump marks among the Top Three for all grade levels. Go to our website, Islandertrack.com, to see a time-lapse photo of Abigail's jump, as well as many photos and all results. 

The Islander Frosh/Soph girls dominated the sprints. In the 100 meter finals Samantha Kirk finished second behind Bruyere with a time of 13.64 followed by Kendall Cromartie (third in 14.02), Katie Brooks (fourth in 14.09), and Adrienne Reyes (seventh in 14.41). In the Frosh/Soph 200 finals it was Kirk in third behind Bruyere with a time of 29.35 followed by Cromartie (fourth in 29.48), and Megan Galloway (fifth in 29.51).  In the 400 meter dashes Elise Umansky came from behind in the stretch to win the Frosh/Soph race in 63.29 and Sadie Gimber took the lead from the start in the varsity race to win easily in 63.88.

Meg Sweeney won the 3,200 meters with a time of 11:44 and placed second in the 1,600 in 5:32. Maddy Danielson won the 300 hurdles in 49.37 and placed second in the 100 hurdles in 18.06.  Also making the podium were Ashley Engelman in the Frosh/Soph 1,600 meters with a second place finish; Danielle Simmons with a third place finish in the Frosh/Soph 300 meter hurdles; Jack Gold, Carlos Montes, and Shawn Gingery in the pole vault; and the girls Frosh/Soph 4x100 team (Bruyere, Kirk, Cromartie, Brooks) that won easily with a time of 53.55.

In the boys Frosh/Soph 3,200 meters, Chris Leary just missed a medal with a fourth place finish but he ran personal best times in both the 1,600 and 3,200 meter runs with times of 5:20.8 and 11:23 respectively.

Islander Girls Lacrosse Dominates Benenden, England Squad

For the Islander Girls Lacrosse Team, the past week wasn’t as big a deal as the coming 10 days. Last Tuesday Coronado hosted a squad from Benenden, England and the Islanders, the No. 1 ranked team in California dominated the game to win by the score of 17-9.

“Everyone seemed to have a good time,” said Head Coach Jessica Battle. “We had dinner together and that was about it.” Thanks for coming. Here are your parting gifts. Please pass the Cole slaw.

For the record, Lauren Maack lit up the scoreboard with four goals. Three goals each were scored by Michaela Guerrera, Mollie Privett and Kaitlyn Couture. Caroline Carlson scored twice and single goals came from Alex Reidy and Martha Byrne. Reidy, Carlson and Couture all were credited with two assists each.

The Benenden contest was the team’s only game last week, but the action picks up this week as the Islanders host Point Loma Tuesday evening at 5 pm, Thursday they go on the road to play the Bishop’s School at 4:45 pm and Friday they host Patrick Henry at 7 pm. The game of note of those three is the Bishop’s game “Bishop’s should be a good team,” said Battle. “That is the team we will most likely play in the Division II CIF Finals. We haven’t played them in years.”

Another game looming on the horizon is set for Tuesday, April 19th, when Coronado hosts St. Ignatius, the No. 2 team in California. That game time will be 3:30 pm. As Battle said, “The St. Ignatius game will be a good one.”

Islander Boys Lacrosse Loses to Torrey Pines and Recovers vs. Cathedral Catholic

One week ago today, the CHS Boys Lacrosse Team boogied up to Torrey Pines, ranked No. 1 in the state of California. The Flacons weren’t all that impressed and defeated Coronado 7-6. Head Coach Alex Cade provided his slant on the contest. “The way Coronado lacrosse goes, we certainly live and die by our heart and work ethic, which goes along with showing up every game. We have to out work and out gut the other team. If you step on the field and just think you are going to win, good teams beat you. That’s what happened. It’s a tough lesson for kids to learn. Every senior wants to go undefeated, but now we have an early season loss to learn from. If we had another quarter, things would have been different, but they weren’t.”

The current playoff system for prep lacrosse dictates that the two teams won’t see each other again as Coronado competes in CIF Division II and Torrey Pines is in Division I. The result is the Islanders won’t be able to avenge their loss. “There’s no justice in that,” said Cade. “That puts a lot of pressure on the kids too. You have to beat all of these teams or you don’t get the respect you deserve. No one else has that kind of pressure. We still have a lot of good lacrosse to play.”

That would include the contest three nights later when Coronado hosted Cathedral Catholic in a game played for the most part in a driving rain storm. Coronado prevailed 12-7, led by three goals each from Jacob Lujan and Alex Bookout and two scores from Kyle Runyon.

Cade discussed the days that transpired between the Torrey Pines loss and the victory over Cathedral Catholic. “The word we used in practice was ‘sacrifice.’ The seniors have to make sure they are good leaders. That’s not always the most popular thing. They have to grasp what happens when your leadership isn’t what it should be. Their leadership needs to take a positive step in the right direction. They came out against Cathedral with heart and emotion. The seniors led from the start. These guys think someone else is going to be the leader, when they all have to be leaders. We have quite a way to go, but we took a step in the right direction. If everyone is leading a little, that equals everyone doing nothing.”

The loss only dropped Coronado to the No. 2 slot in the state rankings, just below No. 1 St. Ignatius. The two schools dominate the top two slots in the Westsidelax.com state rankings in both boys and girls lacrosse.

When asked who played well for the Islanders last week, Cade replied, “Dane Farguson has been excellent for us. He is a senior defenseman and a quiet leader who simply shuts down his guy every game. He’s an unsung hero on defense and a very, very good defenseman. Chris Banks has been playing at a high level. He is one of those guys who is looking to go to the goal and looking to make a play. His confidence is contagious. Jacob Lujan is a gritty performer and his ‘between the lines’ toughness helps us. He had a nice game against Cathedral. His leadership with attitude will really be needed going down the home stretch. Sergio Flores is a midfielder who is playing great. He always wants to be on the field.”

Cade then moved on to discuss the attack. “Alex Bookout and the entire attack unit had a good game against Cathedral. Those guys are playing well. We have several guys doing well as role players. Kurt Beske is one of our defensive midfielders. They are the true soldiers, who play without the glory of scoring. They play defense and run between the lines. They are the heart and soul of the team. Tyler Smith and Nate Wilson are working real hard at being the best defensive midfielders on the team. They are improving at a rapid clip. They are all seniors and developing into strong team leaders.”

Tuesday the Islanders travel to La Jolla to play the Vikings at 7 pm. Thursday at 7 pm Coronado travels to Patrick Henry. Friday the team flies to Maryland for their annual East Coast trip. Saturday they play Landon High School in Bethesda, Maryland in the first of three games on the coast.

CHS Baseball Loses Pair to Point Loma

Last week CHS Head Baseball Coach Sam Ceci opined that the Point Loma High School Nine was, “A good team with real strong pitching.” In some ways, that proved to be an understatement. In the two games between the teams last week, Pointer pitchers punched out (nice alliteration, don’t you think?) 26 Islander hitters.

While the ball may have whooshed (an example of onomatopoeia for you English majors out there) by the Islanders, Ceci noted, “We had our opportunities to score and didn’t. We gave them several opportunities to win and they did. Their pitching was very good and what we saw could beat anybody in the county. But we could have put up a better fight than we did.”

The first game of the two-game set was played at Point Loma and the Islanders were on the short end of the 8-4 final score. The four Coronado runs were scored by Parker Elkins, Colin Clark, Kyle Teachout and Garrett Smerdon.

Game two was played at Coronado and the Islanders were shutout 9-0. Coronado did manage six hits, two from Tyler Brownell, and one each from Austin Denson, Luke Gillingham, Dylan Campbell and the now-ubiquitous Parker Elkins. Jake Meloche did not yield an earned run in five innings, but a rapidly-building pitch count that hit the 107 mark, ended his outing.

This week the Islanders have three games, with two Western League games against La Jolla bracketing a non-conference game with San Dieguito. Specifically, the Islanders are home Tuesday with the Vikings, at home Wednesday against the Mustangs and Thursday on the road with the Vikings. All three games begin at 3 pm.

“We can get right back into the league race this week,” Ceci said. “If we sweep La Jolla we can be back in the thick of things. We’re averaging two and a half errors per game. Our pitching has been okay, although the scores don’t reflect it.” The Islanders currently have a record of 7-7.

For baseball fans, the San Dieguito High head coach is former Cy Young Award winning pitcher Black Jack McDowell, who won the award pitching for the White Sox in 1993. McDowell career ran from 1987-99 and he compiled an overall record of 127-87 and was 22-10 during his Cy Young season.

Islander Boys Tennis Splits Pair of Matches Last Week

Last week the CHS Boys Tennis Team had a wild scoring swing in their two matches. They won and lost matches by identical 14-4 scores. First the good news, which conveniently also comes in chronological order, was that Coronado defeated Santa Fe Christian 14-4.

The current prep tennis rules allow for player substitutions, so the following results are a little convoluted. No. 1 singles player Greg Lyon won two sets and then took his final match off when the Coronado victory was assured. No. 2 singles player Sean Lee won three sets. Drew Maracle and Weston Breay won one set each in singles.

On the doubles side, Luke Hoffman/Kyle Koshland won two sets each as did Shaun Koshland/Grey Halpin and Cort Dalton/Brad Mathews. Michael Whalen then teamed with Hoffman and won one set.

Then it was off to Cathedral Catholic and the Islanders fell 14-4. According to Head Coach Leslie Koshland, the match of the afternoon was between the No. 1 singles players of the respective teams, Sam Todd for Cathedral and Lyon for Coronado. Todd defeated Lyon 7-6. “It was a really good match,” Koshland said. “Greg is playing really well this year.”

This week the islanders play University City Tuesday and St. Augustine Thursday. Both matches are at home and begin at 3 pm.

Bud Mayfield and Austin Copp Honored at National Football Foundation Banquet

As noted earlier, former CHS Head Football Coach Bud Mayfield was honored as the Meritorious Coach of the Year last month at the 39th Annual Scholar-Leader-Athlete Awards Banquet put on by the National Football Foundation and College Hall of Fame. Also honored was CHS senior Austin Copp, who was recognized as the Division IV scholar-athlete.

Mayfield, who will retire at the end of the current school year as an English teacher and also the instructor for his popular Theory of Knowledge course, coached for 23 seasons at CHS, compiling a total of 131 wins. A total of 15 of his teams reached the CIF Playoffs and four were league champions. Mayfield, a native of Cleveland, Ohio, also was the head coach at University of San Diego High School and was the offensive coordinator at Anaheim Servite High School, where the team won the 1982 state title.

Mayfield is a graduate of Miami University in Oxford, Ohio and played running back there. He earned B.A. and M.A. degrees in English while at Miami University.

Copp was a two-way player on the football team and a three-year varsity letter winner. Copp played right guard and middle linebacker and served as team captain his senior year.

In addition to his football exploits, Copp has also earned a 4.35 grade point average. He hopes to attend an Ivy League university and major in Biomedical Engineering. Austin is the son of Drs. Suzanne Hollingsworth and Michael Copp.

Other Islanders who have won the student-athlete award are: David Twite, Colin Ayres, JT Rogan, Ben Thorne, Pete Caulk, Scott Cole, Mason Mills and Ricardo Oberwager.

Representing Coronado High School at the banquet were Principal Karl Mueller, Assistant Principal Jenny Moore, Athletic Director Robin Nixon and Football Administrative Assistant Dr. Margaret Wright.

Challenger Baseball Teams to Play in Coronado April 23rd

April 23rd, teams representing University City and Mira Mesa West will compete in a Challenger League baseball game at Coronado’s Bradley Field. The game is scheduled to begin at 9 am.

The Challenger Division in baseball is for children between four and 18 years of age and is for players with established physical and/or mental disabilities. Both boys and girls can participate in Challenger games.

“We had a Challenger Division until four years ago,” said Coronado Little League Vice President Kelly Weissenfels. “It’s our hope to generate interest in starting a Challenger Division in Coronado Little League and also to get some spectators for the event.”

As Weissenfels explained, the game will incorporate between 12 and 14 Coronado Little League players who will act as ‘buddies’ and assist the athletes. “We’ll have players from the Minors through Juniors who will help the kids run the bases and encourage them to run. They will also help keep them safe in the field. They may also tell them where to throw the ball and how to make the play.”

Weissenfels thinks the event will be fun for baseball fans to attend. “We’ll have the snack bar open and we encourage people to come and watch. To start a Challenger Division, we just need one team and five kids.”

Islander Freshman Cara Barker Qualifies for Callaway Junior Worlds

Coming off of an MVP season on the Islander Girls Golf Team, CHS freshman Cara Barker recently journeyed to Texas and won the Girls 15-18 division of the FCG Kikkor Texas Championship. She shot an 82-77 for a 36-hole total of 159 to finish at the top of the six player field.

But the really good news is that by winning the event, she qualifies to participate in Callaway Junior Worlds event that will be held at Torrey Pines Golf Course in July. The annual event features some of the best junior golfers in the world.

Barker, who just turned 15, finished tied for fourth place in the City Conference last year, when she shot a 74 at Cottonwood. She also earned First Team All-Central League recognition her freshman season.