HIGH SCHOOLS:Coaches prefer rivalries in doses

Cross-town rivalry has likely doomed the Newport-Mesa Cup, which featured all four of the district boys’ and girls’ soccer teams.

In its first incarnation this season, the tournament has led to problems.

On the girls’ side, Costa Mesa and Estancia will finish the regular season having played each other five times.

“I’m not very interested in playing in it for that reason,” Costa Mesa Coach Dan Johnston said. “It’s crazy to have to play that team five times. It could obviously be only four times, but three is enough. I’m sure [Estancia] will say the same thing.”

The two teams were already scheduled to face each other three times in Orange Coast League play, a number Estancia Coach Steve Crenshaw and Johnston have said is too much.

Playing their respective cross-town rival so early could have affected the Eagles and Mustangs seasons, as well. From the beginning, Estancia had its focus locked on beating Costa Mesa for the first time in 11 seasons.

The Eagles defeated the Mustangs twice in three days at the tournament, outscoring them a combined, 7-2.

Estancia was never quite the same, prompting Crenshaw to say, halfway through the league season, that it seemed the team’s lone goal was to defeat Costa Mesa and then that was it.

On the Costa Mesa side, the two losses drew the ire of Johnston, who has coached the team for 15 years. After the second loss to Estancia, the Mustangs only dropped one game in the next seven weeks and are now poised to capture a league title.

For the boys’ teams, scheduling made it difficult to pull off, but Newport Harbor Coach Ryan Hernandez said he is not interested because of the Back Bay rivalry game against Corona del Mar. The two teams play each other in the last preleague game with the winner taking home The Bell.

The tournament would take some of the luster off the annual matchup Hernandez said.

“I don’t really want to do it,” he said. “We play CdM and it works out.”

The Lightning have been doing it with defense, posting their 13th shutout of the season with a 5-0 victory over Whitney Friday.

Sage Hill has not allowed the opposition to score in a regular-season game in 15 matches, more than 600 minutes of action.

One more Lightning win will clinch their third Academy League title in four years. But Sage Hill hopes this season will extend further into the CIF Southern Section playoffs.

It was ousted in the first round three of the past four seasons, and lost in the second round the other time.

Graham and Medina will not be able to touch the Day and Flores career league record of 48-0, but the two friends have exponentially increased their scoring prowess throughout the year and are poised to make appearances on All-CIF teams, just as Day and Flores did.

Wahl departed for training camp with three games remaining in the season.

“Nothing has changed,” Hernandez said. “It feels more normal now. I’m used to being the only coach on the sideline.”

DOMINIC PERRONE covers high school boys’ and girls’ soccer for the Daily Pilot. He can be reached at (714) 966-4613 or via e-mail at dominic.perrone@latimes.com.