Sailors in reload mode

Rick Devereux

The Newport Harbor High football team doesn’t have to rebuild after

seniors graduate. It just reloads.

Last year, the Sailors finished 7-4, 2-3 in the Sea View League

and were eliminated in the first round of the CIF Southern Section

Division VI playoffs by eventual champion Los Altos.

But 14 seniors graduated from that team. Gone are Orange County

All-Stars Matt Encinias, a tailback, and defensive lineman Mark

Temple. Also gone are Daily Pilot Dream Team defensive tackle Austin

Nieto and all-league offensive lineman Nick Watkins.

Coach Jeff Brinkley isn’t too worried, though, because he believes

he has the personnel to take the Tars to the CIF playoffs for the

fifth consecutive year.

“My coaching philosophy is to teach the players how to work hard,

because success will come if you work hard,” he said. “We try to put

the players in a position where they can be successful.”

Even though star talent has left, star talent remains.

Spencer Link, last year’s Newport-Mesa Player of the Year, returns

for his senior year after he led the Sailors with 55 catches for 977

yards and 15 touchdowns.

Throwing to him will be Kasey Peters, who finished 69 of 125 for

936 yards and 13 scores, despite being sidelined by a broken

collarbone in the seventh game.

And if Peters goes down again -- Brinkley says the senior signal

caller had a great summer session without any problems -- junior Tom

Jackson returns as the backup. Jackson threw for 739 yards in four

games, including a four-touchdown, 257-yard performance against

Woodbridge.

Trevor Theriot returns as the top fullback. As a junior last year,

the 6-foot-1, 225-pounder paved the way for Encinias to rush for

1,308 yards. Theriot ended the season as the team’s second most

productive rusher, averaging 5.1 yards per carry, slightly behind

Encinias’ clip of 5.3 per attempt.

The offense will be without the services of senior receiver Taylor

Young for the opening game. Young, who was second on the team with 21

receptions for 272 yards, has been limited in his summer

participation because of a broken ankle he suffered in summer

basketball. Young wears a boot to stabilize the ankle and can not

run, but has been practicing catching the ball. Brinkley said he is

not concerned that Young’s injury will hurt the offense.

“The strength of this offense is going to be how well-balanced we

are,” Brinkley said. “We have the ability to run and throw well.”

Last year, Brinkley ran the ball 63% of the time despite the fact

that passing produced 53% of the offensive yardage.

“Ideally, we want to run and throw equally well,” said Brinkley,

who is going into his 19th year at the Newport helm. “But we take

what the defense gives us.”

The defenses the Sailors will face this year don’t figure to give

up much. Newport Harbor replaced Trabuco Hills and Paramount on the

nonleague schedule with Division I power Fountain Valley and Division

III threat Mira Costa.

Fountain Valley, the opening game for the Tars Sept. 9 at

Huntington Beach High, was a tri-champion in the tough Sunset League

last year. Newport Harbor follows the game against the Barons with

the home opener against Marina, another Sunset League member, Sept.

17.

The Battle of the Bay against Corona del Mar is Sept. 24. Newport

has won nine of the last 10 against its crosstown rival.

A home game against South Coast League entry Dana Hills Sept. 30

will precede a tough road game against Mira Costa Oct. 8.

Mira Costa won the South Bay Athletic Association last year and

was eliminated in the Division III semifinals by eventual champion

Notre Dame of Sherman Oaks. The Mustangs featured a tough defense

last year, including lineman Justin Reece and defensive back Britton

Ertman, both All-CIF as juniors.

Foothill, Aliso Niguel and Irvine ended in a three-way tie for

first in the Sea View League last year, and will, in that order,

comprise the Tars’ first three league opponents this year.

Laguna Hills and Woodbridge round out the league slate.

“Our division has toughened up,” said Brinkley, whose team has

lost its playoff opener the last two seasons, after going 17-5 in its

previous six trips to the postseason. “We’ve got to play bigger

schools in order to stay competitive.”

The Sailors are not alone in the Sea View League in scheduling

tough nonleague opponents -- Foothill will play perennial powerhouses

Mater Dei and Santa Margarita. But Brinkley has not, and will not,

opt for a bye week by playing in the “zero week.”

“I’m not real big on having a bye in the middle of the season,” he

said. “I think that once you get into a rhythm of playing, a bye gets

the players out of sync and I think you lose momentum.”