Barkley a candidate
Newport Beach resident Matt Barkley, a junior quarterback and third-year starter at USC, is among 20 candidates for the 2011 Premier Player of College Football trophy.
The trophy is presented to the athlete the fans voted for as the best player in NCAA college football. A poll is released at the beginning of the season. In October, five players are added to the list. Fans then have until the last conference championship game to cast their initial votes for their favorite candidate.
The five athletes with the most votes will be announced in December and invited to an awards dinner. At that time, a ballot with the five finalists may be voted upon until a week preceding the dinner, when the winner will be announced Jan. 13 in Tampa, Fla.
For information or to vote, visit https://www.prepierplayers.com.
— From staff reports
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Sailors lose another running back
The Newport Harbor High football program went into camp last week with a running back by committee.
The backfield got a little bit smaller Thursday.
The Sailors lost junior Tala Teaupa for six to eight weeks after he suffered a broken collarbone during practice, Coach Jeff Brinkley said. The loss of Teaupa, a junior varsity starter last season, is a major one.
Brinkley expected Teaupa to compete for the starting tailback job after last year’s starter, Buzzy Yokoyama, transferred to Mission Viejo High for his senior year.
“Hopefully, he will be back when [Sunset League] play starts,” said Brinkley, whose team opens league play at home against Fountain Valley on Oct. 14. “He went down to the ground and [his collarbone] just broke.”
Without the 5-foot-11, 185-pound Teaupa, the Sailors turn to three seniors. But two of the players did not record any carries last season and one was hurt for most of the season.
Ethan Cochran, Titus Hasson and AJ Swies are in the mix. Cochran is more of a bruising back at 6-1, 220 pounds, while Hasson, a 6-1, 195-pounder, gives the Sailors a breakaway threat. Swies is the smallest of the trio at 5-9, 180 pounds.
The three will get their chances in Newport Harbor’s season opener at Trabuco Hills on Sept. 8. Whether they can duplicate Yokoyama’s numbers from a year ago, when he rushed for 1,250 yards and 12 touchdowns, is big question mark.
— David Carrillo Peñaloza
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CdM’s Moorhead fourth
Corona del Mar High golfer Mike Moorhead finished fourth at the Genesis Junior Championship, completed Thursday at the Sycuan Resort, Willow Glenn Course in El Cajon.
Moorhead, who will be a senior this fall, was tied for the lead after the first 18 holes of the 54-hole event after recording five birdies and an eagle to post a five-under-par 67 in the opening round.
She shot par 72, then 71 the next two days.
— From staff reports
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Pirates moving on
The 2011 Orange Coast College baseball team will send seven of its sophomores to play at four-year schools, including Texas-bound Matt Moynihan, the 2011 OCC Male Athlete of the Year who set a school single-season record by hitting .479 last season.
Other former Pirates who have found new collegiate homes include pitcher Ryan Doran (San Diego State), Kevin Cho (Oral Roberts), Colton Hamill (Chico State), Jordan Beck (Chico State) and Steven McMichael (Concordia University in Irvine).
Doran was 12-5 over two seasons at OCC. He appeared in 18 games last season, including 13 starts.
Cho hit .356 with a team-best 47 runs scored as a sophomore in 2011. He had 21 runs batted in and had 62 hits.
Beck, a two-year starter who played shortstop and first base, batted .340 with a team-best 44 RBIs in 2011. He scored 33 runs and had 53 hits.
Hamill, the starting third baseman last spring, hit .293 with 36 hits, 27 RBIs and 12 extra-base hits.
McMichael, an outfielder, hit .255 with 12 runs. He was successful in seven of eight stolen-base attempts.
— From staff reports