Prep football: Sailors slice and dice Dolphins

Barry Faulkner

NEWPORT BEACH - The Newport Harbor High offensive line provided the

warm knife, senior tailback Chris Manderino the serrated edge and the

visiting Dana Hills defense the virtual consistency of thawed butter

during the Sailors’ 33-16 nonleague football win Thursday.

In the words of Sailors Coach Jeff Brinkley, the Tars (3-1 and ranked

No. 6 in CIF Southern Section Division VI), were “crisp,” during a first

half in which they scored their first four possessions and rolled up 295

yards.

The Dolphins (1-3), whose previous two losses had come against

highly-regarded Fountain Valley and Edison (by a combined 24 points), had

just 73 yards at halftime, leaving them, down, 26-3, and with little more

to play for than pride.

Manderino, a former quarterback who rushed for 226 yards in his

starting debut at tailback last week, amassed 216 of his 256 yards and 21

of his 30 carries before intermission.

Only the comfortable lead seemed to stand between the 6-foot-1,

205-pounder and an attempt at the late Andre Stewart’s single-game school

record of 310 yards, set last fall against Laguna Hills.

“(Manderino) ran the ball extremely well and our offensive line did an

outstanding job,” said Brinkley, noting the return of junior offensive

guard Bryan Breland as a big plus.

Breland, who missed the first three games after undergoing surgery on

his right hand, played with a soft cast around the injury, hammering away

with his fellow trench warriors against the Dolphin’s four-three scheme.

“It’s nice to have Breland back, because he gives us more size,

strength and experience,” Brinkley said. “Our line has really made

progress the last two weeks.”

Breland, right tackle Scott Lopez, center Jeff Marshall, left guard

Jim Erickson, left tackle Robert Chai, tight end Joe Foley, fullback

Travis Trimble, and even receivers Brian Gaeta and Mitch Gray, often

created cavernous holes.

Manderino, whom Brinkley said is developing an already apparent gift

of vision, did the rest. He cut sharply to avoid downfield tacklers, spun

off several more, and merely powered through those unfortunate enough to

align with his path.

In less than eight quarters at tailback (he sat out the fourth quarter

and most of the third the last two weeks, after making the move at

halftime of the second game), Manderino has 565 yards on 75 rushing

attempts, a 7.5-yard average.

Manderino was much better than that early Thursday, slashing for 16,

14, 12, then 38 to the end zone to put the Tars ahead less than two

minutes in.

Quarterback Morgan Craig capped the second Harbor scoring drive with a

1-yard sneak, but Manderino scored from 6 and 2 yards before halftime to

virtually assure victory.

“Last week, our theme against Corona del Mar was ‘Unleash the beast,’

” Breland said. “This week, it was kind of ‘Unleash the beast, part II.’

“We wanted to tear it up this week, running, and we did. They didn’t

blitz a lot against us, but when they did, we picked it up. We were

totally prepared and we sliced through them.”

Meanwhile, the Harbor defense did its thing, utilizing a new four-four

scheme, with Trimble subbing for a safety at linebacker, to keep Dana

Hills’ vaunted running game contained.

Terrell Vinson and Kyle Kelly, who came in with nearly 700 combined

yards on the ground, combined for 89 through three quarters. They got

nearly half of their combined 144 when all that mattered was the clock.

Seniors Garrett Troncale (two), Manderino and Ian Banigan (one each)

had quarterback sacks, while tackle Nick Moghaddam and middle linebacker

Alan Saenz were additional defensive forces for the winners.

Dana Hills used a pair of big completions to set up its first two

scores, a 42-yard field goal and a 3-yard Vinson run. The Dolphins then

cashed in a bad punt snap, which gave them possession at the Harbor 6,

for their final score midway through the fourth quarter.

“We had a good first half, but then we got a little sloppy,” Brinkley

said. “We don’t want to be picking up those bad habits, so, hopefully,

this will be a lesson for us.”