Two-Minute Drill: Sailors hope return home can be sweet
Newport Harbor High returns home after playing on the road the last three nonleague games, losing at San Clemente, 40-20, on Friday.
The Sailors have dropped two in a row, both to ranked teams in the CIF Southern Section Southwest Division poll. Newport Harbor (2-2) plays host to Manhattan Beach Mira Costa (4-0), ranked No. 3 in the Western Division, at Davidson Field next week. Mira Costa is coming off a 28-26 win against West Torrance.
“They’re really good,” Newport Harbor Coach Jeff Brinkley said of the Mustangs. “They’re well coached.”
— David Carrillo Peñaloza
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The Estancia High football team (1-3) certainly had its chances in Friday night’s 28-0 nonleague loss to University at Jim Scott Stadium. But the Eagles were stopped three times in the red zone, twice in the second quarter and once in the third quarter.
Just as damaging was a fourth down conversion that Estancia gave up. The Eagles seemed to have the momentum in the middle of the third quarter, after seniors Wilmer Sanchez and Alejandro Mondragon ran Uni quarterback Neil Boudreau out of bounds on the third down. That created a fourth-and-12 situation for the Trojans on the Estancia 31-yard line.
University went for it, and converted when Boudreau found senior tight end Michael Jung over the middle on a 31-yard touchdown pass. That extended University’s lead to 21-0. The Trojans would also spend 9:45 on their 16-play final drive in the fourth quarter, using nearly all of the time before sophomore Max Haughey ran it in from a yard out with 2:15 left in the game.
Estancia dropped to 3-24 against Pacific Coast League teams since 2001.
--- Matt Szabo
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Thirty-one points are how many were scored during a 2-minute 22-second stretch late in the fourth quarter of Corona del Mar High’s nonleague contest against Tesoro on Thursday.
Twenty-one of the points belonged to the Titans, helping them secure a 45-31 road win at Jim Scott Stadium.
The 45 points are the most CdM has allowed since Nov. 6, 2009, when San Juan Hills beat the Sea Kings, 49-42, in a Pacific Coast League game.
Since then, CdM has gone 23-2-1 in league play. The Sea Kings, who have claimed the last three league titles, have a bye next week before they open league against Woodbridge at University High on Oct. 9. The Sea Kings have won their last 15 league games.
— David Carrillo Peñaloza
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Sage Hill School has had difficulty matching up on the defensive line, but the Lightning featured some new personnel and some position changes that helped them fare better in Friday’s 21-17 nonleague loss to visiting Laguna Beach.
Senior Gabe Gamboa stood out at defensive end and even played some noseguard, while senior DJ Henry, who had led the team with 30 tackles through four games at defensive end, was shifted to noseguard against the Breakers. Both Gamboa and Henry were consistent deterrents to the Laguna Beach ground game.
In addition, junior Jacob Copeland, who has played safety, was deployed more frequently in the box as an outside linebacker, allowing him to add more physical presence near the neutral zone.
Former outside linebacker Jake Fisher, a senior, shifted to safety and broke up a would-be touchdown pass by batting the ball away early in the fourth quarter.
— Barry Faulkner
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Newport Harbor and San Clemente combined for seven rushing touchdowns, the Tritons had four and the Sailors three.
The Sailors couldn’t stop quarterback Jack Sears, who rushed for all of San Clemente’s scores, from 35, 28, 13 and six yards out.
Quarterback Michael Bonds had two of Newport Harbor’s scores, a one-yard run and a four-yard run, while running back Gage Roberson scored on a one-yard run.
The Sailors’ ground game has slowed down since Cole Kinder’s 304-yard performance in a 33-21 win at Pico Rivera El Rancho on Sept. 11. Newport Harbor has totaled 175 rushing yards on 68 carries in the past two games.
— David Carrillo Peñaloza
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Sage Hill junior quarterback Caden Sheetz has shown considerable talent, but his poise and perseverance were his greatest attributes against Laguna Beach. Sheetz, consistently pressured by a blitzing Breakers defense, did not have a completion on six first-quarter pass attempts. Sheetz was, at one point, two for 10 passing. But in the second half, Sheetz helped the Lightning comeback by completing six of seven passes and scrambling three times for combined gains of 71, 18 and 17 yards, the latter two on Sage’s last-ditch drive to try to overcome a four-point deficit.
The 71-yard gain came after Sheetz bent down to recover a shotgun snap that had gotten away. As he picked up the ball, a Laguna Beach defender was immediately upon him, poised to record the sack. But Sheetz broke the tackle and sped up the middle, before being run down from behind by Laguna Beach quarterback and defensive back Jack Simon at the Breakers’ three-yard line.
— Barry Faulkner
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Jack Rapillo missed the Sailors’ game with a foot injury and Brinkley said he’s unsure when the standout senior will return.
Rapillo starts at wide receiver and cornerback, as well as a return specialist. He has 14 catches for 161 yards and two touchdowns, and he’s returned two punts for touchdowns.
“It’s week to week right now and we’ll just see how it goes,” Brinkley said. “We got [our Sunset League opener against Fountain Valley] coming up in two weeks, so we’ll see where we’re at next week.”
— David Carrillo Peñaloza
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Estancia honored head referee Fran Ursini before the game. Ursini is in his 50th and final year as a high school football referee. He also is the founder of Newport Rib Company. Last week, he refereed the Battle of the Bay football game at Orange Coast College that CdM won, 24-3.
--- Matt Szabo
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CdM quarterback Chase Garbers carved up Tesoro’s secondary through the first three quarters, completing 13 of 18 passes for 218 yards and three touchdowns.
Tesoro, playing without its starting cornerbacks Tylon Freeman and Spencer Heinsius, used two offensive players, quarterback Devon Modster and wideout Carter Jaenichen, at cornerback in the fourth quarter to slow down the receivers who caught Garbers’ touchdowns. Peter Bush hauled in the first one, a 35-yarder in the first quarter, and Taeveon Le a 59-yarder in the second and a 21-yarder in the third.
After throwing 10 touchdowns without any interceptions in the first 17 quarters Garbers has played in this year, the junior threw two picks late in the fourth quarter against Tesoro.
The presence of Modster, a 6-foot-2, 215-pound Arizona commit, and Jaenichen made it difficult for Garbers to go to Bush and Le. Only Bush caught a pass in the fourth quarter, going for five yards, and Garbers never threw a touchdown in the fourth quarter.
— David Carrillo Peñaloza
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CdM Coach Dan O’Shea hopes the upcoming bye week helps his team recover from injuries affecting eight players.
O’Shea said middle linebacker Karl Donovan, wideouts Reece Perez and Billy Shaw, and offensive linemen Bryan Samudro and Jake Berkey sat out the final nonleague game with a variety of ailments The Sea Kings lost tailback Thomas Walker, cornerback Cameron Kormos and receiver Jack Blower to injuries against Tesoro.
“All will be healthy for the next game,” O’Shea said.
— David Carrillo Peñaloza