HARBOR LEAGUE PREVIEW : St. Augustine Has Strength in Numbers

SAN DIEGO —  The island girls may have their fair share of fans, but don’t count the Coronado football coaching staff among them.

With City Harbor League enrollments ranging from 300 to 950, these schools fight an unending battle to find bodies to fill their athletic rosters, one reason this league was formed three years ago.

Because most schools are co-educational, football coaches must subtract half the student body from their pool of potential athletes.

Not St. Augustine, an all-male private school.

Every Saint is a candidate for a sports team, which gives it a distinct advantage.

“You figure St. Augustine has 500-600 students, just like the rest of us,” said first-year coach Lee Price of Coronado. “But no one understands they’re all boys. Over here on the island, we’re 60% girls.”

St. Augustine actually has slightly less than 600 students, Coronado slightly more than 600. Saints Coach Joe Medina acknowledges the advantage:

“It really is,” he said. “At lunchtime, the basketball courts are all full. Everyone’s used to competing.”

And St. Augustine, two-time defending league champion, is getting used to storming through this Harbor. This year should be no different, with 15 returning starters and a year of playing for second-year coach Medina.

No one goes out on a limb when giving the Saints the nod to win their third consecutive league title.

“They are the perennial favorite,” Price said. “After that it’s usually a toss-up. All of us beat Marian and lost to St. Augustine.”

Marian could turn a corner with new coach Mike David, who was USDHS’ offensive coordinator for seven years. They’ve had an attitude adjustment since last season, when they were 0-10 and outscored 383-21.

Christian was picked as a sleeper by Clairemont’s Jim Inouye, but the loss of quarterback Andy Herbert to Grossmont High and two other key offensive players dispel the notion.

“I don’t know where anyone gets that,” Christian Coach Dale Peterson said. “We’re too young to be mentioned as a contender until the end of the year.”

In that case, circle Oct. 30 on the calendar. That’s when St. Augustine and Christian square off.

ST. AUGUSTINE

SAINTS

Coach: Joe Medina, second year

1991 Record: 6-4-1, 4-0

Starters Returning: 15

If there’s one player to keep an eye on, it’s three-year starting quarterback Aaron Buckner (6-6, 190). Medina said schools including UCLA have shown interest, and over the summer, Buckner, who passed for 1,210 yards in 1991, was named MVP at Miami’s Hurricane Camp.

Last year, Saints used the wishbone, but moves to a one-back, spread offense with a little option thrown in for 1992.

St. Augustine has the tools to activate its throwing game with senior all-league wide receivers Jonathon Santos (35 catches, 351 yards, 5 touchdowns) and Troy Gorostiza (27 catches, 272 yards, 3TDs) back.

Leading a “bunch” of running backs are juniors Chris Sovay (6-0, 205), who also plays linebacker and Esley Baker (5-9, 170), who runs a 4.6 40.

Medina has the luxury of 30 seniors and the talent and the speed to add some flavor to a defense he called vanilla.

“We’re going to attack,” he said. “You’re going to see some blitzes to take advantage of the quickness at the down lineman positions and in the secondary.”

The Saints look to junior defensive lineman Darrell Russell (6-6, 280), who went to basketball camp and won a slam dunk contest, and to senior free safety Steven Parra (6-1, 180) in those positions.

On the offensive line, St. Augustine has some size: its smallest player is a 205 left guard.

All the ingredients are there. Still, they must guard against complacency.

“I don’t think they’ll look past anyone. We have our goals,” Medina said. “But we do have to be careful. Everyone’s out to beat us.”

CHRISTIAN

PATRIOTS

Coach: Dale Peterson, third year

1991 Record: 6-3-1, 1-2-1

Starters Returning: 6

Christian’s spirited 4-0 start in 1991 dissolved into a 1-3-1 finish, but the Patriots still managed to finish second in the county in scoring with 335 points for a 33.5 per game average.

That was due in large part to Andy Herbert, who had a 168.3 quarterback rating, better than everyone in the county, including Hilltop’s Jorge Munoz and Mira Mesa’s Chad Davis.

But Herbert transferred to Grossmont High, and his leading receiver, Greg Giles (14.3 average per catch), is playing at Grossmont College and top running back Nathan Ballinger won’t be back.

“We’ll be struggling in the beginning, but if we believe in one another, we can do well in our league,” Peterson said.

Peterson has to believe that of the 64 players on varsity and junior varsity--one-third of whom are freshman--some untapped talent will rise to the surface.

Rob Jenson (6-2, 170), Herbert’s backup last year, is the starting quarterback and hopes to throw the ball to tight end Alvin Evans or Brandon Haire, a transfer from Arizona.

Peterson likes the heavy hitting of defensive linemen Jason Jenkins (6-4, 185), Steven St. Pierre (6-0, 205) and Kevin Malanga (5-11, 205).

CLAIREMONT CHIEFTAINS

Coach: Jim Inouye, second year

1991 Record: 4-7, 2-2

Starters Returning: 10

After finishing 0-10 in 1990, Clairemont rebounded to make the playoffs, one of only two Harbor League teams to do so. In the first round, they lost to 2-A San Diego Section runner-up La Jolla, 33-0.

“If you’re going to lose, that’s not a bad team to do it against,” Inouye said.

Clairemont will use the Delaware Wing-T offense for the first time, because “I don’t think we can pass, and we can’t throw the ball up the field,” Inouye said.

The Chieftains will try to get the ball to running back Jason Kuiper (6-1, 190), who moved from outside linebacker because he’s the fastest man on the team, or to senior Juan Tinoco (5-6, 155).

Graduation wasn’t kind to Clairemont, and several players must go both ways. But there is some experience on the offensive line where senior guard Jeremy Karlovits (6-2, 285), senior center Justin Pallamary (5-10, 190) and junior tackle Armando Sandoval (6-3, 230) will play.

Quarterback is up for grabs. Senior Willie Gray, backup to John Price last year, has the inside track, but fighting for the position is junior Peter Soukthavong.

CORONADO ISLANDERS

Coach: Lee Price, first year

1991 Record: 5-4-1, 1-2-1

Starters Returning: 4

Price has been as assistant coach at Coronado for two years and certainly knew what he was getting into when he accepted the head coaching job.

Not only did Price’s starters graduate--six sophomores are playing varsity--so did just about everyone else.

Help comes in a pair of returners in the backfield: fullback Sean Sadler (5-7, 156) and Chad Walery (5-7, 144).

“We have some pretty good athletes for Coronado,” Price said. “You can’t compare them to other programs, but we like them a lot. They’ll do well for us.”

Quarterback duties have shifted to senior and former defensive back Travis Powell (5-11, 185), who Price said can run and throw well enough to keep the Islanders competitive.

All-league strong safety Kyle Smock (5-7, 155) has moved to linebacker because of his strength.

MARIAN CRUSADERS

Coach: Mike David, first year

1991 Record: 0-10, 0-4

Starters Returning: 17

David wanted to start from scratch when he took over at Marian.

He certainly did. David couldn’t give out statistics on several key returners, because “we threw everything out from last year.”

Over the summer, Marian built a weight room and a strength program to develop some confidence among his 38 players.

David has implemented a Wing-T offense because he believes it can yield instant results and he has the quality personnel to run it.

“I’ve seen it turn programs around,” he said. “Torrey Pines went 8-2 with it last year, and El Capitan went 11-2 with it after an 0-10 season.”

Rick Trejo will likely start at quarterback and has four backs to carry the ball: seniors Ian Sutlick (5-10, 180) and Herb Chua (5-9, 180), sophomore Aaron Guess (5-9, 170) and Junior King (5-11, 16)0), a junior transfer from Texas, where he led Crosby to a 5-A state semifinal playoff berth.

David likes the look of his young, but hard-hitting offensive line, where center Danny Ramirez, guards Felix Martinez and Richard Medina and tackle Olegario Vazquez, all sophomores, should throw their weight around. Senior tackle Ron Gorsich (6-1, 270) returns to the line.

22 to Watch

Pos Name School Yr. QB Aaron Buckner St. Augustine Sr. WR Jonathon Santos St. Augustine Sr. WR Troy Gorostiza St. Augustine Sr. RB Esley Baker St. Augustine Jr. LB Gustavo Villafana St. Augustine Sr. CB Steven Parra St. Augustine Sr. QB Rob Jenson Christian Jr. LB Billy Garber Christian Jr. TE Alvin Evans Christian Sr. OL Steven St. Pierre Christian Sr. OL Danny Ramirez Marian So. OL Felix Martinez Marian So. FB Ian Stulick Marian Sr. HB Aaron Guess Marian So. DT Luke Smart Coronado So. LB Kyle Smock Coronado Sr. FB Sean Stadler Coronado Sr. TB Chad Walery Coronado Sr. LB Bryan White Clairemont Sr. OL Ryan Lima Clairemont So. OL Armando Sandoval Clairemont Jr. FB Juan Tinoco Clairemont Sr.