Two-Minute Drill: CdM owns fourth longest win streak in O.C. history
Twenty-eight wins and counting.
Corona del Mar High’s football team just keeps winning, making its 28 in a row with a 37-0 shutout of Dana Hills last week at Davidson Field.
The 28-game winning streak ties Santa Margarita for the fourth longest in Orange County history, and its two shy of matching Norco for the 10th best in CIF Southern Section history. The top three winning streaks in the county belong to St. Margaret’s (43), Mission Viejo (41) and Edison (32).
The Sea Kings (2-0) can extend the run on Friday, when they play host to El Toro (2-0) at Davidson Field at 7 p.m. The Chargers almost ended CdM’s winning ways in the third game of the season last year, but on the final play Brett Greenlee blocked a potential game-tying 30-yard field goal and the Sea Kings won, 24-21.
This year, El Toro has wins against La Habra and Capistrano Valley, teams ranked No. 3 and No. 9, respectively, in the Southwest Division. The Chargers now face the top-ranked team in the Southwest Division.
“They looked really, really good in their [51-35] first week win over La Habra,” CdM Coach Scott Meyer said. “It’s only going to get tougher, you know, from this point on.”
— David Carrillo Peñaloza
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•Quarterback Cole Norris began his senior campaign with a 235-yard and four-touchdown performance. He is now 708 yards away from breaking Newport Harbor’s career passing record of 5,364 yards.
The senior completed 15 of 19 passes, close to 80%, before Brinkley pulled him after the Sailors’ first two plays in the fourth quarter. Michael Bonds, a sophomore, replaced Norris.
“We had a substantial lead,” said Norris, whose team led, 33-0, when he left. “It’s always fun when you get to watch the backups go and do their thing.”
Norris began the game completing his first four passes, and ended the game completing his last four passes.
Norris, who threw for a Newport Harbor single-season record 27 touchdowns last season, hooked up with wide receiver Riley Gaddis for scores of 64, 14 and 10 yards, and with receiver Keaton Cablay on a 21-yard score.
— David Carrillo Peñaloza
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•Estancia Coach Mike Bargas may have been frustrated with what he thought was a sloppy performance from his team, but he was certainly happy to become an uncle.
His younger brother Chris, the Eagles’ defensive coordinator, became a father on Wednesday after his wife Mandy gave birth to a daughter, Sierra.
Chris still made it to Wednesday’s practice and was coaching at the game Thursday as well.
“That’s true gridiron right there,” said Mike Bargas of Chris, who proposed to his wife following an Estancia football game in 2010.
— Matt Szabo
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•In Coach Jeff Brinkley’s 29th season opener with Newport Harbor, the Sailors returned to their successful ways in the first game of the season.
Newport Harbor ended a three-game losing streak in openers, routing Los Angeles Hamilton, 40-0, at Davidson Field last week. The shutout marked the Sailors’ first since 2006.
The Sailors improved to 22-6-1 in openers under Brinkley.
“It’s always important,” Brinkley said of getting off to a good start. “You work 12 months, so you want to get some form of a reward for the kids after all the hard work and time they put in.”
With the win, Newport Harbor moved into the CIF Southern Section West Valley Division poll, earning the No. 10 spot.
The Sailors travel to Palos Verdes (0-2), ranked No. 9 in the Western Division, Friday for a 3 p.m. game.
— David Carrillo Peñaloza
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•The sacks continue to pile up for CdM, which dropped the quarterback seven times last week, giving the defense 11 sacks in two games.
Parker Chase, a senior defensive end, leads the team with five sacks, three coming against Dana Hills. Chase registered 16 sacks last season, two shy of the CdM single-season sack record of 18 set by Sky Conway in 1995.
— David Carrillo Peñaloza
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•Estancia enjoyed its season opener, a 48-20 win over Loara at Jim Scott Stadium.
The Eagles are ranked No. 8 in this week’s CIF Southern Section Southern Division poll. But they did not come out of the game without injuries. Coach Mike Bargas said Tuesday that senior receiver/free safety Devon Jackson and junior receiver/linebacker D.J. Davis will not play in Thursday’s game against Pacifica, at Bolsa Grande High.
Jackson and Davis both suffered ankle injuries in the win over Loara, and neither of them practiced Tuesday. Jackson sprained his ankle while celebrating following his 31-yard touchdown reception in the first quarter.
Jackson, who is also the punter and punt returner, is the Eagles’ top receiver this year after amassing 32 catches for 494 yards and two touchdowns last season. Bargas said he may hold him out of next week’s nonleague game against Irvine, too, depending on how his recovery goes.
Seniors Dalton O’Daly and Jake Brown would receive more looks from quarterback Connor Brown in Jackson’s absence.
— Matt Szabo
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•A leader defensively for Costa Mesa was sophomore defensive back Jamil Douglas, who recorded his first interception of the season in the fourth quarter. He scored on the runback, which was called back due to a penalty.
Douglas also provided a big special teams play in the second quarter, when he stripped the punt returner of the ball and scored. This one counted, giving Costa Mesa the early 7-0 advantage after Cameron Curet’s extra point.
Douglas also returned punts for the Mustangs.
“He stepped up,” Grant said. “We may have found a player there.”
— Matt Szabo
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•The Sea Kings posted their 10th shutout during their 28-game winning streak.
In the last two shutouts, coming in the first two games of this season, CdM is allowing 63.5 yards on the ground and 71.5 yards through the air.
Dana Hills managed only 28 yards on six of 17 passing, and 57 yards on 35 carries.
— David Carrillo Peñaloza
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•Costa Mesa is 0-2 for the first time in Coach Wally Grant’s four-year tenure. But the Mustangs were so close to winning Friday night’s 16-13 overtime loss to Garden Grove Santiago.
The defense allowed the Mustangs to stay in the game. Though it did not force a turnover, it still did a good job of bottling up Santiago’s talented senior running back Junior Ortega (149 yards rushing) for much of the game.
The exception was when Ortega ripped off an 82-yard touchdown run on the second play of the second half, giving Santiago a 13-7 lead. It was one of just two plays for Santiago that went for more than 20 yards.
“Defensively we’re doing the things that we’re supposed to be doing,” Costa Mesa Coach Wally Grant said. “We’re still doing a couple of things that are costing us, coverage breakdowns and bad key reads. But comparing last week to this week, I’m seeing improvements on the defense. I really love what we’re doing defensively. I’m proud of those kids.”
— Matt Szabo
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•Previous claims by Sage Hill School Coach and Offensive Coordinator Tom Kirchmeyer that senior Beau Roth would be utilized more at receiver than running back, because running opportunities behind a small, inexperienced offensive line would be reduced, were obviously greatly exaggerated.
Roth, a 2013 first-team All-Academy League honoree who rushed for 1,144 yards as a junior but carried just three times for two yards in the season-opening loss against Calvary Chapel, collected 151 rushing yards and two touchdowns on eight attempts in the Lightning’s 42-20 nonleague win over Fairmont Prep on Friday at Yorba Linda High.
Roth’s first carry came on Sage’s first play of the second quarter and resulted in a 46-yard gain to the Fairmont Prep 10-yard line. Roth capped that possession with a seven-yard touchdown run two plays later.
On Roth’s next carry, he bolted 42 yards and later added a 41-yard run to finish with an 18.9-yard per-carry average on the night.
Roth also had a five-yard touchdown run and added a 37-yard reception to his explosive performance.
— Barry Faulkner
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•Corona del Mar has shown its big-play ability through the first two games.
The Sea Kings have produced touchdowns of 77, 58 and 46 yards, and plays of 37, 31, 30 and 30 yards.
The longest score was a run by tailback Cole Martin in the first week of the season. The second longest score featured a hook up between quarterback Peter Bush and Bo St. Geme last week. The third longest score was a run by backup quarterback Chase Garbers last week.
— David Carrillo Peñaloza
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•The Sailors’ opener came against a program from the Los Angeles City Section.
Hamilton was the third team from that section Newport Harbor has faced with Brinkley at the helm. His team met Fairfax in a nonleague game late in the season before Newport Harbor made its CIF Southern Section Division VI championship run in 1999. Two years later, the Sailors played Westchester in a regular-season finale.
Brinkley said the reason why his team played those two nonleague games late was because the Sea View League the Sailors were a member of only had five teams and they needed another game.
Brinkley improved to 2-1 against teams from the Los Angeles City Section.
— David Carrillo Peñaloza
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•The Eagles were able to win their season opener despite four turnovers, including two lost fumbles and two interceptions. But penalties were also a spot which Bargas acknowledged needed improvement.
Estancia was flagged 12 times for 114 yards. Included in the tally were three 15-yard personal foul penalties, one for unsportsmanlike conduct (taunting).
“It was nice to win, but I don’t like to win ugly like that,” Bargas said. “That will hurt us if we don’t clean those things up.”
— Matt Szabo
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•Sage Hill’s offensive line of senior left tackle Aaron Kim, senior guard Alex Jennings, sophomore guard Daniel Levy (the guards flop sides occasionally), junior center Barry Valdez and senior right tackle Logan Cook, helped the team produce 240 rushing yards on the 28 attempts that did not include two kneel-downs to run out the clock.
That’s 8.6 yards per attempt (on the 28 plays with intent), a huge jump from collecting minus-six yards on 18 attempts in the season opener.
There is still some work to be done, however, as eight running plays against Fairmont Prep on Friday resulted in zero or negative yards.
— Barry Faulkner
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•After his first eight kickoffs of the season were either the traditional on-side squib or an arching pooch just past the initial line of blockers on the receiving team, Sage Hill senior kicker Gordon Strelow might logically have been typecast as one with an insufficient leg.
But when finally given the green light to kick deep, Strelow launched his first legitimate kickoff into the end zone for a touchback Friday.
Sage Hill recovered the first onside kick of the season against Calvary Chapel, but failed to repeat that result in the seven subsequent tries, which resulted in an average field position for its opponent at the opponents’ 47-yard line.
— Barry Faulkner
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•Costa Mesa plays eight of its 10 regular-season games at Jim Scott Stadium this year. The only two that won’t be there are this Thursday night’s game against Katella at Glover Stadium, as well as an Orange Coast League game against Godinez on Oct. 23 at Segerstrom High.
So Thursday night’s 18-mile trip to Glover Stadium is actually by far the Mustangs’ longest road trip of the regular season. Not bad at all.
— Matt Szabo