Prep football: Tars enter danger zone

Barry Faulkner

MISSION VIEJO - The Newport Harbor High football team’s drive for a

Sea View League title has hit the halfway point and Coach Jeff Brinkley

believes his Sailors will approach a dangerous curve Friday, before what

could be a league title showdown in Week 9 against Woodbridge.

But, ever true to his one-game-at-a-time philosophy, Brinkley is

confident his players will remain short sighted when they visit Mission

Viejo High for a 7 p.m. kickoff against host Laguna Hills.

“In a five-team league, every game is for the championship,’ said

Brinkley, whose team (6-0-1, 2-0 in league) has won five straight league

games. “So, we’re playing for the championship again this week. You can’t

take a breath in this league.”

The Sailors, ranked No. 7 in Orange County and No. 2 in CIF Southern

Section Division VI, can clinch the school’s third straight playoff

berth, its 12th in Brinkley’s 16 seasons at the helm, with a victory over

the Hawks (3-4, 0-1). A win would also push the Tars a half-game ahead of

Woodbridge for the league lead, since the Warriors (6-1, 2-0) enjoy a bye

as they prepare to visit the Sailors Nov. 2.

“We can’t think about Woodbridge or start projecting ahead,” Brinkley

said. “We’re not good enough to throw our jerseys out there and say,

‘Here, we’re Newport Harbor,’ and win the game. We have good athletes who

play hard, but playing hard is the emphasis. The day we don’t do that,

we’re just another team.”

The Sailors have been hardly another squad thus far, outscoring

opponents, 202-37. The 37 points allowed are the fewest in Orange County

and Harbor has three shutouts, including a 24-point win over Sea View

nemesis Irvine last week.

The already strong defense was bolstered last week by the return of

senior cornerback Brian Gaeta, who missed all but one quarter of the

Tars’ first six games.

Linebackers Cory Ray, Tyler Miller, Matt Encinias, a front wall of

Scott Kohan, Bryan Breland, David Marshall and Jim Rothwell, as well as

safeties Mike McDonald and Warren Junowich and corners Gaeta and Adam

Kerns, will face a Laguna Hills offense averaging 13.6 points per game.

Coach Bruce Ingalls’ Hawks have averaged just 9.5 points since

defeating Nogales, 38-7, to open the season.

Tailback Matt Chandler, a 6-foot-2, 210-pound senior in his third

varsity season, has rushed for 413 yards and two touchdowns on 94

carries, since missing the first three games with a sprained ankle.

Senior quarterback Chris Johnson, who missed the Hawks’ 35-3 loss to

Mission Viejo with a concussion, has completed 40 of 101 for 551 yards

and six TDs, with five interceptions. He is averaging 24 yards on those

TD tosses with Dane Endly (four TD catches) the primary target.

“They have some players,” Brinkley said. “When this group of seniors

were freshmen and sophomores, they won the league freshman and junior

varsity championships. They’re backs are against the wall just like

Irvine. We’re expecting a tough game.”

Newport’s solid running game, led by a stout offensive line and

junior tailback Dartangan Johnson, has been complemented well by the

passing attack triggered by senior two-year starter Morgan Craig.

Craig has thrown for 13 touchdowns, completing 61 of 92 (68.1%) for

743 yards with only one interception.

Johnson, who has surpassed the 100-yard mark in six of his seven

starts this fall, comes in with 1,173 rushing yards and seven TDs on 168

attempts.

Kerns and McDonald have each caught 14 passes to lead a receiving

corps which, for the first time, will include Gaeta, who caught 62 passes

and was first-team All-Sea View League as a receiver last fall.

Laguna Hills has lost six straight Sea View League games and seven of

its last eight. The Hawks are 2-7 against Sea View competition after a

long, successful run in the Pacific Coast League.