Clairemont Chieftains 36, Coronado Islanders 7
The Clairemont Chieftains came to Coronado and spoiled Senior night for the Islanders by a score of 36-7. The win brings the Chieftains league record back to 500 and their overall record to 5-4. Clairemont used a steady diet of running back Jay Rensfield (191 yds 2 TDs) and some trickery to get the victory. The Chieftains successfully executed two fake punts with Dylan Suitts running and bowling would be tacklers over. That wasn’t all for the trickery on this Halloween weekend. Once again, Dylan Suitts was doing the tricking and quarterback Griffin Catarius got the treat when Suitts hit him for a 36 yard TD pass on 4th down.
The Coronado Islanders (3-6,0-3) lost their third straight league game. They haven’t been able to find a cure for the turnovers. Once again the bug hit them at critical times during the game. The first came when QB Lance Lorentz tried to set up a screen pass deep in Islander territory to running back Shane Alihan. The badly overthrown ball was also a backwards pass, and by the time Alihan recovered the ball in his endzone, he was met by 3 Chieftain defenders who tackled him for the safety. The next came when the Islanders were moving the ball with rhythm until a fumbled snap gave the ball back to Clairemont. Another came just before halftime when Lorentz’s pass was picked off by Austin Rice. All together the Islanders had 4 turnovers in the game.
PREVIEW: Week 10 of the Prep Pigskin Report is our Halloween show. This week I travel across the bay to Coronado where the Islanders host the Chieftains of Clairemont in a Central league matchup. The Chieftains (4-4, 1-2) come in with a chip on their shoulder and want to avenge last year’s 48-6 loss. Right now, Clairemont occupies fourth place in the Central league and the Islanders (3-5,0-2) are in the cellar. Last week, Clairemont lost a league matchup with Kearny in which they led most of the first half until two turnovers in the last two minutes turned into a 14 point deficit. The third quarter saw the Chieftains take it to the Red Zone only to turn it over on downs. If Clairemont hopes to put one in the win column, they will need to fix the turnover problems.
To say it’s been a down year for the Coronado Islanders would be an understatement. Last year first place. This year last place. Last year they led the league in points scored and they gave up the least amount of point on defense. This year they rank last in both of those categories. Much like the Chieftains, Coronado has a problem with the turnover bug. Quarterback Bryce Alexander leads the team in TD passes with 5 but also interceptions with 9. He also leads the team in rushing yards and tied for the team lead in rushing TDs. Unfortunately he also leads the team in fumbles and fumbles lost.
Put it all together and you got two teams with nothing to lose fighting for pride and bragging rights.
