Prep column: Turning the switch

Barry Faulkner

The scoreboard, the gauge the Newport Harbor High football team has

been taught matters most, revealed the program’s first loss in 16 games,

its first defeat in 31 games against non-Sea View League competition.

And, dutifully, the disheartened Sailors reacted as if more than a couple

streaks, including the first Week 2 defeat in Coach Jeff Brinkley’s

15-season tenure, had died.

In the stands and, I suspect, even in the somber postgame recesses of

the Harbor coaches’ office, however, there was much to smile about

concerning the 2000 future of the defending CIF Southern Section Division

VI champions.

For though the Tars indeed lost the 26-18 decision to Marina Thursday,

Brinkley’s long-contemplated decision to shift senior Chris Manderino

from quarterback to tailback appears to have given this team its

identity, as well as some much-needed offensive confidence.

Though the move was not enough to overcome the 13-3 deficit that

preceded it, the Sailors, just as they did with last year’s 21-21 tie

against Marina in which Manderino won a two-man battle for the

quarterback job, may look back at this year’s Marina game as a lightning

rod for future success.

For those who witnessed junior Morgan Craig’s first handoff to

Manderino this fall, it was as if a cloud over the Harbor offense, or,

more specifically, the running game, had lifted.

Prior to Manderino stepping backward into the position in which he

flourished as a freshman, Harbor had produced 72 rushing yards and three

rushing first downs in its first six quarters this season.

Manderino needed only five carries to match those three first downs

and went on to finish with 83 yards on 13 carries from the tailback spot,

adding two more first-down pickups and a 5-yard touchdown run.

For his part, Craig, who starred for the successful 1998 freshman

team, overcame an opening-snap fumble to complete six of his first eight

passes for 93 yards and a TD. He also showed Manderino-like escapability,

picking up 8 yards with a nifty scramble around the left side and working

his way back to the line to avoid a loss on another aborted pass play.

Brinkley, who began considering the change well before spring

practice, was reluctant to move a quarterback who was 21-0-1 as a starter

in high school (including a 9-0-1 junior varsity season in ‘98) coming

into this season. But it became clear the 6-foot-1, 205-pound Manderino

was the team’s strongest ballcarrier, while Craig, whom Brinkley has

professed confidence in all along, may even elevate the passing game.

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The Estancia High football team also had a galvanizing Week 2

experience, which included a 17-13 come-from-behind victory over former

Pacific Coast League rival Aliso Niguel Friday.

The win, greatly emotional for the seniors, who had lost to Aliso,

35-0, as freshmen, took on greater importance after fellow senior Mario

Macias, sitting out the season after doctors discovered a heart murmur,

collapsed on the sideline in the second half and was taken by ambulance

to Hoag Hospital.

Not knowing their fallen teammate’s condition, many Eagle players

expressed grim-faced postgame concern for Macias and some dedicated the

win to him.

Coach Dave Perkins asked the bus driver assigned to take the team from

Newport Harbor’s Davidson Field back to the Estancia campus to make a

stop at Hoag so the team could check on Mario.

The driver obliged and, though the players were not allowed to see

Macias, Perkins obtained encouraging news about his condition and passed

it on, to the great relief of his troops.

Macias, who said he became too excited by the events on the field and

passed out due to high blood pressure, was back at Estancia Saturday

morning to watch videotape with the team. He said he hopes to convince

doctors to allow him to watch the Eagles’ Thursday against Canyon.