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.
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