Prep football: Sailors add some seasoning

Barry Faulkner

NEWPORT BEACH - While college football programs routinely utilize a

redshirt year to squeeze an extra 12 months of experience and maturation

out of their athletes, the Newport Harbor High Sailors do the same by

merely winning in November.

Coach Jeff Brinkley’s squad (9-1-1) insured yet another Thanksgiving

Day practice, which comes with advancing to the CIF Southern Section

quarterfinals, with a 49-0 CIF Division VI first-round romp over Ocean

View Friday night.

The win, which tied the Tars’ record for margin of victory in the

playoffs, created an opportunity to play beyond Thanksgiving for the 11th

time in the last 15 seasons.

And while the extended postseason run serves to extend the prep

careers of Sailor seniors, it also provides those who will return with

valuable time to hone their game, or experience for the first time the

intensity that goes with the postseason.

“It is a big deal,” said Brinkley, who points out most of this year’s

seniors will prepare this week for their 40th varsity game, as the No.

3-seeded Sailors ready themselves to meet visiting Cerritos (9-1) in

Friday’s 7 p.m. quarterfinal.

“That’s 10 games in the playoffs (the last three years), which is like

an extra season for some of our seniors,” Brinkley said.

“There’s something to be said for experience. Our veteran guys know

the level of commitment it takes to win and to get to this point in the

season. It’s a nice thing to have that experience and our younger guys

can look to (the seniors) to see the kind of intensity these guys carry

through the week.”

Sophomores and juniors typically relegated to playing in the junior

varsity games, got plenty of action under the lights Friday.

After the Sailors padded a 35-0 halftime lead by scoring three plays

into the third quarter, Brinkley and his staff used the rest of the

second half to virtually empty the bench.

The Sailors also took the opportunity to introduce freshmen standouts

Spencer Link and Casey Peters, summoned after leading their squad to the

school’s first freshman league title since 1984, to the varsity

environment.

“(Varsity) is a lot different than the freshman level and it was a

good chance to get those guys in there to experience that,” Brinkley

said. “It’s a lot faster and a lot more intense.”

Peters guided the offense for three series, including a nine-play

touchdown drive that finalized the scoring. Link, inserted in the fourth

quarter, carried five times for 65 yards, including 56 yards on four

attempts to spearhead the final 61-yard TD drive.

Brinkley used last postseason to indoctrinate then-freshman Matt

Encinias, who has started most of the season at outside linebacker this

fall. Encinias, who returned kickoffs during last year’s run to the

Division VI title game, became the first freshman in Brinkley’s 16

seasons at Harbor to compete on the varsity level.

“I definitely could see with Matt that he was much more comfortable

starting this year, having had that varsity experience from last year,”

Brinkley said. “But it’s more than just playing in games. It’s

experiencing the whole thing, the meetings, the practices, the

preparation, just being around the guys.”

Brinkley noted all but one of the eight ball carriers against Ocean

View will be around at least one more season.

Juniors Dartangan Johnson (239 yards and five TDs) and Rhett

Hartsfield (64 yards and one TD), Link, as well as sophomore Brian Campos

(15 yards and a TD) helped the Tars amass a season-high 425 rushing yards

against the Seahawks. It was the most rushing yards in 34 games for the

Sailors, who produced 460 in Week 5 of the 1999 season against Magnolia.

In addition of fine offensive line play and more dominance by the

defense, Brinkley said a key against Ocean View was an exceptional week

of practice.

“We were very focused and I had a good feeling coming in, because we’d

had a real good couple days of practice,” Brinkley said.

“But the way I look at it, that was round one and we advanced and

that’s done. Now, it’s a matter of what’s on the horizon.”