Two-minute drill

Newport Harbor High’s Jeff Brinkley moved one victory closer to joining an elite coaching group in Orange County.

The Sailors defeated Corona del Mar, 37-7, in the Battle of the Bay game Thursday at Orange Coast College, giving Brinkley his 199th win during his 24 years at Newport Harbor.

The 56-year-old can record win No. 200 Friday when Newport Harbor (3-0) plays at Dana Hills (2-1). Brinkley downplayed the significance of reaching the milestone only seven other county coaches have achieved.

“People make too big a deal about that,” Brinkley said.

Brinkley started as Newport Harbor’s head coach in 1986. His record at the school is 199-78-3, a .716 winning percentage.

 Costa Mesa High has bounced back after starting the season 0-2. The Mustangs beat Santa Ana, 24-16, at Newport Harbor Friday to improve to .500 on the season.

The victory was a first in Jeremy Osso’s four years as head coach.

“What’s important is this is our first win vs. a team that’s above .500,” said Osso, whose Mustangs (2-2) handed Santa Ana (2-1) its first loss of the year. “It’s the steps. It’s not over yet, but it just shows that we’re improving.”

Costa Mesa has scored a touchdown or field goal in eight straight quarters. The Mustangs had a six-quarter drought before the offense emerged.

Quarterback Todd Davis has played a big role. He had another strong performance. The senior, who was battling the flu, threw for 106 yards and no interceptions.

On the opening drive, the Mustangs marched 80 yards on 13 plays and punched it in on a quarterback sneak by Davis midway through the quarter.

 Estancia High senior running back-inside linebacker Sean Davis is a transfer from Newport Harbor, so he was not with the Eagles last season when they lost, 58-14 and surrendered 547 yards of total offense to Magnolia.

But, after Davis returned a fumble 31 yards for a touchdown, was a force on defense, and added a three-yard touchdown run to help key a 21-0 nonleague road win over the Sentinels Thursday at Glover Stadium, Davis said the memory of last year’s painful loss was with him Thursday.

“I pretty much tried to put myself in the position that I was here last year,” Davis said of his mind-set all week. “I was talking to myself in the first person, pretending I was here [last year].”

 A couple of mix-ups hurt Corona del Mar on special teams and on defense in the second quarter.

Trailing Newport Harbor, 7-0, CdM had a punt blocked with 7:24 left in the half. The Sailors recovered on the Sea Kings’ 28 and eventually settled for a field goal to go ahead, 10-0.

Seeing the punt blocked factored into a CdM decision not to punt late in the first half.

Instead of punting on fourth-and-13 from their own 17, the Sea Kings elected to have quarterback Michael Borchard try to run the clock out and go into halftime down, 13-0.

With four seconds left, Borchard, in shotgun formation, got the snap and went back seven yards before being tackled at the 10.

One problem. The clock showed one second left.

Newport Harbor quickly took over and got an offensive play off before CdM’s defense was fully ready. Quarterback Austin Rios found an uncovered Parker Norton to his right for a 10-yard touchdown, giving the Sailors a 20-0 lead going into halftime.

CdM Coach Jason Hitchens said he couldn’t believe how things transpired in the final seconds of the half.

“I thought the clock expired,” Hitchens said. “We had the option. We could’ve tried to punt, but the punting thing wasn’t really working out too much for us. We thought if Borchard took two to three steps back, that would be it. The clock didn’t even start when the snap went off. To me, four seconds, you can burn pretty quickly, especially in shotgun.

“The fact that we’re not plugged in enough to see an uncovered receiver out there kind of disturbed me.”

 Newport Harbor’s impressive 3-0 start earned it a No. 10 ranking in this week’s CIF Southern Section Pac-5 Division poll.

The Sailors cracked the top 10 poll for the first time this season. They have defeated Aliso Niguel, 45-7, on the road, previously ranked Loyola of Los Angeles, 28-14, at home, and CdM, 37-7, on the road.

The Sea Kings went into last week’s rivalry game ranked No. 2 in the Southern Division poll. CdM (3-1) dropped to No. 5.

 Junior running back Tyler Scheffner recorded a career day when Costa Mesa needed him the most.

The quarterback and another running back battled the flu.

So, Scheffner stepped in and finished with 136 yards and one touchdown on 28 carries.

Scheffner left the game with 7:48 to play. On his 23rd rush, he stayed on the ground for a couple of minutes.

“No big deal,” said Scheffner, who was dealing with cramps.

Scheffner returned three plays later. Costa Mesa settled for a 21-yard field goal by Jairo Farfan, putting the Mustangs up, 24-16.

On Santa Ana’s ensuing possession, Scheffner recovered a fumble.

 The lineup shuffling caused by injuries and illness forced some almost comical adjustments for Sage Hill School in its 43-6 nonleague win over visiting Silver Valley Friday night.

The changes were particularly problematic in the kicking game with long-snapper Brendan Killaly and punter Taylor Ross unable to fill those roles.

Ross, playing with a broken left thumb that was in a soft, padded cast, could kick but not punt, since he could not catch a punt snap.

So, sophomore Ford Hanour punted. Hanour also snapped on field-goal and conversion attempts.

Senior Andy Multari snapped on punts and also handled holding duties on field goals and PATs.

 The 48th edition of the Battle of the Bay football game between Newport Harbor and CdM offered some strange visuals at Orange Coast College.

Tito Ortiz, the former UFC light-heavyweight champion from Huntington Beach, was near the CdM sideline.

Jenna Jameson, Ortiz’ girlfriend, was with “The Huntington Beach Bad Boy.”

Two streakers from Newport Harbor’s side also ran onto the field after the first half of play.

 Estancia Coach Mike Bargas and most of his staff were among those with a long memory about last year’s lopsided loss to Magnolia.

One member of that staff, defensive coordinator Dave Holland, played a huge role in the turnaround win. He utilized two basic defensive alignments to help the Eagles post their first shutout in 27 games, dating back to the 2006 season.

“[Holland] did a great job,” Bargas said. “We were simplistic this week and the kids did a nice job of doing the things they needed to do.”

 Newport Harbor senior Dillan Freiberg went three for three in field-goal attempts and he converted four of four extra-point kicks, extending his Orange County consecutive record streak to 68.

Freiberg made field goals from 42, 35 and 27 yards. He outscored CdM by himself.

 Estancia senior tailback Alex Abalos amassed 244 rushing yards on 29 carries against Magnolia, the third-best single-game output in Estancia history.

Only Carlos Mendez (299 yards against Costa Mesa in 2007) and James Dawkins (247 yards against Laguna Beach in 1996) had more productive outings.

 Luis Gomez turned in a strong performance in the second and fourth quarters for Costa Mesa.

With 38 seconds before halftime, the senior returned a kickoff 49 yards to Santa Ana’s 47. He caught a 33-yard pass from Davis, getting the offense inside the five-yard line.

The next two plays featured Gomez, both on the ground.

After getting to the one, a timeout postponed the inevitable. Gomez punched it in, cutting the deficit to 16-14 with 22 seconds left before halftime.

In the final quarter, Gomez intercepted a pass on Costa Mesa’s six, stopping a drive. He cut in front of the receiver and returned it 13 yards.

 Sage Coach J.R. Tolver said he did not learn that Ross had a broken thumb until the day before the game. Ross typically starts at running back, but he could no longer handle the ball, so he shifted to defense, starting at outside linebacker.

Ross did play a few snaps as a blocking back near the goal line, but was replaced otherwise on offense by junior Eric Cheng, who had 67 yards and three TDs on 12 carries.

“That was a blow to us,” Tolver said of the Ross injury. “Because he can make a play for us at any time that can change a game on either side of the ball.

“[Cheng] did a good job stepping up in his place, but we’re going to miss Ross on offense,” Tolver said. “We’re going to have to find a way to utilize him on offense, because he’s too explosive for us not to.”

 Newport Harbor is 35-13 against CdM in the Battle of the Bay series. The Tars have won 10 of the last 11 contests.

 Bargas sported a goatee for Thursday’s game, a look that included some gray whiskers.

“My daughter [Morgan] said ‘Daddy, your hair is white,’ ” Bargas said with a self-effacing smile. “She’s 3 years old.”

— From staff reports