Prep football: Tars gain Santa Margarita transfer

NEWPORT BEACH - Scott Lopez, a 6-foot-2, 270-pound offensive

lineman who started at Santa Margarita High as a junior last fall, has

transferred to Newport Harbor, Sailors’ football coach Jeff Brinkley said

Monday.

Lopez, a Newport Beach resident whose older brother, Matt, also played at

Santa Margarita, began attending classes at Harbor Monday, the first day

of the spring semester.

“I understand he started most of the time at tackle, played some guard

and also played on goal-line defense,” said Brinkley, who projects the

newcomer as an offensive tackle for the reigning CIF Southern Section

Division VI and Sea View League champions.

“Obviously when you get a guy coming in who has had some experience

playing at a high level, it gives you what you need to compete in the Sea

View League,” Brinkley said. “He should be a nice addition for us,

particularly considering we lost five guys up front.”

Lopez’s arrival will allow Brinkley to shift one of his projected

offensive tackles, perhaps future junior Bryan Breland, to guard.

“I talked to (Santa Margarita Coach Jim Hartigan) and he told me (Lopez)

had good feet and that he was a player,” Brinkley said.

Lopez helped the Eagles, Harbor’s former Sea View rivals who debuted in

the all-parochial Serra League last fall, advance to the CIF Division I

playoffs. They lost in the first round to A.B. Miller to finish 6-5.

-- by Barry Faulkner