CdM tries to keep letdown at bay

Patrick Laverty

The Battle of the Bay has not been kind to the Corona del Mar High

football team in recent years and the 42nd meeting between the Sea

Kings and Newport Harbor was particularly cruel.

After the Sea Kings took a 14-0 first-quarter lead, they watched

Newport Harbor score the game’s final 29 points for a 29-14 victory.

It was the Sailors’ fifth straight victory against their rival and

their 30th victory over Corona del Mar overall.

Not only did Corona del Mar (2-1) fail to take advantage of its

early lead, it must now deal with the hangover effect of playing such

an emotionally-charged game.

“We’ve always had that just because of the emotion that goes into

that game,” Corona del Mar Coach Dick Freeman said. “Harbor won’t

admit it, but I think that’s the same for both teams.”

After losing to Newport Harbor, 17-0, last year, the Sea Kings’

follow-up performance was a less-than-impressive 14-12 loss to

Cypress. The two teams will meet Friday at Cypress at 7 p.m.

During practice this week, Freeman will likely remind his players

of last year’s performance, while also attempt to erase Newport

Harbor from their minds.

“We just try to keep it as positive as we can,” Freeman said.

“We’ve still got seven more games to go.”

Corona del Mar sophomore linebacker Shaun Mohler is expected to

return to the lineup against Cypress (1-2) after missing the Battle

of the Bay because of a concussion suffered in Week 2 against Troy.

The only significant injuries suffered against Newport Harbor were

shoulder soreness for lineman Sean Ellis, who missed the first two

games of the season with a rotator cuff injury, and a sprained knee

for receiver Shane Collins. He is expected to undergo an MRI today.

Despite the loss to Newport Harbor, Freeman is still happy with

the position his team is in after three games. Like last season, the

Sea Kings are 2-1. But last year’s loss to Newport Harbor sent Corona

del Mar reeling to three straight defeats. This week, the Sea Kings

will be fighting to make sure that doesn’t happen again.

* NEWPORT HARBOR: The Sailors are undefeated through the first

three games of the season, but none of the Sailors’ victories have

been alike.

Harbor rolled to an easy 35-8 win over Trabuco Hills in its

opener. The Sailors then fought through a scoreless first half and

held on at the end to defeat Marina, 10-6. In its most recent

contest, Newport Harbor was forced to come from behind for the first

time this season, winning its fifth consecutive Battle of the Bay,

29-14, after falling behind by two touchdowns.

“Absolutely, we’ve definitely had three different games, which is

good because we’re going to be in all kinds as the season goes on,”

Sailors Coach Jeff Brinkley said. “This was a game where we had to

come from behind. There was a lot of emotion, especially with such a

big crowd. It was a playoff atmosphere, a big-game atmosphere. It was

good experience for these guys.”

The different experiences in the first three games should be

helpful when the Sailors enter Sea View League play. Newport Harbor

will likely be in for a tussle each week. The top five teams in the

six-team league have a combined record of 13-2.

“We always check the scores like everybody else,” Brinkley said.

“Our league is playing very, very well. It’s going to be a tough

league. But we’re just taking it one game at a time and focusing on

Dana Hills this week.”

Dana Hills, which will play host to Newport Harbor Friday at 7:30

p.m., could prove a measuring stick for the Sailors, having already

played two other Sea View League teams. The Dolphins (1-2) defeated

Woodbridge, which at 0-4 is not among the top five teams in the Sea

View, 17-9. On Friday, they lost to undefeated Foothill, 46-0.

“It’s too hard [to make comparisons based on scores],” Brinkley

said. “It’s a lot of matchups, more so in high school than at other

levels, I think.”

Because of injuries, those matchups could be different for the

Sailors against Dana Hills than they will be against Foothill, their

first league opponent on Oct. 17.

Cornerback Matt Erickson suffered a collarbone injury Friday

against CdM. Brinkley said all indicators are that it is cracked,

meaning Erickson could miss significant time. Senior Brian Campos

filled in for Erickson in the latter stages of Friday’s game, but

Brinkley said the Sailors could also shuffle their safeties and move

junior Alex Orth to cornerback this week.

Linebacker and tight end Greg Miner suffered a pulled hamstring,

but will likely return this week.

The other significant injury suffered Friday was a sprained ankle

by senior left guard Eric Curtis. He returned to the game in the

second half, but Brinkley said he was still hobbling around this

weekend and is a question mark for the Dana Hills game. If he is

unavailable, right guard Mark Temple will likely move to the left

side and Ellery Murphy will fill in on the right side.

* SAGE HILL: The Lightning traveled more than four hours by bus

Saturday to play Calipatria, a school located 130 miles east of San

Diego and is scheduled to switch to eight-man football this week.

At game time, the temperature was 100 degrees. It was hot and

sticky, Lightning Coach Tom Monarch said.

But for Sage Hill, the conditions were perfect.

“You forget all about that when you win,” Monarch said.

Sage Hill (1-2) won its first game this year, 14-6, over

Calipatria, making for an enjoyable bus ride home.

“For the first time, we dominated both sides of the ball,” Monarch

said. We had a much better performance.”

Ray Lim and Eddie Huang scored rushing touchdowns and after

allowing a Calipatria touchdown on the game’s opening drive, the

Lightning defense proved as stern as it has been all season.

“[The Hornets were] never really in it,” Monarch said. “They drove

the length of the field on the first series, but we stuffed them on

the two-point conversion attempt and after we made some adjustments,

we shut them down.

“The game was just what the doctor ordered, especially on

defense.”

Sophomore defensive tackle Michael Morgan plugged the gaps up

front. Freshman outside linebacker Don Ayers made 10 tackles. Inside

linebackers Marcel Sohl and Bryan Kornswiet had six tackles each.

The result was a hit for Sage Hill, which will attempt to repeat

the effort Friday at 3:30 p.m. against Fairmont in the Lightning’s

first home game of the season.

“Now we’re done with our cross-country road trips,” Monarch said.

“We get to enjoy some home games.”

* COSTA MESA: After a season-opening loss to Corona del Mar,

Mustangs Coach Dave Perkins was concerned about the six sacks his

team allowed.

The next game, a win over Huntington Beach, quarterback Bruce

Wilkinson was never sacked.

Going into Friday’s game against Laguna Beach, Perkins wanted to

improve a running game that was averaging less than 3 yards per

carry.

In its 41-13 victory over the Breakers, Costa Mesa ran the ball 45

times for 261 yards.

“A lot of that is my coaching staff,” Perkins said. “We have guys

with so much experience. Tom Baldwin and Jesse [Sapolu], with his

background. Bob Brockie, my defensive coordinator, has been with me

for 17 years. A part of that is Bob Brockie and Tom Baldwin are film

fanatics. They’ll wear a VCR out studying film.”

So what do the Mustangs need to correct going into their Golden

West League opener Friday against Saddleback at Orange Coast College

at 7 p.m.? Not much.

“I think we’re hitting on all cylinders going into league,”

Perkins said.

Costa Mesa (2-1) played what Perkins called one of the best halves

of football he has been around in taking a 41-0 lead over the

previously unbeaten Breakers.

The Mustangs came out of the game with no significant injuries and

tackle Rodrigo Gutierrez, who missed the first two games because of a

leg injury, started and played the entire first half and the first

series of the second half. He felt no ill effects Saturday after the

game.

Perkins thinks the Mustangs are well ahead of where they were last

season at this point and they went on to a perfect league record and

the Golden West League championship in 2002.

A repeat of that performance is the expectation of the players and

coaching staff this year.

* ESTANCIA: The Eagles’ offensive inefficiency was apparent by the

zero on the scoreboard until a Brad Young-to-Noe Martinez touchdown

pass in the final minutes of a 26-7 loss to Katella. The Eagles

inability to score can be directly traced to their third- and

fourth-down efficiency.

Estancia converted just 4 of 14 third-down attempts and was

unsuccessful on all three of its fourth-down attempts. The reason was

simple: Far too often, the Eagles left themselves facing

third-and-long situations.

Only three times did Estancia face a third down needing less than

5 yards. The Eagles converted all three of those. But they needed 10

or more yards six times. Number of conversions on those attempts:

zero.

In its 22-20 victory over Century the previous week, Estancia was

eight for 18 on third-down conversions and five of its eight

conversions came when it needed less than 5 yards.

The Eagles were also 3 of 5 on fourth-down conversions against

Century, but only needed 1 yard on all three conversions. Against

Katella, Estancia went for it on fourth-and-four, fourth-and-12 and

fourth-and-11. It was unsuccessful each time.