Two-minute drill

Newport Harbor High football coach Jeff Brinkley knew it and felt it before the Sailors’ season opener Thursday against visiting Aliso Niguel.

“They were ready to play a game,” Brinkley said of his players.

The Sailors came out like gangbusters and thrashed the Wolverines, 58-7.

Brinkley got his sixth straight season-opening victory. His team showed how talented it is by dominating on defense and special teams.

The Sailors sacked the quarterback four times. Linebackers Cecil Whiteside and Ned Lyon each blocked punts and scored touchdowns.

“We worked really hard in our fall camp on special teams,” Brinkley said. “It’s good to see the kids rewarded for their work.”

• JB Green scored in so many ways, even he couldn’t believe it afterward.

“I don’t know what was going on,” the senior said.

The all-purpose threat showed how much of a big-time player he is.

He scored on a five-yard pass from Andrew McDonald with 8:41 left in the first quarter.

He scored on a four-yard run with 10 seconds remaining in the first quarter.

He scored on a 51-yard punt return with 10:24 left in the second period.

He scored on a 77-yard free kick return with 9:36 to go in the third quarter.

It almost was five touchdowns for Green. But a flag nullified his 49-yard punt return with 4:37 to go before halftime.

• This time, the wait was shorter for Estancia second-year coach Mike Bargas. And this one was more meaningful.

It took Bargas three games to win his first football game as a head coach last season. Just two this season.

The Eagles (1-1) beat Bolsa Grande, 41-16, in front a packed home side at the new Jim Scott Stadium Friday.

Bargas said being the first high school program to play a home game on the new $9.5 million state-of-the-art facility meant a lot.

“Absolutely,” said Bargas, adding that having Jim Scott Sr., the 82-year-old man largely responsible for the stadium, in attendance inspired his Eagles.

• Estancia’s Carlos Mendez keeps on piling up 200-yard rushing performances.

This time he was happy to accomplish the feat on Jim Scott Stadium’s artificial FieldTurf.

“It’s better than real grass,” the senior said after rushing for 236 yards and one touchdown on 21 carries against Bolsa Grande.

During his stellar junior season, Mendez surpassed 200 yards in three games. He finished the year with a school-record 1,584 rushing yards and also earned Orange Coast League Co-MVP honors.

• Long Beach Poly, ranked No. 2 in the state by CalHiSports.com last week and No. 1 in the latest CIF Southern Section Pac-5 Division poll, is next for the Sailors. The game is Friday at Veterans Stadium in Long Beach.

The Jackrabbits, the defending Pac-5 Division champions, beat Newport Harbor twice last year at Davidson Field. Poly won, 34-7, in the regular season and 35-14 in the Pac-5 quarterfinals, en route to its 17th section title.

When asked if this year’s game against Long Beach Poly (1-0) will be close, Whiteside, without hesitation, said, “Yeah.”

Brandon Kula, a senior linebacker, wasn’t so quick.

“We’re going to do our best and see what happens,” Kula said. “Our whole schedule is tough. We start practicing for Long Beach now. They’re just so athletic. [We can’t have any] defensive breakdowns.”

Long Beach Poly had a bye last week. The Jackrabbits kicked off the season with a 29-7 victory at Northwestern of Miami, Florida’s two-time defending state 6A champion.

• Max Haase had a big hand in Corona del Mar’s 37-0 victory over Laguna Beach Friday at Newport Harbor.

The 6-foot-3 senior linebacker was a constant terror on defense. During a 35-second sequence in the first quarter of the nonleague game, Haase came up with two big defensive stops. First, he dropped a running back for a one-yard loss after a reception in the flat. On the next play, Haase broke into the backfield to pressure the quarterback into a hurried throw that was intercepted.

Haase also was CdM’s leading receiver with four receptions for 37 yards.

• Sage Hill School sophomore quarterback Randall Mycorn transferred from Mater Dei after his freshman year and his father, Barry Mycorn, said star Mater Dei quarterback and Newport Beach resident Matt Barkley took the Lightning starter under his wing.

Mycorn showed he has learned a thing or two from his highly decorated mentor, as he completed 14 of 22 passes for 172 yards and two touchdowns in his team’s 24-8 nonleague win Friday over visiting Animo Leadership.

• Costa Mesa High junior quarterback Todd Davis continues to go under a trial by fire in his first varsity season. After being sacked five times in a 55-3 season-opening loss to Corona del Mar, he was dropped six times in the pocket by Beckman in the Mustangs’ 35-0 nonleague setback Thursday at Tustin High.

But, Costa Mesa Coach Jeremy Osso was encouraged about the courage Davis showed in the pocket. On one occasion, he stepped up into the pocket to create more time to look for an open receiver. On another, he bolted up the middle for a seven-yard scramble.

“That’s part of the progression,” Osso said, referring the act of looking for more than one receiver, as well as the early improvement that comes for most varsity rookies. “They say the first season, all a quarterback sees is the pass rush. But I saw him looking past the first option to see if others were open.”

• On just eight carries Thursday, Newport Harbor senior tailback Danny Miller rushed for 115 yards. His biggest gain was a 73-yard touchdown run early in the second half.

• Corona del Mar High senior Noah Molnar had two receptions during Friday’s win but both were huge.

First, he leaped high to snag a pass in front of a defender in the right corner of the end zone for an 11-yard touchdown to open the scoring.

“That was a great catch by Noah,” CdM Coach Jason Hitchens said. “He had great concentration.”

On CdM’s second-half-opening drive, he took in a 20-yard pass from Sands along the CdM sideline and raced untouched to the end zone for a 51-yard TD.

• Estancia punter Eli Diego continues to blast the ball.

The senior’s first punt, a 59-yarder, pinned Bolsa Grande on its own two. Diego’s second punt went for 42 yards.

In the season opener against Aquinas of San Bernardino, Diego averaged 41.2 yards on five punts.

• Costa Mesa senior kicker and punter Hector Solis, one of the team’s players of the week against Corona del Mar, got off to another strong start Thursday when his opening punt went 44 yards. But his night thereafter went less well, as he fielded three low punt snaps on a hop and was run into twice after punting, once by his own blocker. The other collision did produce a roughing-the-kicker penalty and a first down, but Solis limped the sideline afterward.

• Osso said the Mustangs escaped without serious injury. One player who missed the opener with a foot injury, senior Robbie Gemayel, was inserted in the backfield midway through the third period against Beckman.

Gemayel then handled Mesa’s next 11 rushing attempts, slamming his 6-foot-3, 180-pound body into tacklers to produce 30 yards to add to starting tailback Antwon Byrd’s 42 yards on 16 carries.

“The plan was to get Robbie in the game a little sooner, but I got caught up in the flow of the game,” Osso said.

• Sage Hill kicker Taylor Ross, also a starter at tailback and cornerback, kicked a 31-yard field goal to open the scoring against Animo. In addition, he launched two kickoffs into the end zone for touchbacks.

He also showed off his soccer skills late in the first half, when he reacted to an Animo pass thrown short at his feet by booting the ball back toward the line of scrimmage.

• Estancia showed big-play ability against Bolsa Grande.

Mendez scored on a 54-yard run, senior receiver Jason Moreno hooked up with senior quarterback Radames Gutierrez on a 64-yard streak down the Eagles’ sideline.

Gutierrez also hit Moreno for two other scores. Moreno finished with five catches for 137 yards and three touchdowns, his best game so far at Estancia.

Mendez had two runs of more than 30 yards.

“Carlos just needs creases,” Bargas said. “If they don’t get a solid shot off on him, he’s going to carry those guys with him.”

• CdM sophomore Andrew Boehm showed his leg strength by sending his first three kickoffs to the goal line. Boehm also booted a 27-yard field goal in the third quarter.

— From staff reports