Injury woes concern Sailors

Rick Devereux

There were no major injuries for the three local teams that opened

their season last week, but Newport Harbor High, which opens its

season Thursday against Fountain Valley, has three potentially

long-term injuries before it plays an official game.

Returning Newport-Mesa Player of the Year Spencer Link, who sat

out of the team’s scrimmage against Mission Viejo Friday, had an MRI

on a sore shoulder and may not play in the season opener.

“It’s really a day-by-day situation,” Coach Jeff Brinkley said.

“His shoulder is feeling better. It is up to him and his doctors to

say when he’ll be back, though.”

Linebacker/wide receiver Taylor Young broke an ankle in summer

basketball. The protective boot he was wearing was removed Friday,

but it is unknown when he will be able to return to the lineup. Young

and Link combined for 76 receptions for 1,249 yards and 14 touchdowns

last season.

First-team All-Sea View League middle linebacker Thomas Martin,

who led the team in tackles as a junior, has stomach problems and it

is unknown when he could return to action.

“Martin has internal injuries and they are running tests to see

what the problem is,” Brinkley said. “If we had [Martin and Young]

back by league [Oct. 15 against Foothill], we’d be happy.”

* CORONA DEL MAR: When a team rushes for nearly 450 yards, the

tailbacks and linemen get a lot of credit, and deservedly so. But

Coach Dick Freeman was also impressed with the blocking from the

wideouts.

“Some of the key runs we had were from the receivers blocking

well,” Freeman said. “For a run to go for over 20 yards, you need the

receivers to block downfield, and we got that.”

The Sea Kings had five runs of 20 yards or more against Estancia,

and Freeman said seniors Matt Silva and Ravi Dolwani, as well as

junior Matt Loyd, set up big plays by sustaining their blocks.

Defensively, CdM forced a three-and-out situation on four

occasions and only allowed three drives of six or more plays.

“They really only had one drive on us,” Freeman said of the

11-play, 85-yard touchdown drive at the end of the fourth quarter. “I

thought we did a good job defensively, otherwise.”

And despite being flagged nine times for 105 yards, Freeman was

pleased with CdM’s team discipline.

“We didn’t have any offsides on offense, which shows the level of

concentration on our guys,” Freeman said. “Most of the penalties were

aggressive penalties and that’s not too bad. I can live with those.”

Freeman said the special teams did a decent job covering punts and

kickoffs, but he would like to see the field goal unit improve.

“Our punting got us out of trouble a couple of times,” Freeman

said. “We need to get the ball off on the field goals.”

A low snap on one field-goal try late in the first half resulted

in a scramble and subsequent fumble Estancia returned 63 yards for a

touchdown.

* COSTA MESA: The Mustangs lost to Brea Olinda by two touchdowns

Thursday, but after watching the videotape, Coach Tom Baldwin said it

was a closer game than the 21-7 score indicated.

“Like what normally happens after you watch the film, you think

you played terrible, but then realize it wasn’t that bad,” he said.

“They never got inside our 10-yard line [Brea’s three scoring plays

covered at least 21 yards]. So, defensively, we did a lot better than

I thought we did.”

Offensively Mesa committed nine fumbles, three resulting in

turnovers. Baldwin said a combination of Wildcat defenders and

rotating offensive linemen were the main reasons for the miscues in

the quarterback-center exchange.

“We used three different centers and they had a noseguard that was

pounding on our centers,” he said. “Overall, we only had two kids

[Bryce Carich and Rodrigo Gutierrez] who have played on the line

before. This was the first game for the rest of them, so I thought we

did OK, considering.”

* ESTANCIA: The one area that gave Coach Craig Fertig the most

concern going into the season opener against Corona del Mar was the

inexperienced offensive line.

Stephen Ruby, a sophomore, started at left tackle, but Fertig said

he was pleased with the way Ruby and the rest of the O-line protected

quarterbacks Nick Cox and Ryan Watson.

“Ruby played well, and our center, Nelson Leon, played really,

really well,” Fertig said. “CdM brought more guys at us than any of

the coaches thought they would. They ran a lot of stunts and blitzes,

which I think is a sign of respect.”

Senior Ryan Sanford left his mark as the top wide receiver on the

field, producing a game-high five receptions for 63 yards. He also

let his presence be known as a linebacker and safety, putting

pressure on the Sea Kings quarterback as a blitzer and flying to the

ball when in coverage.

“We knew Ryan was a good receiver, but he surprised us with what

he could do on defense,” Fertig said. “He almost had an interception,

but I am very pleased with the way he played.”