Newport-Mesa schools open football practice today

Barry Faulkner

Newport-Mesa District high school football teams from Corona del

Mar, Costa Mesa, Estancia and Newport Harbor take their most definitive

step toward turning the page on a disappointing 1998 campaign today, when

the 1999 season kicks off with conditioning drills.

The annual three-day conditioning period, in which players work out in

helmets, T-shirts and shorts, marks the official transition to the

upcoming season. Teams will move to full gear Thursday as they continue

preparation for scrimmages Sept. 3 and season openers Sept. 9-10.

Newport-Mesa schools are anxious to shift focus away from last season, in

which, for the first time since 1986, none of the four local programs

earned a postseason victory.

The preseason scrimmage, abandoned in 1979 when the CIF Southern Section

expanded the regular season to 10 games, is a welcome addition for

coaches and players. It will allow coaches to more accurately evaluate

personnel under game conditions. For the players, it will help alleviate

the tedium of practicing against teammates.

Coach Jerry Howell begins his fifth season at Costa Mesa with eyes on a

Pacific Coast League title. The Mustangs advanced to the CIF Division VI

playoffs last fall, marking the first time in school history they had

been to the playoffs three straight seasons.

Mesa, which scrimmages Calvary Chapel before opening Sept. 10 against

Saddleback at Orange Coast College, welcomes All-Newport-Mesa District

and all-league returners Dave Weir, Shaun Ferryman, Jason Rankin, Eliseo

Martinez and Luis Avalos.

Corona del Mar, which joined Mesa in the postseason a year ago, will be

guided for the fifth straight fall by Dick Freeman, last year’s

Newport-Mesa District Coach of the Year.

The Sea Kings (6-5 last fall), scrimmage Villa Park before opening Sept.

9 by hosting Marina at Newport Harbor. Among their marquee [ Stepping

Column ]players are tailback Grant Estabrook and offensive tackle Sean

Fenton, the latter a prospect to continue collegiately in the Ivy League.

CdM, which moves from the rugged Sea View League to the PCL, brings

renewed optimism into the campaign, despite having question marks at

several positions.

The Sea Kings sustained a blow when two-year starting quarterback Mike

Bergey was dismissed from the team over the summer.

Coach Jeff Brinkley welcomes his 14th Newport Harbor edition, hoping the

Sailors can culminate the program’s most successful decade ever with

thier eighth playoff trip in the 1990s.

Harbor missed the playoffs a year ago and finished 6-4, but is bolstered

by the return of all-district and all-league receiver-safety Billy

Clayton. In addition, the Tars welcome back 6-foot-8, 242-pound offensive

tackle Blair Jones, who has already received scholarship offers from USC,

Cal, Oregon and Michigan.

Harbor scrimmages Mission Viejo in preparation for its Sept. 9 opener

against visiting Orange.

Estancia begins its second season under the guidance of Coach Dave

Perkins, who got a head start on the competition by taking his Eagles to

a full-contact summer camp at Fresno State in June.

Perkins figures to improve upon a 1-9 debut season, in which injuries

decimated his veteran players and forced him to force feed varsity

newcomers.

Among those who gained seasoning and return with promise is senior

offensive tackle Kyle Westman.

The Eagles scrimmage Orange before opening Sept. 10 by hosting Magnolia

at Newport Harbor.

Unlike most of his colleagues in the Southern Section, Perkins does not

believe in two-a-days, electing instead to concentrate work into one

practice.

Mesa, CdM and Harbor, however, will take advantage of multiple practices,

typically supplementing twice-daily workouts with additional midday

sessions focusing on special teams and/or weightlifting.

Players at Newport and CdM will remain on campus all day, fostering

camaraderie and, coaches believe, increasing football focus.