Prep football: Sailor adrift (or: Pulling up anchor)

Barry Faulkner

Mike Freeman walks a fine sideline this week, teetering tenuously

between the team he coaches and the school for which he bled.

A former Newport Harbor High football hero, but a first-year Corona

del Mar assistant coach, the recent UC Berkeley graduate admitted Sunday

that the week ahead, leading to Friday’s Battle of the Bay XXXIX football

game, would tug at his heartstrings like a forgotten favorite song.

“It’s going to be hard,” said the 1995 Harbor graduate, who secured

his place in Sailor gridiron lore by hauling in the game-winning 38-yard

touchdown pass in a 20-15 CIF Southern Section Division V title-game

victory over Servite in 1994. The dramatic reception, on an audible from

quarterback John Giordani, capped a 14-0 season and gave the school it’s

first section crown in 64 varsity seasons.

“I’m sitting here (at his family’s Costa Mesa home) and I’m staring at

a sequence of pictures my parents had made from the videotape of that

touchdown catch against Servite. And there’s another picture of me and my

teammates under the goal post.

“I’ll be thinking about some stuff this week I haven’t thought about

for a long time. I’m starting to get that old feeling I had when I played

in this game.”

That old feeling will feature a new twist, however, and Freeman’s old

Sailor teammates and coaches have not missed the opportunity to poke fun

at his new allegiance to the Sea Kings, whose head coach, Dick Freeman,

is Mike’s uncle.

“One of my best friends is Matt Burns (a former Harbor player who now

coaches the Tars’ linebackers),” Mike Freeman said. “I showed up at

Harbor (Saturday) to exchange film in my CdM coaching hat and shirt and

those guys had a little fun with me.”

Brinkley, whose 1999 team Freeman addressed as an alumnus -- a Harbor

Thanksgiving Day practice tradition -- before the Sailors won the CIF

Division VI crown last fall, recalled the Saturday meeting with a smile.

“I told him: ‘Once a Sailor, always a Sea King, huh?’ ” Brinkley

quipped.

Freeman said he and Burns, regular surfing partners, will surely

discuss the situation when they get together this week.

“I just hope those guys don’t think any less of me, because I have all

the respect in the world for Coach Brinkley and that program,” Freeman

said. “I want our (CdM) kids to win, but I would never wish anything bad

on Newport Harbor.”

Freeman, an All-CIF tight end who also played outside linebacker at

Harbor, went on to start at fullback for Orange Coast College and Cal.

After completing his college eligibility, he worked as a graduate

assistant for the Golden Bears. After earning a legal studies degree at

Cal, he wanted to explore coaching before committing to a career in

business. His uncle was happy to oblige.

“I’ve had some job offers from a technical firm and a couple law

offices,” but I’ve been pushing them away and pushing them away,”

Freeman, who works with the CdM offensive and defensive linemen, said.

“My first love is sports and I wanted to see if coaching was something I

wanted to do.”

Freeman said he has enjoyed it more than he expected and, even with an

0-2 start, the bond he experiences with his players, grows daily.

“Every day I go out there, it becomes harder to walk away,” he said.

“Even though they haven’t had success yet, these kids are working hard.

They’re working as hard as we did when I was at Newport.”

Dick Freeman, an assistant at CdM when his nephew played at Newport,

said the younger Freeman has made an impact as a coach.

“He adds a lot,” Dick Freeman said. “He wanted to see if coaching and

maybe teaching was something he wanted to do. From what I’ve seen, he’d

be good at it.”

Mike Freeman, one of a handful of players to play in four varsity

Battle of the Bay clashes (the two schools met twice in ‘92, including

the Sailors’ semifinal playoff win), said he has vivid memories of the

cross-town showdowns.

“I remember my senior year, we won, 7-6, after they fumbled late in

the game deep in our territory. I have empathy for those (CdM) guys,

because I realize that was a tough way to lose a game.”

Freeman, however conflicted, hopes empathy is required for his alma

mater Friday night.