McDonald on the mark

Newport Harbor High football coach Jeff Brinkley is stewing lately after two consecutive losses, but the mention of former Sailors’ quarterback Andrew McDonald is sure to soften Brinkley’s competitive scowl.

McDonald, the Newport-Mesa Offensive Player of the Year for the Sailors as a senior in the fall of 2008, is unbeaten in four games as the starter at Santa Ana College.

McDonald, the son of former USC All-American and NFL quarterback Paul McDonald, leads the 37-school Southern California Football Assn. in pass efficiency after transferring from the University of Arizona.

The 6-foot, 200-pound McDonald, who missed the Dons’ season-opening loss to Fullerton with a minor injury, has completed 48 of 64 passes this season for 723 yards and 10 touchdowns. He has thrown just two interceptions.

McDonald, who is completing 75% of his attempts, has an efficiency rating of 215.2, nearly 52 points better than the closest SCFA rival who has more than 50 attempts.

McDonald threw for four touchdowns in the Dons’ 43-7 win over Long Beach on Oct. 2, one week after collecting SCFA Offensive Player of the Week laurels for throwing three touchdown passes in a 56-17 rout of Santa Monica.

With McDonald at the controls, the Dons (4-1), who play at East Conference rival Orange Coast on Nov. 13, are ranked No. 8 in Southern California and No. 15 in the state.

¿¿¿Yet another former Newport Harbor quarterback, Kasey Peters, is once again lighting it up at Rocky Mountain College, an NAIA school in Montana.

Peters, who led the NAIA in total offense last season (403 yards per game), has thrown for 974 yards and 11 touchdowns in three games. Peters, who threw for 4,160 yards and 31 touchdowns (completing 383 of 588 with just six interceptions last season), sat out the Battlin’ Bears’ first three games this season, due to a ruling that granted him another year of eligibility.

Peters, who like McDonald starred at Santa Ana, has completed 76 of 121 this season with four interceptions.

One of Peters’ favorite targets is former OCC standout Nathan Barnett. Barnett has 30 receptions for 447 yards and five touchdowns in six games this season. Barnett has earned team Offensive Player of the Week, an honor most recently awarded to Bryce Carich, a 6-2, 290-pound senior lineman out of OCC and Costa Mesa High.

¿¿¿UC Irvine first-year men’s basketball coach Russ Turner will hold his first regulation workout with his team Friday at 5 p.m. at Crawford Court and the team will be introduced later that evening at Midnight Magic at the Bren Events Center.

Turner, however, will do so with a shuffled coaching staff, after announcing last week that Amadou “Pape” Koundoul has resigned before entering his first season as an assistant.

Koundoul a native of Dakar-Senegal, Africa, chose to resign when a medical emergency with an African high school player Koundoul had helped bring to America required a level of his attention that would have violated NCAA bylaws limiting coaches’ contact with prospective recruits.

Turner said he was disappointed, but understood Koundoul’s decision and the two remain on great terms.

Koundoul’s departure elevates former director of basketball operations Ryan Badrtalei to assistant.

Nick Booker, who was projected to be the video coordinator, is now the director of basketball operations. David Lee, who was to be a volunteer assistant, is now the video coordinator.

Doug Oliver, like Badrtalei a holdover from former coach Pat Douglass’ staff, will also be joined by first-year assistant Ali Ton.

¿¿¿The UC Irvine men’s and ¿¿¿ women’s soccer programs continue to mount dazzling numbers this season, posting a combined 22-2-3 record, including a 7-0 combined mark in the Big West Conference.

Coach Scott Juniper’s women’s team is 12-1-1, 4-0 in conference and has won nine straight. The ‘Eaters are also unbeaten in their last 12 contests.

The 12 wins is three shy of the program’s single-season record set in 1997.

¿¿¿The OCC football team returns to action after a bye last week, which followed the team’s first victory.

The Pirates (1-4) open play in the Central Division East Conference with a 6 p.m. kickoff Saturday at Riverside.

The Tigers (4-1) are ranked No. 12 in Southern California.

¿¿¿The UCI men’s water polo team (12-3) earned a pair of wins over the weekend and enters Saturday’s match at Long Beach State ranked No. 3 in the nation.