Prep column: Tars’ CIF foe still in recovery

Barry Faulkner

To understand just how kind a draw the Newport Harbor High football

team received when the CIF Southern Section Division VI bracket was

released Sunday, one must understand what has become known as the Tustin

Factor.

The No. 4-seeded Sailors’ first-round opponent, Westminster, is hardly

fearsome at 3-6-1. The Lions have, after all, been shut out five times

and their 94 points are better than only one team (Orange with 66) in all

of Division VI. This includes squads like 0-10 Santa Ana, 0-10 Sierra

Vista, 1-9 Century, 1-9 Northview and 2-8 El Dorado.

But perhaps more damning for Coach Ted McMillen’s third-place

representative from the Golden West League, is the aforementioned Tustin

Factor, a term coined by Golden West coaches with the unenviable task of

sharing the circuit with former Costa Mesa Coach Myron Miller’s maniacal

double-wing scoring machine.

“You look at the teams’ next game after playing Tustin and those teams

play terribly,” McMillen said. “It can be demoralizing (getting beaten by

the average 70-12.5 margin the Tillers dropped on league foes this

fall).”

Westminster sustained a 71-0 trouncing at the hands of Tustin in its

regular-season finale, leaving it physically, and, most would agree,

mentally savaged, heading into Friday’s road contest with the Sailors.

The evidence is there to support the Tustin Factor this season. Tiller

victims Foothill, Bishop Amat, San Bernardino, Ocean View, Santa Ana and

Saddleback have all lost games the week after playing Tustin.

Only Santa Margarita (which edged Bishop Amat, 21-19) and Pacifica (which hammered La Quinta, 54-8), have bounced back from Tustin tyranny

to win the following week.

Servite, which gave Tustin its only loss, 14-6, on Sept. 23, ripped

Long Beach Wilson, 50-8, the following week.

Top-seeded La Mirada (10-0 after outscoring opponents, 500-188) and

second-seeded Irvine (10-0 after earning a 380-84 advantage) are far from

attractive Division VI opponents. But Tustin, with 420 points, including

329 the last five games), is, arguably, the matchup Division VI coaches

would least appreciate.

And while the No. 3-seeded Tillers have yielded 111 points this fall,

they have given up only 327 rushing yards, according to Defensive

Coordinator Wally Grant, a Costa Mesa alum and former Mustang assistant

who joined Miller at Tustin after the 1994 season.

Ironically, Westminster’s defense is run by Alex Henderson, who

performed the same role for Miller at Mesa.

Friday’s Division IX first-round clash between host Fullerton and

Estancia also features a couple assistant coaches renewing old

friendships.

Estancia assistant head coach and defensive coordinator, Bob Brockie,

has known Fullerton assistant Dick Hill since Hill coached him at Downey

High in the 1960s.

Hill, in his first season on the Fullerton staff, leads Orange County

head coaches in career victories with 212, compiled at Santa Ana, Santa

Ana Valley and Orange.

Among those closing in on Hill -- John Barnes of Los Alamitos moved

past Herb Hill (no relation) into second place on the all-time list

Friday with 192 -- is Newport Harbor’s Jeff Brinkley. Brinkley is

125-51-1 at Harbor. He has 153 career victories, including previous stops

at Norwalk and Excelsior, which don’t apply to progress up the county

leader board.

Brinkley will be recognized as Monday Night Live Coach of the Week

Nov. 27, an honor which includes a $1,000 donation to the Tars’ football

program.

Brinkley said a film crew will come to the Newport Harbor gym Nov. 26

to record the presentation, which will be aired a day later on the show

which follows the Monday Night Football broadcast each week.

Though Costa Mesa High’s varsity football team was disappointed it did

not receive a Division IX at-large berth, the Mustangs should be

encouraged by the freshman team’s Pacific Coast League title.

In addition, Mesa’s junior varsity finished second to Northwood, which

edged the Mustangs in the title showdown Friday, 9-7, on a field goal in

the final seconds.

Newport Harbor’s lower levels also fared well. The JV won the Sea View

crown and finished 9-0, while the freshman squad (7-2) finished second

behind Laguna Hills.

Pacific Coast League officials might want to rethink the practice of

holding coin flips to break ties and determine playoff positions, before

final contests are held.

PCL athletic directors had already established prospective playoff

order, in the event of a three-way tie for first, before CdM and

University football teams kicked off Friday night to determine whether

such a tie would occur.

While an agreement was reached not to disclose the outcome of such a

flip to anyone who did not witness it, should curious coaches (some of

whom are also athletic directors present for the flip) gain this

knowledge, it could affect their judgment during the game and,

ultimately, the outcome of the game.

If, for example, a coach knows a tie would still give him the league’s

No. 1 spot, he would, presumably, avoid a two-point conversion, or a

risky late field-goal attempt that may be blocked and returned for a TD

to beat him.

If such a scenario did occur, it would be less than fair to a

prospective third interested school, the playoff fate of which would also

be affected by the outcome.