Prep football: Strength from within

Barry Faulkner

NEWPORT BEACH - The term “football factory” is most often

associated with programs that consistently provide talent for a higher

level of competition, typically colleges who season future pros.

But at Newport Harbor High, a veteran coaching staff, led by Jeff

Brinkley, has become proficient at manufacturing continually productive

work forces whose playing careers are often completed months before

graduation.

While most prep programs trudge along hoping to catch an intermittent

talent cycle, the Sailors appear to navigate seamlessly along a route

that seldom strays from substantial success.

For instance, Harbor’s 88 wins the last nine seasons are surpassed by

only one Orange County public school (Los Alamitos has 99).

During that run, which began in 1992 with the school’s first CIF

Southern Section title game appearance since 1942, Brinkley’s boys have

played in five section championship games, capping unbeaten title seasons

with victories in 1994 and ’99.

They have played nearly 2 1/2 seasons in the playoffs alone, during

the aforementioned roll, winning 19 of their last 24 postseason contests.

And the curve upon which all future Harbor teams will be judged, keeps

getting steeper.

Last year’s team, which went 11-3, combined with the 13-0-1 record

posted by the 1999 squad to set a school record for victories in

back-to-back seasons.

The three-season win record of 32, set by the 1994-96 Tars, is within

reach this season, for which the primary goal remains: play 14 weeks.

Furthermore, the only school to defeat Newport in Sea View League play

the last two years, Irvine, continues to see its talent pool diluted by

neighboring Northwood, which enters its second varsity season this fall

with its first senior class.

The Sea View League, which has produced the last nine champions in its

CIF division and placed 18 of its teams in the last 13 division title

games, has provided virtually the only competition for the Sailors the

last five years. In its last 34 games against teams not in the Sea View,

dating back to the opener in 1996, Newport is 32-1-1. Only Marina, which

tied the Tars in ’99 and defeated them last year, has broken through.

And though some may point to the loss of decorated All-CIF standouts

Chris Manderino and Alan Saenz, as well as all but one starter from last

year’s defensive unit, as reasons for caution, the assembly line has

restocked the cupboard before and likely will again.

Last year’s junior varsity squad went 10-0, after losing only once the

year before. Last year’s freshman team was 6-3-1.

The Sailors’ sophisticated year-round weight training, which builds

football muscles, not necessarily those that play well on the beach,

clearly deserves a portion of the credit for these results.

Perhaps a more primary thread through all these postgame celebrations,

however, is continuity of coaching.

“A lot of it has to do with the format we use,” said Brinkley,

entering his 16th season at Harbor with 128 victories, tops all time

among Newport-Mesa District grid coaches. “We have the sophomores

practice with us and we run the same program at all four levels. We also

have some good continuity with the coaching staff, so by the time the

kids get to be seniors, they’ve already been coached by their position

coaches for two years. They know the terminology, the techniques and all

the drills we use. Heck, a lot of them could probably go out and coach

themselves.”

Brinkley’s seven assistants, including running backs coach Bill Brown

who enters his 20th season this fall, have coached a combined 60 years at

Harbor. Additionally, four staff members played in the program.

And while this consistent coaching knowledge and principles continue

to orbit Sailor players like a videotape loop, the staff’s personalities

and ability to build relationships with players, helps foster an

atmosphere effectively divided between intensity, perspective and humor.

That being said, it’s difficult to dismiss Brinkley’s optimism about

this group. The presence of six returning full-time starters on offense,

and another who started four games, doesn’t hurt either.

Senior quarterback Morgan Craig earned all-district recognition as a

junior, when he completed 111 of 184 passes (60%) for 1,308 yards and

nine touchdowns, while yielding only five interceptions.

Senior two-way starter Brian Gaeta, expected to be recovered from

offseason surgery to relieve tendinitis in both knees, comes off a season

in which he caught 62 passes for 792 yards. He also had six interceptions

at cornerback and scored 10 touchdowns. He was first-team all-league and

all-district on offense.

Joe Foley, a 6-foot, 230-pound senior who matched Saenz’s year-old

clean and jerk record of 319 pounds, shifts from tight end to fullback on

offense and will play tackle on defense, where he saw considerable action

last year.

The returning senior offensive line triumvirate of Robert Chai, Jeff

Marshall and Bryan Breland form a nucleus for what Brinkley said may

become the best offensive line in his tenure at Harbor.

Chai, a 6-3, 270-pound left tackle, was an All-CIF, all-league and

all-district performer who gained offseason recognition as a blue-chip

recruit. Cal and Washington State have already offered him scholarships

and no less than Nebraska, LSU and Wisconsin, remain atop his growing

list of suitors.

Marshall, a 6-5, 215-pound center, committed early to Montana, where

he will join Saenz next year.

Breland, a 6-3, 245-pound guard, was all-district and second-team

all-league as a junior.

Add to this group junior tailback Dartangan (formerly Dede) Johnson,

whom Brinkley estimates amassed 2,000 rushing yards in 10 junior varsity

games as a sophomore, and it’s easy to see why the Sailors could be

playing well past Thanksgiving.

The defensive questions remain and Brinkley is particularly concerned

about a lack of depth in the front seven. But Breland and Chai could help

out in the defensive trenches, if needed.

Predictably, the offense looked sharp in Friday’s scrimmage against

Mission Viejo, while the defense had some difficulty stopping the

Diablos’ running game.

Orange Lutheran and Dana Hills, Harbor’s opponents in Week 1 and Week

4, respectively, have already won impressively over Hawaii schools.

Further, Brinkley believes Sea View rivals Aliso Niguel, Laguna Hills

and Woodbridge will all be improved over a year ago and that those

doomsayers may be premature when predicting defending league and Division

VI champion Irvine’s decline.

Brinkley said the opener, Sept. 6 against Orange Lutheran at Brea

Olinda High, may be the best test the Tars will face in the regular

season.