Prep football: Irish hopes to change its luck

Barry Faulkner

ANAHEIM - Maybe it figures that Newport Beach, a republican

stronghold and bastion of USC supporters, has been the site of so much

misery for a football team from a school named after a famous democrat

and nicknamed the Fighting Irish.

Kennedy High Coach Mitch Olson has surely crossed this seaside

community off his list of favorite places, after seeing his team’s last

three postseasons end at Newport Harbor’s Davidson Field.

But, though the Empire League runner-up finds itself, once again, the

underdog to Newport in Friday’s 7:30 p.m. CIF Southern Section Division

VI quarterfinal, at least Kennedy (8-3) gets the No. 4-seeded Sailors

(9-2) on its home turf at Western High.

Harbor, the defending Division VI champion, eliminated Kennedy in last

year’s semifinals, 49-0, and also punched the Irish’s playoff ticket with

a 38-28 Division V quarterfinal triumph in 1997. Adding insult to history

was Kennedy’s 28-0 Division V quarterfinal loss to Corona del Mar at

Newport Harbor in 1995.

But Harbor Coach Jeff Brinkley expects a much tougher fight from the

Irish this time around.

“We hit on all cylinders last year and everything went our way,”

Brinkley said. “But the time before (‘97) was a dogfight, so I anticipate

this will be a really tough game. Kennedy might be the most athletic team

we’ve faced this year and their players are probably chomping at the bit

to get another shot at us after last year.”

Among those in probable revenge mode are Kennedy skill-position

veterans with some impressive statistics.

Senior quarterback Geoff Etherson has thrown for 1,769 yards and 15

touchdowns (125 of 218 with 12 interceptions). Including last season,

when he earned second-team all-league honors, he has thrown for 3,460

yards and 25 TDs. He was 13 of 33 for 156 yards with three interceptions

against the Tars last season.

Senior running back Kelvin Beatty, another second-team all-leaguer

last year, has rushed for 1,093 yards and scored 18 TDs this fall. His

two-year totals are 2,285 yards and 34 TDs, though he collected just 47

yards on nine carries against Harbor last fall. Beatty had four TDs in a

surprisingly one-sided 45-14 first-round victory over Villa Park last

week.

Etherson, who operates behind an offensive line with no returning

starters, utilizes receivers Rhema McKnight and Jaiya Howze.

McKnight, a junior, has 57 receptions for 1,123 yards (nearly 20 yards

per catch) and has scored 15 TDs.

Howze, a senior who was a first-team All-Empire defensive back as a

junior, has 42 catches for 354 yards.

McKnight and Howze combined for 10 catches and 100 yards in last

year’s semifinal.

“They’re going to spread you out and throw the ball all over,”

Brinkley said. “They try to stretch the field and if you only have five

in the box, they’ll run.”

Yards have come more easily through the air than on the ground against

a Harbor defense keyed by senior All-CIF middle linebacker Alan Saenz.

Harbor, which has given up more than two touchdowns only twice this

season, is yielding just 12.3 points per contest. The Tars, who also rely

on senior ends Ian Banigan and Garrett Troncale (nine sacks apiece),

senior linebackers Chris Manderino and Andy Rankin, and a strong

secondary anchored by junior corner Brian Gaeta (five interceptions),

have given up just less than 90 rushing yards per game, nearly 106 via

the pass. The Tars are also plus 12 in turnover ratio.

Kennedy’s defense, which utilizes an attacking four-four scheme, has

posted two shutouts and limited a Villa Park team that finished the

regular season with the fourth-best point total in Orange County (342),

last week.

The Irish, however, will be challenged by an increasingly balanced

Sailor offense.

Newport’s No. 1 option is, well, Manderino, who wears jersey No. 1.

The 6-foot-1, 205-pound senior tailback, the Newport-Mesa District MVP

last fall, has rushed for 1,597 yards and scored 24 TDs. In nine starts

at tailback -- he opened the season as the returning stater at

quarterback -- he has surpassed the 100-yard mark each time. Only Andre

Stewart (13) and Wade Tift (12) have compiled more triple-figure outputs

in Harbor’s 70-season history.

Manderino has also creeped up on the school’s all-time list for

single-season rushing yards (fourth), single-season TDs (fourth) and

career rushing yards (sixth).

Manderino’s ground success has been paved by offensive tackles Robert

Chai and Scott Lopez, guards Jim Erickson and Bryan Breland, center Jeff

Marshall, tight end Joe Foley and fullback Travis Trimble.

The Sailors have been improving through the air, throwing for more

than 100 yards each of the last three games, a feat they achieved only

three times the first eight contests. Harbor’s 428 aerial yards the last

three games represent more than 38% of its season total (1,116).

Junior quarterback Morgan Craig has continued to mature in his nine

varsity starts. He has completed nearly 60% (80 of 134) with a solid 7-3

touchdown-interception ratio.

Gaeta leads the receiving corps with 45 catches for 590 yards and four

TDs.

Junior Jon Vandersloot, who made his starting debut last week in place

of Mitch Gray (broken collarbone), has 10 catches for 136 yards.

In addition to their sixth semifinal appearance in the last nine

years, the Sailors, with four title-game appearances and two titles in

that span, are gunning for their most wins in back-to-back seasons. A

victory would give them 23 the last two falls, bettering the 22 earned by

the 1996-97 teams.

The Sailors are 21-8 in the playoffs under Brinkley, 17-4 since 1992.

They are also 30-1-1 in their last 32 games not involving Sea View League

competition.

Friday’s winner will advance to meet either top-seeded La Mirada or

Cypress in the semifinals. La Mirada (11-0) hosts Cypress (10-1) Friday.