Coronado Sports

A rarity occurred last week as the Islander Baseball Team (5-0-1 overall record) won the very competitive Aztec-Foothiller Tournament. Last week they defeated West Hills 6-0, Mater Dei 2-0 and Valhalla 10-2 in the event’s title tilt. It’s been tough sledding for Coronado in the decade the program has competed in this event. Or as Head Coach Morgan Cummins said, “In 2016 we went 3-2 in the Aztec-Foothiller and we celebrated, because that was the first winning record we ever had in the tournament.”

It took a great, combined effort from the Islander pitching staff to reach the Finals, as Coronado had to get past Eastlake, the team they tied with in their opening game of the season, which was also undefeated. Coronado advanced by the tiebreaker of ‘least tournament runs allowed,’ which as you will note from the scores above totaled just two last week and only six runs in the five Aztec-Foothiller tournament games leading to the Finals.

Things are looking good for the Islander Boys Golf Team, under the direction of Head Coach Stuart Gordon. Their first two matches this season were both victories, including a 210-230 win over Francis Parker and a 213-214 win over Olympian. The victories aren’t to be dismissed, but the truly important element is the fact the team’s scores are that low, this early in the season. Gordon said, “We have two freshmen this season who are good. One is Easton Phillips and the other is Jake McLaughlin and we have two new boys from Mexico in Saul Chacon and Javier Hernandez. They haven’t played much golf, but they are potentially par shooters. So we have four players who should shoot 35-37.”

When last we left the Islander Girls Basketball Team, they had just defeated No. 6 seeded Calipatria at the Academy of Our Lady of Peace gymnasium to advance to the CIF Division IV Semi-Finals against No. 2 seeded Foothills Christian, which does not have a permanent home court. To make a very long story short, the game was played last Tuesday at Mt. Miguel, which is in Spring Valley, somewhat near, well not very much actually.

Coronado Youth Soccer League (CYSL) Girls 2009 (G2009) team played in the semi-final and final of the Cal South State Cup tournament at Silverlakes Sports Complex in Norco, Calif. Feb. 23-24.

With snow-capped mountains as a backdrop, G2009 defeated Blues Youth Soccer Club (BYSC) Corona United Feb. 23 with a score of 4 - 2, securing them a spot in the championship game Feb. 24. With a lot of heart, the girls lost against Chino Hills’ Freedom Futbol Club 1 to 5 in the tournament’s final game.

“This weekend was really emotional; we had a great game on Saturday and we played hard on Sunday,” said Rafi Rotklein, the team’s goalie. “My teammates are my best friends and I’m excited for what future seasons have in store for us.”

Returning to the helm of the Islander Softball Team again this season is Head Coach Tony Isabella and this year the program is deep and talented. The program has enough players to again field a Junior Varsity team and the Varsity squad features an influx of talent from travel ball teams.

The Islander Boys Basketball Program under the direction of Head Coach JD Laaperi held their post-season awards banquet Sunday at the VFW Post 2422 in Coronado, with the bill of fare being a wide selection of grilled cheese sandwiches. The Varsity Boys (13-16 overall record) Awards as announced by Laaperi included: Co-MVP’s and Co-Captains-Bruen Roulier and Caden Gentry; Most Improved-Jack Westphal; Islander Sports Foundation Award-Josef Perez; Coach’s Award-Ryan Sauter; and 12 of the 14 Varsity Team members earned San Diego Union-Tribune Scholar-Athlete Certificates for attaining a GPA of 3.0 or greater with Jake Hacker leading the way with a 4.67 GPA.

Playing at home early last week, the Islander Girls Basketball Team defeated CIF Division IV First Round opponent High Tech High of San Diego 50-34. Three days later, with a threat of rain and a leaky roof quite literally creating new leaks with each passing storm, Friday night’s home playoff game was moved to the campus of the Academy of Our Lady of Peace. There Coronado, the No. 3 seed prevailed over No 6 seed Calipatria 40-33. The two wins pushed Coronado, under the direction of Head Coach Toler Goodwin, to an overall record of 22-6 on the season and into the CIF Semi-Finals.

Islander Rugby Team President Santos Trujillo provides an update on a potential championship run by the CHS Girls Rugby Team that was washed out last weekend. “Unfortunately, our Coronado High School Girls Rugby Team won’t be able to continue their undefeated season into the Finals.

Coronado’s Boys Basketball Team finished the season with an overall record of 13-16 and wound up with the No. 12 seed in CIF Division III. As luck would have it, they drew the No. 5 seed, which was fellow Eastern League member University City, meaning the teams had already played twice this season. They split the two-game conference series, each winning on the others’ court.

The third, final and rubber match of the series belonged to the Centurions as they got off to a 17-9 lead at the end of the first quarter and stretched that to 32-18 at the half. My feeling at the time was if the Islanders could put on a big run to open the second half, a comeback was within the realm of possibility. However, a Bruen Roulier offensive rebound and stick back, followed shortly thereafter by a Caden Gentry jump shot, was in turn followed by six minutes of scoreless basketball by Coronado. During that time, UC stretched their lead to 46-22 and the game was over except for the shouting, to coin a phrase. The final score was 61-42.

Islander Rugby Club President Santos Trujillo describes the Islander Girls Rugby Team’s continued march to an unbeaten season. “The team sought to continue their unbeaten streak Friday night at Mira Mesa High School. The Girl’s started off the night against always-tough Poway, who took the initial kickoff and began with a cheeky play kicking a line drive at Shire Lampkin, one of Coronado’s very strong forward players. The play would result in a knock-on penalty against Coronado. A knock-on is when a player accidentally drops the ball forward and this gave Poway the ball at the scrum. 

The Nado Girls 2009 competitive soccer team braved the cold and the rain this past weekend to participate in the Cal South State Cup Tournament Quarter Finals in Oceanside. After a rain delay last weekend, these girls were ready to play, rain or shine. On Saturday morning, Feb. 9, Nado Girls 2009 ousted the DMCV Sharks 4-3. In the afternoon, the girls put together an amazing last second play to win 4-3 against FC Valencia. Sunday morning, Feb. 10, brought cold weather, muddy fields and a light rain, but that did not deter the Coronado girls from putting forth their best effort for a solid 4-1 win against San Marcos United. Having successfully met the challenges of the weekend, Nado Girls 2009 advance to the Semi-Finals next weekend in Norco, California.

Coronado Boys Rugby finished off their season with a hard-fought match against Cathedral Catholic, which was a 56-17 loss for the Islanders. Freshman AJ Sablan stepped up again as scrum half, leading the team against a very tough Dons Defense. Senior and Team Captain Teddy Hendrickson scored with a breakaway around the outside, diving into the corner. Junior Paul Fieweger did his usual driving up the middle, fending off tacklers as he went in for the score.

A strong scoring run from Reese Oliver, who scored three goals in the first 4:17 of the game, helped carry the Islander Girls Water Polo Team past their counterparts from Valhalla 10-2 Thursday evening in the CIF Open Division Quarter-Finals. The game, which was played at La Jolla High School’s Coggan Family Pool, wasn’t much of a contest from the opening tip, as Oliver scored seven seconds into the game and the Islanders held a 5-0 lead at the quarter.

Islander Softball Head Coach Tony Isabella will be holding a Parents’ Meeting Wednesday, Feb. 12, 2019, at 6 p.m. at the Multi-Purpose Room at Coronado High School. A recently-held Player meeting saw a turnout of 30 girls, which means there will be Varsity and JV squads this season. If you have questions or would like to contact Coach Isabella, he can be reached at Tony.Isabella@coronadousd.net.

The Islander Girls Water Polo Team, under the direction of Head Coach Alicia Began, is the first CHS winter sports team to begin their CIF Playoff run. Coronado enters the Open Division Playoffs as the No. 3 seed and they will play No. 6 seed Valhalla Thursday night at 6:30 p.m. at the La Jolla High School Pool. Coronado earned their high seed in part due to their strong finish last week for their regular season.

It’s a little early to proclaim which team is the best story of the CHS winter sports season, but definitely in the running for that accolade is the Islander Girls Basketball Team. Last week they defeated La Jolla for the third time this season, this time by the score of 37-31. And they followed that win up with another victory Friday evening, dominating the Crawford Colts 46-16. The Islanders are now 20-5 overall and 10-1 in the City League.

Coach Trujillo continues with a report on the Islander Girls Rugby Team. “The Coronado Girls Rugby Team faced their greatest challenge of the season with both Kate Buzby and Shire Lampkin not available to play in their three matches Saturday. The team didn’t have much depth to begin the season and missing two players put them at the bare minimum of seven to play a match. 

In their two games last week, the Islander Boys Basketball Team lost a close game to San Diego 61-55, despite an 8-0 run to start the game and a 7-0 run in the fourth quarter. They closed out their week with a one-sided 73-45 win over Crawford. For comments on the officiating in the Crawford game, see the Girls Basketball section, as the same officials worked both ends of the doubleheader, and were equally bad in both contests.

Head Coach JD Laaperi said of the San Diego game, “It was a good one. Bruen Roulier couldn’t play due to a migraine headache. That was a big loss for us in a lot of areas including rebounding and defense. But the kids pulled together, and we had opportunities. We had a four point lead at the end of the first quarter. In the fourth quarter we were down 12 and had the seven point run and lost by six points. Mike Cunningham played extremely well and scored 21 points and Caden Gentry added 18 points. Bryce Alexander had 12 rebounds, which were much needed. He did most of the boxing out on a lot of our other rebounds as well. Ryan Herman played well with six points. We played Herman and Cunningham together often to give us an extra ballhandler.”

Last week the Islander Girls Basketball Team continued the City League portion of their season with decisive victories over Hoover 51-22 and Mission Bay 52-32. In addition, Coronado is 8-1 in the City League and is one game off the pace set by league leader Madison, which is 9-0.

It was an up-and-down week for the Islander Boys Basketball Team. The ‘Up’ was a good one, as Coronado went on the road to defeat Hoover 54-39. Islander Head Coach JD Laaperi said Hoover’s two largest league losses this season were both to Coronado. He added, “The Hoover game was one of the better Tuesday games we have played in a long while. I’m proud of the way the kids played. We controlled every quarter. We were up by four points at the end of the first quarter, up six points at the half, 10 at the end of three quarters and we won by 15 points. Hoover came back and beat Madison later in the week. I was hoping that kind of offensive balance would carry over to Friday night against University City, and it just didn’t.”

The Islander Girls Water Polo Team experienced a tough home loss to The Bishop’s School last week, an 11-10 result in overtime. The Islanders held a one-goal lead with 12 seconds remaining in regulation and the Knights tied the game on a man-up opportunity to send the game into overtime. In prep water polo, overtime consists of two, three-minute periods. Abby Sylvester made a beautiful spin move and converted a shot just 14 seconds into the first overtime period. Bishop’s answered with two quick goals before Brooke Lee evened the score at 10-all. Bishop’s scored the game-winning goal in the second overtime period. Lee had three goals, an assist and a steal for Coronado; Sheila Tomlin also scored three goals to go with an assist and three steals; Sylvester scored two goals; and single goals came from Grace Harbaugh and Danni Croteau. Michelle Croteau had a fine game in goal with 10 saves and one steal. Coronado hosted Cathedral Catholic Monday and plays at La Jolla Wednesday at 3:30 p.m… The Islander Boys Soccer Team has an overall record of 7-4-1 this season, including a 2-3 mark in the Western League. Last week Coronado used a second half goal to defeat Cathedral Catholic 1-0, before the team lost 4-0 to St. Augustine. Coronado hosts Point Loma Tuesday and Thursday Coronado hosts Scripps Ranch at 5:15 p.m.… These are interesting times in the National Basketball Association, with the recent demand by six-foot, 10-inch power forward Anthony Davis of the New Orleans Pelicans to be traded. Several elements combine to make this interesting, not the least of which is that Davis and Laker star LeBron James have the same agent, Rich Paul. The Pelicans are already playing the tampering card, saying Davis, a five-time NBA All-Star at the age of 25, has been illegally approached by the Lakers, which is where Davis apparently would prefer to play. NBA Executive Vice President of Communications Mike Bass said Monday, “We commenced an investigation this morning upon reading the reports regarding Anthony Davis. That process is ongoing.” The fine for tampering is $250,000 which is chump change by current NBA standards, unless NBA Commissioner Adam Silver gets creative and decides to up the ante. Expect New Orleans to be aggressive in their attempt to receive maximum market value for the talented Davis… It’s time for Your Natterer’s fearless Super Bowl LIII Predictions and we’re using odds set earlier this week, supplied by Odds Shark. The current line has New England as a 2.5-point favorite and the over/under (total points scored by both teams in the game) is 59.5. Typically teams don’t win during their first appearance in a championship game in any sport, which has me picking New England to win and cover the point spread. If the Patriots go up early, they will use their ground game and short-passing game orchestrated by their quarterback Tom Brady to retain possession and keep the ball away from the Los Angeles Rams’ potent offense. Nearly 60 total points seems high to me and the Rams have cooled off a bit since their mid-season offensive fireworks caught everyone’s attention. Also, New England Head Coach Bill Belichick has had the better part of two weeks to create a defensive scheme to stop the Rams. So take the Pats, give the points and take the under… Finally, by the time you read this there will only be a couple of airings remaining of Dan Patrick’s annual Super Bowl coverage, this year originating from Atlanta. His shows which air the week before the Super Bowl, are among the best in all sports talk television and radio (the show is simulcast) and feature an incomparable guest list of football greats. The show runs from 6-9 a.m. Pacific Time and it’s a great way to re-ignite your possibly flagging interest in Sunday’s Super Bowl.

Islander Rugby Club President and Boys Head Coach Santos Trujillo recaps the good news from the program’s three teams last week. “All three Islander Rugby Teams won Saturday, including the co-ed Under-12 team, which beat the top-ranked San Diego Mustangs. Also, the High School Girls won all three of their matches, with the details of their victories detailed below. The three teams practice together, so it’s no surprise they shared in the good fortune. 

Last week the Islander Girls Soccer Team (8-2-4 overall record) played twice, battling Mira Mesa to a 0-0 draw on the road, and then losing to San Diego 1-0 at home. Islander Head Coach Mike Costaglio said of the Mira Mesa contest, “Excellent goaltending and defense kept our opponent scoreless and the match level. We only created four shot opportunities, with just two of those shots on goal. There were times when we combined with one another and looked good, but just not often enough. There are some games when a team is just not in sync and this was our out-of-sync game. I am proud that our ladies battled and refused to get beat. Their determination prevented a negative result. Shelby Linde had seven saves in the game.”

Without question the busiest Islander winter sports team last week and this week combined is the Islander Girls Water Polo Team (8-11 overall record). Over the two-week period, they will have 13 games, the vast preponderance of which will be against high-level competition.

Last week Coronado started with a 7-6 loss to Cathedral. Islander Head Coach Alicia Began said, “We were up 5-3 in the third quarter and then we lost 7-6. Our goal scorers included Grace Harbaugh who scored twice, and we had single goals from Abby Sylvester, Brooke Lee, Reese Oliver and Ryan Sund. Michelle Croteau was in goal and she had eight blocks.”

The next game was another Western League tilt against La Jolla and Coronado prevailed 11-8. Began said, “Sheila Tomlin scored five goals and she played really well. Oliver scored three goals, Danni Croteau scored twice, and Sylvester had one goal. Harbaugh had four assists and Sund had three. Ella Farley was in goal with nine saves.”