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Football: Norris thrives in spotlight for Sailors

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By one football season, Jeff Brinkley missed coaching Shane Foley at Newport Harbor High.

Brinkley took over the reins of the Sailors in 1986. The season before, Foley capped a magical career throwing the ball.

Twenty-nine years ago, Brinkley said he watched Foley play. Foley was on his way to passing for 5,364 yards, an Orange County career record at the time. Brinkley coached at Norwalk back then, and his good friend, Eric Tweit, was at Newport Harbor. Through Tweit, Brinkley heard the buzz about Foley and his rocket of an arm.

Brinkley wound up scouting a Newport Harbor game in 1985 because Norwalk and the Sailors played in the CIF Southern Section Central Conference. Perhaps the two teams might meet in the playoffs. It never happened.

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Since that 1985 season, the only Newport Harbor quarterback Brinkley has crossed paths with that he can draw comparisons to Foley’s arm is his current signal caller. Cole Norris lacks Foley’s 6-foot-2 height. On a good day, Norris is close to 6 feet.

While Norris isn’t as tall as Foley, he can say he has surpassed Foley in terms of career passing yards. The senior broke Foley’s Newport Harbor career record last week, throwing for 265 yards to give Norris 5,579 yards.

The record that means more to Norris is the team’s this season. Newport Harbor (2-3) enters Friday’s Sunset League opener at home against Huntington Beach (1-4) at 7 p.m. with some momentum.

In a nonleague finale last week, Norris threw for four touchdowns, leading the Sailors to a 41-22 win at Manhattan Beach Mira Costa. Newport Harbor broke a three-game losing streak, the program’s longest in 11 years.

Stopping the skid was important for Norris. History at Newport Harbor says whenever it drops three straight under Brinkley, which has only happened four times during his 29 years, it has failed to make the postseason three times.

Norris and the Sailors plan to return to the playoffs, a year after reaching the CIF Southern Section Southwest Division final. The team that defeated Newport Harbor, 42-28, in last year’s championship game at Angel Stadium is Huntington Beach.

The Oilers knocked off the Sailors twice last season. The first setback came in the Sunset League finale, costing Newport Harbor a share of the league title and allowing fifth-place Huntington Beach to sneak into the playoffs as an at-large entry.

“That game got away from us,” Norris said of the last league game at Huntington Beach. “I think our minds weren’t right going into it. We kind of figured it would be easier than it was, but Huntington came out to play and [it] beat our butts, [40-14].

“If we would’ve won that game, they wouldn’t even have made playoffs. They win the game, they make playoffs, they go on a great [playoff] run, and they end up beating us in the championship. It stings. I kind of like it, though, because going into this game this week, it gives us a little chip on our shoulders and [we] want to get some revenge on these guys.”

Missing out on two titles in the same season because of Huntington Beach only fuels the Sailors to go out this year and beat the Oilers.

Norris said he is up for the challenge. He is performing at a high level, completing 93 of 137 passes for 1,157 yards and 14 touchdowns, with only three interceptions. Midway through the regular season, he’s on pace to break Newport Harbor’s single-season touchdown mark of 27 set by Norris last year.

Norris has a ways to go to take down another of Foley’s old records at Newport Harbor. Foley passed for 3,057 yards as a senior in 1985, earning him the CIF Southern Section Central Conference Player of the Year award after the Sailors reached the semifinals.

Playing 14 games for the second straight year looks as Norris’ best option to overtake Foley again. He came close as a junior, throwing for 2,959 yards.

Foley is rooting for Norris, and following him through social media. In mid-August, before the Sailors’ season opener, Foley replied to a tweet mentioning Norris and his pursuit of Foley’s career passing yards record.

“Records made 2 b broken!” read Foley’s tweet, which meant a lot to Norris, who around the same time made a verbal commitment to the Northern Arizona University football program.

Other than Northern Arizona, an NCAA Football Championship Subdivision program, no other school has offered Norris a chance to play on the next level. The reason why doesn’t surprise Brinkley, even though Norris has posted gaudy numbers (5,579 yards and 57 touchdowns, with only 17 interceptions) against tough competition during his three years as a starter.

“In terms of pure thrower, he’s got the strongest arm,” Brinkley said of Norris, adding that he stacks up the best to Foley of all the quarterbacks that have played for Newport Harbor under his watch. “[Foley] was very good. He was a drop-back guy. He got a full ride to USC.

“A lot people in the Pac-12 [Conference], especially, and the bigger conferences, they’re looking for guys that are 6-4, 6-5. The [lack of] length obviously hurts [Norris]. I don’t think it matters personally. I just think guys that can make plays and throw [the ball], and run around, it doesn’t matter how tall you are. But I know that there are schools that are out there that they don’t even want to talk to a [short quarterback]. Recruiters don’t even take back a name of a guy unless he’s 6-4, because the head coach doesn’t want them. They want the bigger kids.”

Brinkley likes his chances to win with Norris. He gave Norris a shot two years ago, when Zach Wade, the starting quarterback went down with an injury.

In the third game of Norris’ sophomore season, Brinkley started Norris for the first time on varsity. He proved he can handle the big stage, throwing a game-winning 22-yard touchdown on a fourth-and-goal pass in the waning seconds of the Battle of the Bay rivalry game against Corona del Mar.

With Norris at quarterback, the Sailors advanced to the quarterfinals for the first time in five years. A year later, they qualified for a section final for the first time in eight years. Along the way, Norris has been the quarterback when Brinkley reached two coaching milestones, his 250th career win last year, and his 230th win in charge of Newport Harbor last week.

“He’s had such a great career here and success at Newport Harbor,” Norris said of Brinkley, who coached at two schools in Norwalk for eight years, before coming to Newport Harbor. “It just shows that even though he’s in his 29th year [with the Sailors], he still finds a way to win. He’s got a great philosophy in coaching.

“He hasn’t [told us when he’s going to retire] at all, and I like it that way, rather than letting us know what his feelings are toward [retirement]. He might be [62]. He still looks like he’s … 50. He’s still moving around, fired up every day like it’s his first year here. I love that.”

Cole Norris

Born: May 12, 1997

Hometown: Newport Beach

Height: 6-foot

Weight: 195 pounds

Sport: Football

Year: Senior

Coach: Jeff Brinkley

Favorite food: Chipotle burrito

Favorite movie: “Glory Road”

Favorite athletic moment: “[The Battle of the Bay game against] CdM two years ago, winning on the last play [by] [throwing a touchdown] on fourth-and-22.”

Week in review: Norris became the Sailors’ all-time passing yards leader, breaking Shane Foley’s mark of 5,364 yards. Norris has thrown for 5,579 yards, 265 coming in a 41-22 win at Manhattan Beach Mira Costa. He completed 21 of 28 passes and four touchdowns, with one interception.

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