Daily Pilot Football Player of the Week, Brian Gaeta: The plot

thickens

Barry Faulkner

The script Brain Gaeta has written to his prep athletic career thus

far, is nothing like the first draft. But, with the closing credits still

19 months away, the Newport Harbor High junior wouldn’t take back any

revisions.

The curtain opened at Edison High, a school the Huntington Beach

resident chose because of his desire to play football for Coach Dave

White.

He was a standout quarterback on the freshman football team, then

started on the varsity level in soccer and volleyball.

Competing for the Surf City Volleyball Club that summer, he helped key

a run to the 14-and-under junior national title, and, suddenly,

volleyball jumped up his list of priorities.

“I fell in love with volleyball and I was getting pretty good at it,”

Gaeta explained. “So, I decided to transfer to Harbor (where his father,

Lee, is an assistant principal), to play for Coach Dan Glenn.”

Before he helped the Sailors to the CIF Southern Section Division I

volleyball title match last spring, he opened his first varsity football

season as the Sailors’ starting quarterback.

He was displaced by eventual Newport-Mesa District MVP Chris

Manderino, but wound up contributing as the place-kicker, drilling a pair

of field goals in a 19-18 CIF Division VI title-game triumph over Irvine.

He took the soccer season off, sparkled in volleyball, then committed

himself to playing wide receiver and cornerback, positions at which he

has started all fall.

“I wanted to play and I fell in love with receiver,” said the

6-foot-2, 180-pound leading man, who has joined Manderino as the lone

two-way starters on this year’s 9-2 squad. The Sailors meet Kennedy in

the Division VI quarterfinals Friday at Western High.

Gaeta caught four passes for 42 yards, including a 9-yard touchdown,

and also returned an interception 18 yards for a TD in the Tars’ 41-7

first-round win over Westminster Friday.

The Daily Pilot Player of the Week leads Harbor in receptions (45),

receiving yards (590), TD catches (four) and interceptions (five).

“He’s one of our best athletes and he’s become a very good football

player,” Coach Jeff Brinkley said. “The best thing about him, is his work

ethic. He’s very competitive and he goes full bore in everything he does.

He’s also become a good leader for us, even though he’s a junior.”

His football success, which Gaeta didn’t anticipate this quickly, has

helped shift his focus back to the gridiron.

“A real serious goal for me, now, is to get to college and play as a

possession receiver,” Gaeta said. “I still love volleyball and I haven’t

let go of soccer. But, there aren’t too many college volleyball players

who are 6-2.”

While the term “possession receiver” is often synonymous with lack of

speed, Gaeta is hardly slow. Still, he admits, his ability to

consistently make plays stems from his route-running precision and his

uncommon ability to go get the ball.

Whether laying out horizontally or leaping vertically, Gaeta has shown

a knack for making improbable catches this season.

“He understands the concepts of route-running and he goes after the

ball,” Brinkley said. “He’s made some catches with guys draped all over

him and he’s made some just beating guys to the ball.”

Gaeta’s 45 catches rank 10th on the Sailors’ all-time single-season

list. And, having attended Newport games since the early 1990s, he has a

thorough appreciation for the program’s esteemed recent history.

“I’ve always loved the Navy and White,” he said. “It’s only my third

year playing football, but I’ve always wanted to play. I’m still learning

a lot about the game. I never expected to have a year like I’m having

this year. I thought that would come next year. But, I’ve worked hard to

develop the timing with our quarterback (junior Morgan Craig), and we’ve

been able to establish a passing game this year.”

Gaeta has also established himself as another in the long line of

multiple-sport Sailor standouts. A happy ending, at this point, seems oh,

so predictable.