Prep football: Title Showdown

Barry Faulkner

COSTA MESA - Like the more-heralded “Fall Classic,” tonight’s CIF

Southern Section Division VI championship football game between host

Newport Harbor High and Irvine, 7:30 at Orange Coast College, will

feature runs, hits and, inevitably, errors.

The offenses will take care of the runs and the defenses will handle

most of the hits. But, the team that makes the fewest errors figures to

have the best chance to emerge victorious from the third CIF title

showdown between these two proud programs since 1992.

Fourth-seeded Newport Harbor (11-2) is the defending champion, having

rallied for a 19-18 win over Irvine last season at OCC.

Second-seeded Irvine (13-0), which topped Harbor, 19-14, on Oct. 13 to

win the Sea View League title, defeated the Sailors, 30-8, in the 1992

section final, also at OCC.

The two teams have split their previous 16 meetings, with Harbor

outscoring the Vaqueros by a cumulative 19 points.

Both teams made four CIF championship-game appearances in the 1990s,

with Irvine winning three crowns (1991-93) and Harbor claiming two (1994

and ‘99).

“We’ve had some great battles and this should be another good one,”

Newport Coach Jeff Brinkley said.

Brinkley’s 15th edition has outscored opponents, 403-161, this season,

relying on a ball-control offense and stout defense.

The Sailors’ 4,285 offensive yards (330 per game), have primarily come

on the ground (69.3%), with 6-foot-1, 205-pound senior tailback Chris

Manderino the workhorse.

Manderino, the starting quarterback during last year’s title run,

shifted to tailback at halftime of the Tars’ Week 2 loss to Marina. He

has rushed for 2,068 yards and scored 31 touchdowns, the latter a

Newport-Mesa District single-season record. He has 619 yards and 10 TDs

in three playoff wins, including a career-high 271 yards on 30 carries in

last week’s 35-16 semifinal upset of top-seeded and previously unbeaten

La Mirada.

“He’s just a tough nut,” Brinkley said of Manderino, the 1999

Newport-Mesa District and Daily Pilot Sea View League MVP, who is also

the team’s second-leading tackler at outside linebacker this fall.

Manderino gained 168 yards on 34 carries in the first Irvine meeting

this year, the most yards this season against a quick and aggressive

Vaquero unit that leads Orange County in scoring defense.

Irvine’s defense, which aligns in the 46 scheme made famous by Buddy

Ryan’s Chicago Bear units in the mid-1980s, has been thoroughly

impressive, especially in the playoffs. Though the all-senior starting

lineup averages just 6-0, 176 pounds (taken from inflated program

listings), the group coordinated by J.C. Clarke has yielded just 90

points, a mere six in the postseason.

Irvine shut out playoff foes Ocean View and Mayfair to double its

season total, before handling Tustin, 23-6. The No. 3-seeded Tillers had

averaged 62 points per game their previous seven contests.

Irvine, keyed by safety Joe Bollard (three interceptions and 51 first

hits) linebackers Andy Howe (106 tackles), Parker Nau (97) and Zach

Taylor (82) as well as end Brian Porteous (a team-best five sacks) has

eight defensive touchdowns and two safeties. Combined with five

touchdowns on kick returns (four kickoffs and one punt), the Vaqs have

outscored their opponents, 95-90, without any help from their offense.

That offense, which has accumulated 3,635 yards (298 per game), has,

however, helped tonight’s visitors average nearly 35 points per contest.

Quarterback Travis Otott triggers the attack, which also features the

tailback duo of Peter Abe and Godfrey Young running behind a front wall

that averages 6-2, 261 pounds from tackle to tackle.

Otott, who sat out a Week 5 win over Loara with a knee injury,

has completed 107 of 190 (56.3%) for 1,366 yards and 15 TDs, with six interceptions. He has also rushed for three TDs.

Abe, who missed the final three quarters of the semifinal with an

apparent left knee injury, has a team-leading 806 rushing yards on 129

attempts. He has scored 11 TDs, including one kickoff return.

Coach Terry Henigan, in his 20th season at Irvine, said Abe’s knee

problem would not prevent him from starting.

Young, the only junior who contributes on offense or defense, has

scored a team-leading 20 touchdowns. He has 744 rushing yards on 97

carries, has caught nine passes for 175 yards and has returned three

kickoffs and one punt for TDs.

Irvine’s leading receiver, senior Eric Patton, has 28 catches for 459

yards and five TDs. Patton, an all-league cornerback last season who has

returned two interceptions for TDs this fall, has missed the last two

games. Henigan said he would play, but not start on either side of the

ball.

Tight end Josh Short (22 catches for 212 yards) and Mike Brooks (16

for 163) are additional receiving targets.

Battling the Irvine offense will be a Harbor defense keyed by 6-2,

260-pound All-CIF middle linebacker Alan Saenz. He led the Tars in

tackles last fall (74) and has a team-high 71 in 2000.

Manderino (70 tackles), fellow senior outside ‘backer Andy Rankin

(60), senior ends Ian Banigan and Garrett Troncale (nine sacks apiece),

as well as junior cornerback Brian Gaeta (six interceptions) have also

been defensive stalwarts.

Troncale, a hero in both victories over Irvine last season (he blocked

field goal to preserve the 12-10 regular-season win and forced a fumble

which teammate Andy Kalanz returned for the winning TD in the title

clash), is battling a recurring ankle sprain. Troncale missed most of the

La Mirada game after aggravating the injury and might not be at full

strength.

Newport’s offense will also rely upon junior quarterback Morgan Craig,

whose favorite receiving target is Gaeta.

Craig has completed 94 of 153 (61.4%) for 1,145 yards and nine TDs. He

is 20 of 27 for 298 yards and three TDs in the playoffs. One of his three

interceptions came against Irvine. He also has rushed for 119 yards the

last two games.

Gaeta has 54 catches for 713 yards and has scored seven TDs, including

two last week.

Leading the way for Manderino will be tackles Robert Chai and Scott

Lopez, guards Jim Erickson and Bryan Breland, center Jeff Marshall,

fullback Travis Trimble and tight end Joe Foley.

Special teams is also a concern for Brinkley, especially after Irvine

bested the Tars in that department the first game this year.

Irvine blocked a punt to set up a field goal (one of Irvine kicker

Dave Doomey’s six this season, including a season-high 42-yarder against

Tustin), and Young returned the second-half kickoff 69 yards to set up a

touchdown.

Newport has committed 17 turnovers, but is plus-15 in turnover ratio,

while Irvine is plus-22 in the same department, having committed only 12

turnovers.

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GAME NOTES: Newport Harbor has won its last two games at OCC and is

unbeaten at the facility, when wearing its home blue uniforms, including

a 20-15 CIF title-game win over Servite in 1994 ... The Sailors are 16-0

when Jim Flores is the public-address announcer. Flores has filled in the

last two seasons for longtime announcer Dennis O’Hearn, currently in

Africa ... Irvine has trailed for only 15 seconds this season (last week

against Tustin) ... The Vaqueros have outscored opponents, 152-0 in the

first quarter, 153-31 in the second, 102-20 and 42-39 in the fourth ...

Harbor has bested foes, 83-31 in the first quarter, 143-26 in the second

and 114-30 in the third. Newport has been outscored, 74-63, in the final

12 minutes ... Newport’s Brian Gaeta kicked two field goals as a

sophomore in last year’s title triumph over Irvine. He has not kicked

another since. Senior Duke Burchell has the Tars’ lone field goal this

fall, a 27-yarder in Week 2 ... Irvine’s special teams have been highly

productive, but the Vaqs have missed eight conversion kicks, including

two in the playoffs ... Irvine missed a PAT and failed on two two-point

conversions in last year’s final ... Of Newport’s 22 starting spots,

eight are filled by juniors. By contrast, Irvine has four juniors on its

roster, none of whom start ... Six Newport returners started last year’s

title game ... Irvine has seven players who started last year’s final,

but two have changed positions, one will come off the bench and two have

changed numbers ... Among Irvine’s eight title-game sacks last year,

returners Brian Porteous and Joe Bollard had one each and Zach Taylor had

two. Porteous also recovered a fumble ... Irvine scored on its first

offensive play in last year’s title game, a 64-yard sideline bomb ...

Tars’ senior Garrett Troncale had two sacks in last year’s final ...

Irvine’s senior class went 10-0 as freshmen, 9-0-1 as sophomores (sharing

the junior varsity league title with 9-0-1 Newport), and are now 23-3-1

the last two years on the varsity ... Harbor’s 24 wins the last two

seasons are the most in back-to-back seasons in the school’s 70-season

varsity history ... Gaeta’s 54 receptions rank 10th on the school’s

all-time single-season list, but he could jump to No. 3 with six catches

tonight ... Jeff Brinkley is 23-8 in the playoffs at Harbor, 19-4 since

1992 ... Terry Henigan was 20-4 in the postseason during the 1990s.