TWO-MINUTE DRILL

A week after missing the big plays and losing for the first time, a 47-0 thumping at home against Bakersfield Christian, Sage Hill School (5-1) had plenty in a 38-18 nonleague football win against Animo (0-5) at Hawthorne High Friday.

Nine plays went for 20 or more yards. Eight of those were passes by senior quarterback Jamie McGee, the other a 24-yard run by senior Michael Higgins, an effort much better than the team’s minus 31 yards against Bakersfield Christian.

McGee rebounded from last week’s performance (nine for 34 for 134 yards passing with two interceptions) by throwing for 269 yards and four touchdowns. On the year, he leads Newport-Mesa quarterbacks with 21 touchdown passes.

Nick Witte and Higgins found themselves back in the game at wide receiver after only catching one ball each last week. Witte finished with five catches for 163 yards and three touchdowns, tying a season high, and Higgins caught four passes for 71 yards and one touchdown.

The key? “I forgot about last week,” Higgins said.

 Junior Radames Gutierrez will be the starting quarterback for Estancia High until senior Mike Morley’s right elbow heels.

Morley may have to have surgery. In three quarters of play against Ocean View, Gutierrez was four of nine for 90 yards, including a 66-yard touchdown pass to Ryan Redding.

Eagles Coach Mike Bargas has said Gutierrez has a strong arm that just needs refining, and he will likely be the starting quarterback next year.

With Morley out, Bargas will have to simplify the game plan, but he said he doesn’t plan on making drastic changes.

Junior Michael Arciga will likely take over Gutierrez’s duties at free safety.

 Costa Mesa Coach Jeremy Osso said the Mustangs’ 28-18 loss to Katella allowed Costa Mesa to prepare its offense for league.

The Knights ran a four-four defense, while the Mustangs have been mostly facing 50 defenses so far this season. Osso added that the Mustangs should see plenty of the four-four defense in the Orange Coast League schedule, which begins at Laguna Beach on Oct. 26.

“You want to schedule teams to prep you for league,” Osso said.

Mesa scored a season-high 18 points against the Knights’ defense.

 After a 39-30 nonleague win Friday over visiting Mira Costa, Newport Harbor improved to 4-1. But such success is hardly a novelty in the Sunset League, in which the Sailors begin play against visiting Fountain Valley Friday at 7 p.m.

Sunset representative Los Alamitos (4-1) is ranked No. 6 in the CIF Southern Section Pac-5 Division, while Esperanza (5-0) is ranked No. 10.

Edison (3-2) and Fountain Valley (4-1), which appears to have its best team in years, are listed among the others in the division poll.

Marina is 3-2.

For comparison purposes, Fountain Valley beat Aliso Niguel, 42-0 on Sept. 21. Newport Harbor beat Aliso, 16-3, in its opener.

Esperanza was a 12-7 winner over Mira Costa Sept. 14.

Los Al topped Dana Hills, 27-10, while Newport dealt the Dolphins a 28-14 defeat.

 Fountain Valley figures to provide another pesky quarterback for Newport Harbor to deal with.

In addition to 148 passing yards and two touchdowns, Mira Costa quarterback Sean Kelley ran for 62 yards and one TD Friday.

Newport Harbor Coach Jeff Brinkley thinks Fountain Valley has another leader — senior Blake Bryce — in the same vein as Kelley.

Bryce finished last season with 1,372 passing yards, and also had 363 rushing yards for an average of 36.3 yards per game. He’s currently second among league quarterbacks in passing yards (750) behind Los Alamitos Clark Evans.

“[Bryce] is going to present some challenges,” Brinkley said. “He can throw the ball, but he’s also a really good scrambler, so we’ve got to improve the pass rush this week.”

  Sage Hill’s defense dropped Animo’s quick quarterback, Ryan Lyles, nine times for losses, and sent Animo to its 22nd straight loss.

Overall, the Lightning forced two fumbles and Animo turned the ball over on downs five times. Lyles completed one of 18 passes nine yards.

  Sage Hill has a bye this week before visiting Linfield Christian of Temecula on Oct. 19. The following week, the Lightning open Academy League play at St. Margaret’s, the defending league and CIF Southern Section Northeast Division champion.

 For the second year in a row, Katella quarterback Vince Peraza came up big against Costa Mesa.

Peraza, who scored five touchdowns last year against the Mustangs, was held out in the first quarter of Friday night’s game with an apparent minor shoulder injury suffered the prior week. Backup Matt Judd played the entire quarter.

“I think they were trying to keep him healthy,” Osso said. “They were going to try to win this game, you know, against 0-5 Costa Mesa, without their starting quarterback. But they had to go back to their starting quarterback.”

Peraza entered in the second quarter and went on to pass for 178 yards, including three touchdowns.

 Despite facing two winless teams this season, the worst part of the Estancia schedule may have come and went, after a 27-26 loss to Ocean View (4-1).

Including the Seahawks, teams Estancia (2-4) has already faced are a combined 10-21. The four remaining teams on the Eagles’ schedule, including all three Orange Coast League foes, are a combined 1-21.

 One of the recent goals for Costa Mesa has been to sustain a drive.

Against Katella, the Mustangs did just that, marching 63 yards to a Cody De La Mater one-yard touchdown run on their first possession of the game.

Sophomore quarterback Brian Waldron completed four of five passes for 43 yards on the drive, including two passes to Josh Erno. The only incompletion was on a dropped pass.

— From staff reports