Come sailing away

Rick Devereux

The Newport Harbor High football team has been a steady ship in the

sea of local programs.

Coach Jeff Brinkley has averaged eight wins a season over 19 years

with the Sailors (152-63-2), and he expects to continue that success

in 2004.

“The beauty of our offense is that we can feature players that

make plays,” he said. “We have had tight ends that have caught more

than 50 balls a year. We have had wide receivers that have caught

more than 50 balls in a year. We have had tailbacks rush for more

than 2,000 yards. We have the ability to feature guys that make

plays.”

With a system that allows for flexibility depending in talent, the

Tars spread the ball in order to utilize the returning stars.

Senior Spencer Link is an All-Sea View League offensive selection

two years running.

Senior Trevor “Moose” Theriot is a two-year starter.

Senior Kasey Peters has healed from a broken collarbone and has

had a great spring and summer at quarterback.

Senior Greg Miner returns as the starting tight end.

Senior Taylor Young is back at wide receiver after finishing 2003

second in receptions (21) and yards (272) behind Link.

Here is a position-by-position look at Newport Harbor:

Quarterback: Peters has shown no lingering effects of a broken

collar bone in Week 7 of last season.

“Kasey has been throwing well,” Brinkley said. “He is a very

accurate thrower with a good understanding of our system.”

Tom Jackson stepped up as a sophomore in the final four games,

including a CIF Southern Section Division VI opening-round playoff

loss to eventual champ Los Altos, when Peters was hurt.

He averaged 16.2 yards per completion in the four full games he

played and completed over 57% of his passes.

“Jackson played very well for us and I feel very confident with

him at quarterback,” Brinkley said. “He always gets his reps in

[during practice] and he plays a little in the secondary.”

Running backs: Ryan Rippon, a 6-foot, 195-pound junior, will be

the featured tailback. Link lined up at tailback as a freshman and

may be inserted from time to time in the backfield.

Theriot returns at fullback to plow the rushing lane clear for

whomever carries the ball. Last year he helped pave the way for Matt

Encinias to rush for 1,308 yards on 279 carries. Moose was second

behind Encinias in attempts (31), yards (157) and yards-per-carry

(5.1). He also caught nine passes for 66 yards and two scores.

Sophomore Jasen Ruiz (5-9, 165) and Theriot are the backup

tailbacks.

Junior Jack Tracey (6-0, 200) and senior Thomas Martin (6-0, 222)

are the backup fullbacks.

Receivers: Link (5-9, 181) is the main offensive threat. The

Sailors ultimately try to get him the ball on short passing plays and

let him break tackles, but Brinkley does send Link deep once in a

while to keep defenses honest.

“Link has great quickness and is a very competitive guy,” Brinkley

said. “We can move him all over the field because he is so talented.”

Link and Young make a dangerous pair of receivers, but Brinkley

will be without the services of Young for until at least the second

game of the season, Sept. 17 against Marina. The 6-3, 195-pound

receiver broke his ankle in a summer basketball game and has been in

a protective boot. He has still practiced with the team despite his

limited mobility, but Brinkley doesn’t expect to use him until the

team faces the Vikings.

With Young starting the season on the shelf, senior Alex Orth

(6-2, 190) and junior James Coder (6-0, 175) will get a chance to

crack the starting lineup.

“We have a lot of guys that can catch,” Brinkley said. “Orth has

been playing real well. Coder is a good athlete and we’ll need to get

some play out of him [with Young injured].”

Senior Matt Erickson (5-8,156) and junior Travis Duffield (5-9,

160) provide depth.

Tight ends: Miner has added 15 pounds since last year to move up

to 6-1, 205. The added muscle will help him with his blocking

assignments. He is already an accomplished receiver, averaging 15.6

yards per reception last year with one touchdown. Brinkley said he

expects Miner to break through with an even bigger year in 2004.

Junior Billy Brown (6-2, 191) will be the other tight end when the

team goes to a double tight formation.

Offensive line: Brinkley said the offensive line was the most

inexperienced group on the offense, but he believes they can be

effective.

“If we can bring our line along, I think we can be pretty good,”

he said.

Chris Taylor (6-2, 201) will play center, Efrain Castro (5-11,

215) will line up at the right guard spot, and Steve Joslin (6-2,

270) will man the left tackle position.

Saami Khalifian (6-1, 205) is the current left guard, but he could

be ousted by Joseph Flores (6-1, 192) depending on the outcome of the

right tackle battle. Flores, Charles Schultz (6-1, 192) and Matt McCullough (6-5, 270) are all fighting for the right tackle job.

Brinkley said if Flores does not win the starting tackle spot, he

will be the left guard to let Khalifian concentrate on playing the

defensive line.

Flores is the emergency center, and whomever is not the starting

right tackle will be the backup across the line.

Defensive line: Khalifian returns at defensive end and will be

joined with Sean Rowe (5-11, 208) to form a formidable set of

bookends.

“Those guys on the edge aren’t real giant guys, but they can

move,” Brinkley said. “Rowe played a lot last year even though he

didn’t start, so he has the experience.”

The two interior defensive linemen in the 4-3 alignment will be

senior Kaiona Kalama-dutro (6-0, 220) and junior Ryan Uhl (5-10,

240).

“Our two interior guys haven’t played much, so it’s unknown till

they get out there against a different team what they can do,”

Brinkley said. “They’ve played JV football, but not on the varsity

level. If we can get the front playing well, I feel pretty well about

the perimeter guys.”

Taylor, Castro and junior Erick Ray (6-3, 200) are backups for the

ends and junior Delano McKenzie (5-9, 180) may see time at one of the

tackle spots.

Linebackers: The strength of the defense is in its linebacking

corp. All three starters are returning from last year. Miner and

Theriot are on the outside with Young jumping in the rotation once he

gets the boot off Sept. 3. Tracey can be used as an outside

linebacker as well.

Martin was a first-team all-league selection last year after

leading the Sailors in tackles from his middle linebacker position.

Theriot can move to the inside if Martin gets injured. Brown can also

fill in at middle linebacker.

Secondary: Along with the linebackers, Brinkley is confident in

the play of Rippon and Orth at the safety positions.

“Our linebacking is our strength,” he said. “With those three

linebackers and the two safeties returning we should be pretty strong

up the shoot against guys running the ball.”

Link will be asked to play defense this season for the first time.

He will play one cornerback spot while Erickson, Ruiz and seniors

Grant Casserly (5-8, 170) and Mike Turnbull (5-10,150) fight for the

other spot.

Jackson and Coder are the backup safeties.

Kicking game: Brinkley said if he had to start a game right away,

he would have Duffield handling all of the kicking duties, but he

hopes to bring in someone to kick the longer field goals and

kickoffs.

Link will be the main punt and kickoff returner, with Casserly

also seeing time. Ruiz, Coder and Orth can also return kickoffs.

The long snapper is Brown with Miner as his backup.