Undefeated Sailors awarded No. 2 seed

Rick Devereux

Newport Harbor High Coach Jeff Brinkley was not surprised on Sunday

when the Sailors received the No. 2 seed in the CIF Southern Section

Division VI football playoffs.

Newport (9-0-1) will play host to El Dorado (5-4-1) Friday at 7

p.m. The Golden Hawks are the third-place team from the Century

League.

The two teams share one common opponent this fall in Dana Hills.

The Sailors defeated the Dolphins, 35-20, Sept. 30, while El

Dorado was beaten by the South Coast League entry, 28-26, in its

opener, Sept. 10

The Tars were ranked No. 1 in the division for the first five

weeks of the year, then maintained the No. 3 spot after a 10-10 tie

with Foothill in the Sea View League opener.

But Brinkley figured his team would move past the loser of

Friday’s Empire League finale between Orange Lutheran and Valencia,

the No. 1- and No. 2-ranked teams in the division, respectively.

Orange Lutheran beat Valencia, 24-7, to win the league crown and

claim the No. 1 seed. Valencia is unseeded, as league champions

Mayfair (9-1) and Villa Park (9-1) claimed the No. 3 and No. 4 spots,

respectively.

“I thought we would be the No. 2 seed,” Brinkley said. “It came

out how I anticipated.”

Brinkley’s Newport Harbor teams are 24-12 in the playoffs,

including a Division V title in 1994 and a Division VI crown in 1999.

He said being a No. 2 seed does not mean added pressure to perform.

“We put high expectations on ourselves,” Brinkley, in his 19th

season at the helm of the Sailors, said. “I don’t think anyone can

apply more expectations on us than what we put on ourselves.”

Newport Harbor has not won a playoff game since a 36-25 victory

over Cerritos in the 2001 Division VI quarterfinals. The Sailors were

eliminated in the opening round in 2002 and 2003.

If the Tars are able to break that trend, the second-round game

could be a home contest against Miramonte League Champion, Charter

Oak (7-3).

It could also be against Kennedy (6-4) at Western High, the home

field of the Fighting Irish, because Kennedy won a coin flip.

Brinkley said he would favor a proposal to change that rule.

“I would like to see it more like the NFL, where you get to keep

your home-field advantage throughout the playoffs,” he said.

There are several signs that point to a deep playoff run for the

Tars.

This is not the first time Newport Harbor has played El Dorado in

the first round. The Sailors defeated El Dorado, 22-0, in 1999 and

went on to win the CIF title.

That team also finished the regular season 9-0-1.

That team posted back-to-back shutouts against Woodbridge and

Fairfax in Weeks 8 and 9.

This year’s squad posted back-to-back shutouts against Irvine and

Laguna Hills in Weeks 8 and 9.

The 1999 team scored more than 50 points twice. That feat had not

been matched until this year, when the Sailors scored 55 and 63

points in the final two games.