COVER STORY:Change for the better?

It must be a little unnerving to wake up one day as kings of both the Sea View League and CIF Southern Section Division VI, and the next day as just another squad trying to keep up with the perennial powers in the Sunset League and Division I, which is now called the Pac-5 Division.

But when the CIF Southern Section approved the final Orange County releaguing proposal in October, 2005, it meant different futures for different schools. Now, football teams get to experience firsthand, for better or worse, what the changes mean to them.

Perhaps no football team was more affected by releaguing than Newport Harbor, which finds itself in new environs after enjoying a successful 25-year run in the Sea View League, where it comes off back-to-back championships.

The Sailors also have reached the last two CIF Division VI championship games, including a 28-21 triumph over Valencia last year to capture the program’s third CIF crown.

Now the Sailors are forced to battle it out with Sunset League powers Edison, Esperanza and Los Alamitos just to reach the playoffs, where they could encounter Pac-5 powerhouses like Long Beach Poly and Loyola.

Not that 21-year Newport Harbor Coach Jeff Brinkley is crying uncle.

“You can’t control those things,” Brinkley said. “You just have to prepare your best and be ready.”

This marks Newport Harbor’s third stint in the Sunset League, which also includes Fountain Valley and Marina. Newport Harbor traded places with Huntington Beach, which shifted from the Sunset to the Sea View.

Esperanza went 12-2 last year and reached the CIF Division I championship game, where it lost to Loyola, 49-42. Los Alamitos had another stellar season at 9-2.

Edison was eliminated in the CIF quarterfinals by Loyola and later was forced to forfeit eight victories, dropping its record from 10-2 to 2-10.

Fountain Valley went 3-7 and Marina was 0-10.

“Everyone says how good the teams in that league are,” Brinkley said. “I know it’s going to be a challenge for us. But it’s hard to say how it’s going to go until you put on the pads and go through it. All I know is we play hard.”

Newport Harbor’s first two stints in the Sunset League were 1937-1963 and 1967-1980.

The Sailors were 104-110-17 during their first stint in the Sunset League, and 83-53-4 during its second run, before tallying their 205-88-6 record in the Sea View League from 1981 to 2005.

The Sailors won three CIF titles during that span, one in Division V and two in Division VI. Although the league, the division and the level of competition has changed for the Sailors, the goal remains the same.

“Like every year, the goal is to play for 14 weeks,” Brinkley said. “That’s not going to change.”

In other league and division adjustments, Estancia and Costa Mesa move from the Golden West League to the newly formed Orange Coast League, which competes in the postseason in the Southern Division against teams from the Empire, Garden Grove, Orange and Pacific Coast leagues.

Laguna Beach and Calvary Chapel, formerly in the Pacific Coast League, will join Estancia and Costa Mesa in the Orange Coast League, which also includes Godinez, a first-year school that will not field a varsity football team this season.

Huntington Beach joins holdovers Foothill and Woodbridge in the Sea View, with fellow newcomers Northwood, Trabuco Hills and El Toro.

The Sea View is in the Southwest Division, competing in the playoffs against the Century, Miramonte, San Antonio and Suburban leagues.

Ocean View remains in the Golden West League with holdovers Orange, Saddleback, Santa Ana and Westminster, as well as newcomer Segerstrom.

The Golden West League is in the Southeast Division, aligned for the playoffs with the Almont, Del Rio, Freeway and Mission Valley leagues.

Corona del Mar remains in the Pacific Coast League, where it has been since 1999. But some of the teams surrounding the Sea Kings have changed.

Beckman and University, along with CdM, are holdovers in the league, which welcomes Irvine and Laguna Hills from the Sea View League and San Juan Hills, a new school that will not field a varsity team this season.

“I’d say Laguna Beach is the front-runner,” second-year Estancia Coach Brian Barnes said of the Orange Coast League. “But all the teams in the new league are similar. They are comparable to each other. Whichever team gets on a roll could win it. Every team has a good opportunity.”

Sage Hill, which had a breakthrough 2005, when it went 9-2 and reached the CIF Division XIII quarterfinals, remains in the Academy League, which has gone from four teams to five by adding Linfield Christian for football only.

Linfield Christian, in Temecula, went 4-7, 2-2 in the Big Sky League last year. In its only run-in with an Academy League team last year, Linfield Christian lost to St. Margaret’s, 47-19, in the first round of the CIF Division XIII playoffs.

Academy League playoff teams will compete in the Northeast Division with teams from the Alpha, Desert Mountain, San Joaquin and Santa Fe leagues.