Marina renders CdM opener forgettable

Barry Faulkner

NEWPORT BEACH - The final Corona del Mar High football season

opener of the century is in the books. And in the aftermath of sloppy

28-7 loss to visiting Marina Friday night at Newport Harbor High, it may

be at least a decade (barring today’s videotape review) before Sea Kings

Coach Dick Freeman will revisit the same page.

“I don’t think I’ve ever seen an uglier game,” Freeman said of the

nonleague contest in which Marina tallied a pair of safeties and sacked

CdM junior Matt Moore six times to extend its winning streak over the

hosts to three.

“They big-played us,” Freeman said of the Sunset League squad’s

opportunistic veer option, which exploited a couple busted assignments

for a pair of long touchdown runs.

“That’s what the option will do to you. You can do what you’re supposed

to do over and over, but when you don’t do what you’re supposed to do,

it’s a big play.”

Asked if Marina was the only option team on his schedule, Freeman

replied: “I hope so.”

Marina’s offensive options consisted primarily of steamrolling senior

two-time All-Sunset fullback Ray Mietkiewicz between the tackles. The

6-foot-1, 235-pound plow horse produced 177 rushing yards in 22 carries,

including a 54-yard scoring rumble on the Vikings’ first play of the

second half to expand the lead to 19-0.

Mietkiewicz’s workmanship upped his career rushing total to 2,546 and,

CdM would attest, he appears bound for 4,000.

For a little varietal spice, quarterback Beau Brown pulled the ball out

of Mietkiewicz’s gut and speed around end. With Sea King defenders bent

on barreling into Mietkiewicz, Brown sprinted 55 yards untouched late in

the third period to end the Vikings’ four-game losing skid.

Corona del Mar senior tailback Grant Estabrook could compare postgame

bruises with Mietkiewicz, after he carried 22 times for 79 yards,

including an impressive 23-yard touchdown to headline a lean collection

of CdM highlights.

Outside linebacker Blake Hacker forced one of seven Marina fumbles and a

teammate pounced on it at the CdM 37-yard line to set up the hosts’ only

score.

Moore connected with tight end Adam Cooper for 34 yards on first down and

Estabrook picked up 6 more. He then bolted over left tackle, cut back to

his right and ran through three tackles en route to the end zone.

Rory McKeever’s conversion kick pulled the Sea Kings to within 19-7, but

there would be little else to celebrate.

Senior middle linebacker Brandon Johnson stood out for the Sea Kings. He

had one of CdM’s three quaterback sacks, made two other tackles behind

the line and nearly blocked a PAT.

Hacker and senior end Jay Bottom added sacks, while senior reserve

lineman Billy McArdle may have earned himself future playing time by

clearly becoming a disruptive force.

Bottom’s blindside sack between the hash marks propelled the subsequent

fumble out of bounds for a 13-yard loss.

“(Johnson) did a good job and we had a couple people hit someone out

there,” Freeman said. “But we’re a young defense, we blew some option

assignments and ba-boom ...”

Aside from Estabrook’s strong performance, Marina’s defense wreaked some

disruption of its own, smothering Moore in the pocket to limit him to 5

of 11 passing for 59 yards.

“We’ve got to protect better,” Freeman said. “(The six sacks) was

probably the most disappointing thing that happened tonight.”

An errant punt snap deep into the end zone was batted beyond the end line

by McKeever for Marina’s first safety and the Vikings used just four

plays to go 67 yards with the ensuing free kick to claim a 12-0 cushion

with 9:40 left before halftime.

CdM won the turnover battle, 3-1, but committed eight penalties for 75

yards to nearly triple the Vikings’ total.

Moore wound up with minus-34 yards on the ground and the Sea Kings had

just 87 yards total offense.

Marina amassed 318.