Week of: Thursday, June 25, 2009 |
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by David Axelson, Islander Sports Foundation
The Powder Puff game ingrained itself into the culture at Coronado High School when it was moved from February each year, when the winter class female athletes couldn't participate, to the current calendar date of early June. All of the spring sports are completed and school is almost over. Besides, the more physical players can develop multi-hued bruises just in time for Prom the following evening. For the past several games, the home side stands at Niedermeyer Field have been packed with concerned parents, students and friends. This year the CHS Class of 2011 used the occasion to run a concession operation in the Seventh Street gymnasium parking lot. The officers including President Anna Coumes, Vice President Annie Lovering, Treasurer Andrew Toomey, Secretary Hayden Deitrick and several classmates made nearly $1,000 Friday evening, to be used on future Homecoming and Prom related expenses. Having attended the last couple of these events, it seems to Your Natterer that there are three components to the evening that are meaningful to the participants. Those elements include the design and execution of the uniforms worn by the players; the cheerleading competition which is held at the pep rally the morning of the game; and finally, the score of the game itself. Since both teams feature the best female athletes in their respective classes, the level of athleticism is quite high. The secret to moving the ball on offense seems to rest with having lacrosse or track athletes who are still in shape from their recently concluded season, to run the ball with reckless abandon downfield. The Senior Class had Mason Mills as their head coach and offensive coordinator, with Stefan Massie serving as defensive coordinator. Bryan Crabb served as assistant head coach and there were plenty of football players, boyfriends and senior jocks hanging around for atmosphere and to second guess the coaching staff. On the field, the Seniors were lead by quarterback Andrea Davis, running back Sandy Shepherd and receiver Blair Jennings. The running backs also included Lauren Ribant and Briana Baszak. The defensive unit for the seniors included linebacker Angela Strohbeck, defensive back Melissa Humphrey and linebackers Kaitlyn Mehrwerth and Sandra Cepin. For the Junior class, Chris Paige served as head coach and offensive coordinator; Chris Maskevich was the defensive coordinator; Abel Yldefonso coached the defensive backs; Craig Newson coached the receivers; and Brian Beverly coached the linebackers. Key players for the Juniors included running backs Brianna Giorgione and Coco O'Brien, quarterback Maggie Harris and corner back Andrea Sassenrath. Moral support for the Seniors was provided by class advisors Casey Tanaka and Davin Heaphy. The Junior class advisor is Nate Aldworth. Officials for the game included CHS football coaches Ed Shanholtz, Keith Sippy, Tony Isabella and Quinn Renfro. Head Coach Bud Mayfield and Mike Pompa handled the challenging assignment of updating the down marker. The first play from scrimmage was a run attempt by the juniors, which was stymied by Mehrwerth, who made a tackle for loss. Coco O'Brien followed with a long run and after tackles from Cepin and Mackenzie Coutts, the seniors took over on downs. Sandy Shepherd then ripped off gains totaling roughly 80 yards in three carries and the Seniors were deep into scoring territory. The Juniors mounted a strong defensive stand, held the Seniors at bay and took the ball over on their one yard line. That in microcosm was pretty much the story of the game. The seniors controlled the time of possession and won the field position battle, but couldn't punch the ball into the end zone. Just before the end of the half, Davis ran the ball to the Junior's five-yard line. The seniors' coaching staff called timeout with 32 seconds on the clock, but the Class of '09 couldn't punch the ball into the end zone. The game is broken into halves, which are more or less 25 minutes of running clock, with the 10-minute halftime devoted to a cheer presentation from the senior class. Truthfully by this point my attention span was in serious decline, but my laser-like focus returned to the game a few minutes into the second half of play. Davis opened the second half with yet another long run and despite being first and goal from the 10-yard line, the seniors again could not score. Shepherd tried gallantly to score on a run, but was pushed out of bounds on the 6-inch line and apparently had the wind knocked out of her for her effort. With just under six minutes remaining in the game, the Juniors took control of the ball, again deep in their own territory. After running a couple of plays, Mehrwerth again made her presence felt on defense, tackling the junior running back in the end zone for a safety to make the score Seniors 2, Juniors 0. The juniors then had to kick off to their opponents after the safety and the seniors ran the clock out. The highlight of the ball possession drive came on a pass from Davis to Jennings for a first down, which kept the ball in the seniors' possession until the clock ran out. The final score was 2-0. Maskevich certainly did his job well as the Seniors didn't score on his defensive unit. Maskevich said after the game, “Everyone on the defense played their hearts out.” The concept of burying the lead, in this case the final score of the game, isn't recommended in journalism classes, or so I'm told. But if the score had been divulged before now, you would have been in the garage sale section of the paper five minutes ago. At halftime, while in conference on the sidelines with mayor Casey Tanaka, I mentioned that the prominent sports books in Vegas had the over-under (total number of points scored in the game) at 25. Remind me to take the under next year. Tanaka and I shared a generational moment as we tried to guess whose image was on the front of the Seniors' T-shirts. I guessed Isaac Hayes, Tanaka guessed Mr. T and in fact the answer was Rick “The Boss” Ross. Yeah, I felt old on that one. Honesty compels me to report that the Juniors won the coveted Natterings Sartorial Splendor Award, as the Seniors went with white lettering on an all-black shirt. The Juniors countered with a hot pink garment that had several unintelligible things printed on both the front and back, but the graphics were reasonably well-presented. Despite being touched out for this coveted award, the Seniors do get credit for using eye black as a stylish fashion accent to match their shirts. The funniest moment of the game came in the early going as Mills went through an elaborate set of hand signals, attempting to transmit instructions for a play for the Seniors from the sidelines to the quarterback. After 10 seconds of gyrations from Mills, it became apparent that the concept wasn't being received on the field and Mills went to Plan B. But the good news was that the students had fun, no one got hurt and the Class of 2011 made some money for future projects. The offensive coordinators for both teams will be looking for work soon, while the defensive coordinators are working their contacts and fielding job offers. Honors and Awards - The Overview Over a recent seven-day span, Your Natterer has been on the spring version of the If It's Free, It's For Me Tour, attending five post season banquets in that time. Pass the guacamole, let's get to the honorees from each sport. We'll cover the banquets in chronological order. Boys Lacrosse Honors and Awards The reigning CIF Champion CHS Boys Lacrosse Team earned more accolades than any other CHS spring sports team. First the team awards presented by Varsity Head Coach Alex Cade: Alumni Award presented to a senior player with a love of the game and community - Daniel Nevitt; Islander Sports Foundation Award for Integrity, Sportsmanship and Friendship - John Waickwicz; Coaches' Award - Ian McRae; Defenders of the Year - Daniel Nevitt and Jonathan Little; Midfielder of the Year - Jackson Cusick; Attack Man of the Year - Bobby Braun; and Team MVP - Jonny Poe. Only eight players in all of San Diego County were named as Lacrosse All Americans and three were from the Islander program - Braun, Poe and Kodie Englehart. Named to the “San Diego Union-Tribune” All-Section First Team were Sean O'Brien, Braun and Cusick, with Poe named CIF San Diego Section Player of the Year. Earning San Diego Hall of Champions First Team honors were: Braun, Poe, Englehart and Cusick. Second Team honors were bestowed upon Nevitt, O'Brien and Eddie Vita. Braun was named Section Player of the Year. Named to the City Conference First Team were Peter Zeller, Poe, Braun, Nevitt, Cusick and O'Brien. Named to the Conference Second Team were Vita, Little and Englehart. Poe was named City Conference Player of the Year and Coronado was the undefeated champion of the City Conference. Boys Volleyball Honorees Announced CHS Boys Volleyball Head Coach Adam Lockwood presented his club's team awards as follows: Most Inspirational - Jake Nicholson; Most Improved - Chris Maskevich; and Team MVP - Cotter Stacy. Boys and Girls Swim Team Award Winners CHS Head Coach Dave Throop passed along the winners of the Varsity Swim Team Awards including: Most Valuable Male Swimmer - Rex Butler; Co-Most Valuable Female Swimmers - Ashley Young and Kelly Ronimus; Male Most Improved - Tommy Schofer; Female Most Improved - Natalie Stringer; Male Co-Coaches' Award Winners - Jackson Hummeldorf and Brendon Farrell; Coaches' Award Female - Shelby Couture; Most Valuable Diver - Savannah Marston. The Junior Varsity Awards were presented to: Male MVP - Josh Williams; Female MVP - Morgan Karney; Male Most Improved - Alex Kuznetsov; Female Most Improved - Cassie Scott and Coaches' Award to Male Swimmer - Christian Dudley; and Female Coaches' Award Swimmer - Kendall Martin. Andrew Ireland was named to the CIF All-Section First Team by virtue of his county-best time in the 200 freestyle. Boys Golf Winners Head Boys Golf Coach Randy Coutts announced his award winners (We're up to Tuesday, by the way) at the banquet, held appropriately enough at the Coronado Municipal Golf Course. Coach's Award - Robert Phelps; the ISF Award - Alex Valle; and Team Captain and Team MVP Connor Pompa. Valle and Pompa earned All-Central League First Team honors, while Phelps and Brian Turley were named to the All-Central League Second Team. Islander Softball Honorees Wednesday evening the CHS Softball Program held their banquet, with Varsity Head Coach Tony Isabella announcing the awards for his team. Team Captains included Lizzie Nebo, Brianna Feist, Sandra Cepin and Shannon Julius. The Most Improved Player was Rachael Bible; Most Inspirational - Chantal Perez; Islander Awards - Cepin and Julius; Best Offensive Player - Kayla Englehart; Best Defensive Player - Olivia Nebo and Team MVP - Feist. In addition, Feist was named to the Western League First Team, while Englehart won Western League Second Team honors. Cepin and Nicole Aguilar earned Honorable Mention accolades. The JV Awards were presented by Head Coach Jay Kruer and Assistant Head Coach Doug Barker. Grace Puglisi, Jodi Adair and Leslie Orell were named team Captains. The Rookie of the Year Award was presented to Adair; Coaches' Award - Alexis Morabito; Co-Most Improved - Lauren Penn and Norah Eppele; Offensive Players of the Year - Adair and Alex Evans; Defensive Player of the Year - Alanna Pompa; and JV MVP - Puglisi. Islander Baseball Awards Despite an abrupt conclusion to their season, for the unintentional use of an ineligible player in the CIF Division IV Playoffs, the Islander Baseball Team had a fine season, posting a record of 21-11. The Varsity awards were presented by Head Coach Sam Ceci and his coaching staff. Team awards included: ISF Award - Sean MacDonald; Coaches' Awards - John Mikesell and Todd Kelleher; Pitcher of the Year Award - Bryan Crabb; Gamer Awards - Justin Parsons, Keith Englehart, Blake Malkemus and Mason Mills; and Team MVP - Kyle Couture. In addition, Couture was named to the ‘Union-Tribune' CIF All-Section Second Team. First Team All-Western League Honors went to Couture and Crabb. Mills was named to the All-Western League Second Team and Couture was recognized with Western League Pitcher of the Year honors. The Islander JV Team under the direction of Head Coach Matt Fisher posted a 24-3 record. Fisher presented the Coaches' Award to Hank Taylor. Preview for Next Week's Nado Natterings The spring awards season draws to a close this week with Girls Lacrosse and Boys and Girls Track and Field. We'll have those award winners for you next week. U.S. Lacrosse Golf Tournament Information A quick reminder that the San Diego Chapter of U.S. Lacrosse is sponsoring a golf tournament Friday, June 12, which starts at 1 p.m. Included in the $130 registration fee ($500 for a foursome) are the round of golf, cart, gift bag, pre-event range time, on-course beverages and a post tournament buffet dinner. There will also be prizes for the longest drive and closest to the pin. There will also be a post round 50/50 putting event and prizes for the best dressed team. In addition, $100 from each corporate foursome ($750) will be donated to a local lacrosse program of the sponsor's choice. For more information on the event, please contact CHS Head Girls Lacrosse Coach Jessica Battle at jbattle@telecomfinders.com or Joe Bowen at joe@srlax.org. CHS Volleyball Camp Information New CHS Girls Varsity Head Coach Leilani Au Hoon is running a series of volleyball camps for girls of various ages over the summer. From June 26 - 28 there will be a camp for fourth through eighth grade girls, which will run from 5 - 7 p.m. on June 26 and from 9 - 11 a.m. Saturday and Sunday. On the same dates, a high school camp will be held for incoming freshmen through rising seniors. The Friday session is from 7 - 9 p.m. and the Saturday/Sunday sessions will run from 11 a.m. - 1 p.m. Cost for either of the three-day camps is $70. The same format holds for the next round of camps from July 24 - 26. All of the times and details are the same as the earlier session. The next round of volleyball camps will be held from Aug. 10 - 12,, with the fourth through eighth grade girls working from 4 - 6 p.m. and the high school aged players working from 6 - 8 p.m. This camp costs $80 for either session, with a portion of the proceeds going to the Coronado Girls Volleyball program. In addition to the camps listed above, there will be open gym sessions available to any girls who are interested in playing for the CHS program this coming year. No experience is required. The open gyms will be held July 6, 7, 13, 14, 20 and 21 from 6 - 8 p.m. There will be conditioning sessions on Tuesday mornings on July 7, 14 and 21 at the CHS Gym. For more information, or to enroll in one of the camp sessions, please contact Coach Au Hoon at hulaomanini@hotmail.com. Rogan and Perkins to Run Football Camp at CMS Coronado High School Alumni J.T. Rogan (CHS '04) and Cote Perkins (CHS '04) are combining to run the San Diego County Football Camp that will be held at Coronado Middle School June 29-30. Clinic times will be from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. and the enrollment fee will be $100. Kids aged 6-13 are eligible to attend the camp. “You can be a first-time player,” said Perkins of kids who plan to attend the camp. “No experience is necessary.” Players attending the camp should wear gym shorts and a T-shirt. Football cleats are not required, but can be worn. Some type of athletic shoes are required. The camp will be run by collegiate players and coaches, Pop Warner Alumni and USD athletes. A portion of the proceeds will go toward both the Levi Lozano Scholarship Fund and to the Coronado Pop Warner Football program. For additional information, please contact either Rogan at 549-7990 or Perkins at (435) 647-6560. The camp is sponsored by Blumenthal Insurance Services of Coronado.
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