Monday Morning Quarterback: Climbing through the ranks

It was an incremental step, but it was enough for Long Beach Poly Coach Raul Lara to take notice.

Last season, no one on the Newport Harbor High football team was practicing on Thanksgiving morning because the team’s season ended without a trip to the playoffs.

This year, a first-round victory meant the Sailors would be staring down one of the most persistent threats in the CIF Southern Section Pac-5 Division: Long Beach Poly.

The Tars lost, 35-21, Friday in the division quarterfinals, but Lara still sensed a change in the team.

“I thought they were more physical,” Lara said. “Especially watching that [Sherman Oaks] Notre Dame game. They were really hitting the Notre Dame guys pretty good. That’s what I told our kids. They’re really not the same team, so you better match their intensity.”

Newport Harbor defeated Notre Dame, 7-3, in the first round of the playoffs.

The Jackrabbits matched the Sailors’ intensity, and overpowered them at the line of scrimmage, all but eliminating Newport Harbor’s ability to run the ball.

But Lara didn’t see much of a discrepancy between Newport Harbor, and other perennial Pac-5 threats such as Edison and Los Alamitos.

“They just have to get used to the competition now,” Lara said. “I think once they do that, I think they’ll be fine. Obviously, they’re in that Sunset League, and the Sunset League is pretty good. They knocked off Los Al and Los Al didn’t go [to the playoffs].

“When’s the last time you heard that? They’re getting there. Last year, they didn’t even make it and then this year, they make it. So maybe next year, they’ll improve on that, too.”

Playing the Jackrabbits wasn’t unfamiliar territory, but it wasn’t second nature, either. The Sailors had already lost to the Jackrabbits, 34-7, in Newport Harbor’s Week 2 game.

Next year, Newport Harbor’s knowledge of opponents such as Poly will be one step closer to second nature. The Sailors have a core group of juniors in JB Green, Andrew McDonald, Danny Miller, Michael Helfrich, Brandon Kula, Dillian Freiberg, Peter Kinney, and Ned Lyon, who are all expected to return. Sophomore standout Cecil Whiteside, who was second in the Sunset League in tackles, should be back as well. They’ll all be able to draw upon this year’s experiences.

It doesn’t necessarily mean that Newport Harbor will be on its way to becoming the next school to send oodles of players to the NFL like Poly.

It doesn’t even mean that the Sailors will, overnight, become a team that’s got five or six players heading to Division I college programs, the way some of its opponents do.

But it’s making progress.

“Colleges do pay attention to Newport Harbor. They find guys that any school. If you’ve got an athlete that’s a Division I recruit, they’ll find them,” Brinkley said.

“We get recruiters come through all spring, we’re in contact with them a lot. Those guys respect our program ... Who knows? Next year, maybe we’ll have four Division I guys. It’s just what comes through the system.”

SORAYA NADIA McDONALD may be reached at (714) 966-4613 or at soraya.mcdonald@latimes.com.