Nado Natterings Back to Islandersports
A weekly column by David Axelson

Nado Natterings
by David Axelson, Chief Executive Officer
The Islander Sports Foundation

23 Jan 2008 Issue No. 3

Starting with two non-conference wins in mid-December, followed by three consecutive victories in their own Islander Holiday Tournament, the Coronado High School Boys Basketball Team has now cobbled together an eight-game winning streak. The most recent additions to the skein were a pair of Central League victories last week, which included a tough 45-38 home victory against Clairemont and an easier 68-40 road win over Crawford.

Starting the season in the competitive Hilltop Tournament, which featured a host of CIF Division I and II clubs, the Islanders were 1-4 in the early going and now stand at 9-4 under first year head coach Ken Caesar.

The Clairemont game was battle from the outset, according to Caesar. “I was proud of our team. We needed to get the first one (a league victory), especially a home game. They (the Chieftains) were a well-coached team, disciplined and sharp. We wore them down a little bit. Our size was a little bit too much for them.”

Coronado had to outscore Clairemont 15-9 in the final quarter to earn the victory. Cole McLean led the Islander scoring attack with 13 points, Krishna Samperio added 10, with Dallas Taylor contributing nine points and six more coming from Justin Parsons.

Point guard Matt Fowler played an aggressive floor game for Coronado and contributed four points and numerous assists. “He did a good job on their guard and Matt is starting to limit his turnovers,” said Caesar. “We need him to shoot the ball more and break a guy down (off the dribble). He can score and he’s pretty crafty.”

Winning, especially against defensive-minded team like Clairemont isn’t always artistic, but Caesar likes the effort being put forth by his club. “I was talking to the team the other day and I told them ‘Our games are going to be ugly.’ We’re not a pretty team yet. We’re trying to do the right things, but we don’t have pretty athletes running around. We try to keep the score close and get you at the end of the game. We are really not a team that can put you away. That’s an experience thing. We have to work on not letting the other team back into the game. We can’t be careless with the ball.”

Then it was on to Crawford, which in years past has been a tricky place for the Islanders to play. Nine Islanders scored in the game, with Dallas Taylor leading the way with 18 points followed by Parsons and McLean with 12 and Samperio with eight. Also contributing to the Coronado scoring column were Fowler, Tyler Hustwick, Lynden Ostrander, Blake Malkemus and Josh Williams.

“Cole McLean played well and he did a good job defensively. Our team is getting better defensively and Friday was a good test for us. Crawford has eight or nine guys and they can run around and do some things to you. To go on the road, play in another gym and win the way we did was good. Tuesday (at home vs. Hoover) will be a true test. We’re 2-0 in league and taking care of the teams we’re supposed to. We’ll have fun and see what happens.”

Tuesday’s home game with Hoover is slated to start at 5 pm. The Boys Varsity hosts Christian Friday night on the second half of a Girls/Boys varsity doubleheader, with tip-off coming at approximately 7:30 pm.

Boys Soccer Tops Christian 3-0

Another strong season is being assembled by Head Coach Brian Hiatt-Aleu and the CHS Boys Soccer Team in 2007-08. The defending CIF Division III champions won their lone contest last week, and were powered by a goal from Charlie Wood and two tallies from Christian Herrera to a 3-0 victory over fellow Central League member Christian High School. Islander netminder Jeffery Bucklew was credited with the shutout.

“This is the best Christian team in the past 5 or 6 years,” said Hiatt-Aleu of the Patriots. “They are the most organized team we have played against in a long time.”

Hiatt-Aleu acknowledged Herrera, Austen Speer, Kramer De Laurentis and Clay Butner for their contributions to the victory. The Islanders are now 6-0-1 in Central League play and 8-2-3 overall. Perhaps based on their undefeated record in league, Coronado once again resides in “The San Diego Union-Tribune’s” Writers’ Poll at No. 10.

With Coronado advancing into the second half of the Central League schedule already, the CIF playoffs are looming fast. The bad news is that Coronado will have almost a two week break from the conclusion of the regular season to the beginning of the playoffs. To make the post season more confusing, the reigning Division III champs will reside in Division IV this year. The CIF divisional assignments are made according to school enrollment, which fluctuates on a county-wide basis from year to year.

Hiatt-Aleu handicapped the Division IV playoff race. “La Jolla Country day has only lost once so far this year and they have tied a couple of pretty good teams. However, our strength of schedule is much higher. Bishop’s is good and Francis Parker is the defending Division IV champion. Mater Dei from the South Bay is good. The winner will come out of that group (including Coronado) unless a desert school surprises everybody.”

Before the playoffs however, the Islanders have to keep their focus and contend with a talented Crawford team Wednesday night at home at 6 pm. “That will be a huge game,” Hiatt-Aleu said. “That will be massive. Crawford and Hoover are directly behind us. Friday we are away at Madison.” The Islander vs. Warhawk game will kick off at 3 pm.

Girls Water Polo Defeats Bishop’s 9-4

Heading into the first of three likely meetings with The Bishop’s School last week, Coronado Girls Water Polo Head Coach Dave Throop wanted his team to be very active defensively and to stunt to keep the Knights’ passers and shooters off balance. “I was very pleased with the way we handled both situations,” Throop said. “Our offense looked good in the first half and our ball movement was really controlling the tempo of the game.”

The Islanders took a 4-1 lead into the second half and Bishop’s changed tactics after intermission according to Throop. “Bishop’s tried to speed up the game, cause some unforced errors, and to create transition goals for themselves. We got caught up in their style for a while and found ourselves up 7-3 at the conclusion of the third quarter. We outscored Bishop’s 2-1 in the final frame.”

Looking farther down the schedule, Throop knows that when the two rivals face each other again, Bishop’s will continue to be formidable. “We’re happy to have the first win against them, but they will improve and we will have some definite work to do to keep pace. Our extra man play (0-4 against the Knights) is obviously a concern as is our short-handed defense.”

In the contest, Hannah Sebenaler, the object of a profile piece in the Union-Tribune’s ‘Our Region’ section last week, scored five goals, with Alana Burgess scoring twice and single goals coming from Ashley Young and Sabrina Anonas.

Next week, in addition to finals for the athletes, Tuesday Coronado hosts La Jolla at 4 pm at the Brian Bent Memorial Aquatics Complex on the campus of Coronado High School. The Islanders host University City Thursday at 3 pm. Thursday evening, the Islanders will host a team from The Diocesan School from Auckland, New Zealand.

Starting Friday, Coronado hosts the 16-team America’s Finest City Tournament at both the BBMAC facility and the Coronado Aquatics Center. Coronado’s first game is Friday at BBMAC at 2 pm against El Segundo.

CHS Girls Basketball Splits Two Central League Tilts

Last week CHS Girls Basketball Head Coach Toler Goodwin knew that last Friday’s road game at Crawford would be a tough one and that prognostication turned out to be true as Coronado came out on the lesser end of the 51-40 result. Goodwin predicted that the Central League race would come down to Coronado and Crawford and now the Islanders have to win on their home floor to force a tie atop the conference.

“We didn’t play with the energy you need to play with right away,” Goodwin said of the early stages of the road game. “We were down three points in the third quarter and four with a minute to go, but we weren’t able to finish our opportunities. It ended at 11 (point difference) but the game was a little closer than it might have appeared in the paper. We had to foul to get the ball back. We didn’t meet the challenge of keeping them off the glass. I was disappointed in our overall effort defensively.”

But like most basketball games, there were also some positive elements to the contest. “We did some decent things,” Goodwin said. “Offensively in the second half we did a pretty good job executing. Tiffany Depfer played well and Arrielle Luna played will until she fouled out with a little more than two minutes left. Angela Strohbeck played well, as did Bria Phillips. They played a better game than we did. We’re banged up and we’re resting some people. Maybe we haven’t gone as hard in practice as we need to. We’re trying to keep people healthy for the whole season.”

When Central League play starts, there are usually two games to be played and the first contest last week was a 54-16 win over Clairemont. Phillips scored 13 points, with Luna adding 12 and Strohbeck 10. The Islanders won all four quarters handily and shutout the Chieftains 8-0 in the second frame.

“We scored and did some decent things,” Goodwin said of the Tuesday home game. “But the focused energy and relentlessness you need to play with to be successful weren’t there. We have to play with a purpose. When we do that and when we execute, we’ll be ok.”

This week Coronado travels to Hoover Tuesday for a 4:45 pm game. The Islanders tip-off the Girls/Boys varsity home doubleheader with Christian Friday night at 6 pm.

Islander Girls Soccer Splits Two Games in Western League Play

Western League play in Girls Soccer is always tough, especially with Cathedral Catholic or their historic predecessor University of San Diego High School (USDHS) in the lineup. Reflective of that status, the Dons were ranked No. 2 in the County, with Coronado also earning some respect in “The San Diego Union-Tribune’s” Writer’s Poll at No. 10.

“We started off the game extremely well,” said Head Coach Kiko Medina. “We had three great chances on goal that we just missed or where their keeper made a great save. The game was very even and could have gone either way. It wasn’t until 12 minutes remained that they (Cathedral) were able to capitalize on a deep throw that played like a corner kick. We were forced to push players forward (after Cathedral’s goal) and they capitalized by creating another throw-in deep in our defensive half that bounced around a couple of times and we weren’t able to clear it in time. I was very proud of our effort and everybody played extremely well. Had we finished one of our early chances, it might have been a different result. It was probably our best game of the season, although we didn’t score any goals or get a positive result.”

As stated earlier, in league play there is always another match around the corner and in Coronado’s case it was a game with Christian. “The girls came out after our Tuesday loss feeling confident and knowing that they are a very good team. We dominated from the start, creating plenty of scoring opportunities. We got on the scoreboard early on a goal from Mallory Mitchell. We got the ball wide to Cassie Callahan, who served a great ball to Mallory, who had a great one-touch finish. We kept the momentum going and created a corner kick. Cassie served a very deep, dangerous ball that ended up deflecting off of one of their players into the goal.”

Things took a turn for the worse in the second half, but Coronado prevailed for the 2-0 victory. “The second half had us all scared when we thought we had lost senior defender Courtney Ryan for the season. Initially we thought it was a leg fracture, but it turned out to be a deep bone bruise instead. She will be out at least a week. I think it was tough for the girls to bounce back from that and Christian had us on our heels a little bit. But we responded well, defended strongly and kept the shutout.”

Medina went on to mention some individual standouts. “I have to praise the play of Sandy Shepherd, Andrea Davis and Kallie Caldwell. They really played well all week and the other girls were able to see their effort and match it.”

This week Coronado travels to La Jolla Tuesday to face an undefeated Viking squad at 3 pm. Thursday Coronado hosts Our Lady of Peace, with the JV teams competing at 4 pm and the Varsity squads squaring off at 6 pm.

The following week, Coronado has a rare Monday home game, when they host Cathedral Catholic at 6:45 pm. “This is a game where we really need the community’s support,” said Medina. “The JV Boys play at 3 pm, followed by the Varsity Boys at 5 pm and then we follow them. It is a great chance for people to see two great varsity games back-to-back.”

Track Off-Season Workouts Are Under Way

If you are interested in participating in off-season conditioning workouts for track, please go to the Islandertrack.com website for information. Or, you may contact CHS Head Track Coach George Green at 435-3633 for training updates.

ISF – Coronado Middle School Spring Sports Registration Date Set

Wednesday, Feb. 6, will be the registration date for the Coronado Middle School spring sports season. The meeting will be held at CMS Granzier Hall from 6:30 to 7:30 pm. Attendance by interested parents and student-athletes is strongly encouraged. Information regarding teams, schedules and coaches will be disseminated at the meeting.

The spring sports offered include Boys Lacrosse, Co-ed Track and Field, Co-ed Tennis, Girls Basketball and Co-ed Water Polo. The fee is $110 per sport, per child.

If you are new to the ISF-CMS Sports program, you may download all of the applicable forms at www.IslanderSportsFoundation.com. Your child must have a current athletic physical and have all of the forms completed and filed before they can practice or participate in an ISF-CMS sponsored sport. Under no circumstances will any applications or payments be accepted after the close of business Wednesday, Feb. 20. Student-athletes may only register for one sport per season.

For questions, please contact either Suzette Valle at avalle@san.rr.com or Cassandra Stroud at cmstroud@pacbell.net.

Final Chargers Thoughts

For reasons not apparent to your scribe, the San Diego Chargers entered the NFL Playoffs with the reputation of being soft, sunshine-dwelling West Coasters who couldn’t hang with the Big Boys in the Midwest and East Coast. Despite being on the losing end of a 21-12 result Sunday, the Chargers dismissed the notion that they were soft for the immediate future.

Bolts quarterback Philip Rivers played big Sunday as the Bolts gave the 18-0 New England Patriots all they could handle. Rivers, who probably shouldn’t have been vertical, much less playing on two injured legs, wouldn’t back down and kept San Diego in the game until the end.

Defensively, the Chargers contained All Pro wide receiver Randy Moss and intercepted NFL MVP Tom Brady three times, but the Patriots have multiple offensive weapons to rely upon. Stop the leak on this side of the New England offensive dam and another torrent will spring up nearby. The Patriots are deep, talented and motivated. A large portion of being the best is thinking you’re the best and confidence is not a problem for New England in 2007-08.

The Chargers couldn’t overcome the early loss of star running back LaDainian Tomlinson (two carries for a total of five yards) and star tight end Antonio Gates to go along with a physically diminished Rivers. The difference between playoff success or shortfall is often determined by which team is healthier. Clearly the Chargers, who weren’t able to earn the playoff bye week enjoyed by New England, were really banged up.

Bottom line, a team that started the season 1-3 finished strongly to close with a 13-6 mark. Let’s hope that the San Diego’s re-trenching, caused in part by the radically new coaching staff is over and the Chargers are able to build for the future from here.