Prep football: Sailors roll

Barry Faulkner

ANAHEIM - Being in the zone took on double meaning Friday for the

Newport Harbor High football team, which dispatched host Kennedy, 49-10,

in the CIF Southern Section Division VI quarterfinals at Western High.

The Sailors utilized razor-sharp focus to out execute the Fighting

Irish, but also relied on ubiquitous zone pass coverage, blanketing the

field with six defenders to keep Kennedy’s potent passing game in check.

The victory, nearly as one-sided as last season’s 49-0 semifinal

triumph over Kennedy, propelled the fourth-seeded Sailors (10-2) to

Saturday’s semifinal against top-seeded La Mirada at Newport Harbor. The

Matadores (12-0) defeated Cypress, 41-8, Friday.

“The first thing we had to do, was slow them down,” Brinkley said of

Kennedy (8-4), which exploded for a 45-14 first-round win over Villa

Park. Irish quarterback Geoff Etherson came in with nearly 1,800 passing

yards and 15 touchdown passes, while junior wideout Rhema McKnight had 57

receptions for more than 1,100 yards and 15 TDs.

“Our plan was to detach (defenders) and make them run,” Brinkley said.

“Our defensive staff (led by coordinator Evan Chalmers) came up with a

good scheme and our kids executed it.”

The Sailors didn’t save all their crispness for defense, as senior

tailback Chris Manderino ran through holes and over defenders to key a

dominant ground game.

Manderino finished with 200 rushing yards and five touchdowns on 29

carries. He also set up two TDs with an interception and fumble recovery,

both during a span of 6:35 in which the Tars turned a 3-0 deficit into a

25-point lead.

Manderino, operating behind the offensive line of tackles Robert Chai

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

Marshall, had 124 yards in the first half. He then carried 10 times on

the first 13 Sailor plays after intermission, capping a pair of touchdown

drives that turned the final 16:40 into garbage time.

“My offensive line did the job,” said Manderino, who was also helped

by a precision performance from junior quarterback Morgan Craig.

Craig misfired on his first pass attempt, but connected on his final

seven, finishing with 62 passing yards. He also carried four times for 32

yards, all on bootlegs after faking to Manderino inside, keeping Kennedy

defenders honest.

Kennedy honestly couldn’t have expected such futility on offense,

having averaged nearly 28 points their first 11 games.

But cornerbacks Ryan Spruth and Brian Gaeta, safeties Dane Barton and

David Sprenger, outside linebackers Manderino and Andy Larkin, as well as

middle ‘backer Alan Saenz, left Etherson few lanes to deliver the ball

downfield.

“We just wanted to spread our defense out and cover the field,’ Spruth

said. “We sat in the zone and waited for them to come to us.”

With six and seven in coverage, the Tars had only one sack, a tag-team

effort by C.J. Collins and Joe Foley. But end Garrett Troncale batted

down two passes and end Ian Banigan chased down Etherson for a 1-yard

loss on a quarterback draw.

Etherson scrambled much of the evening, finishing with 16 yards on six

attempts. He had a handful of passes dropped, but could only muster 84

aerial yards.

McKnight finished with four catches for 20 yards, including a 10-yard

loss, when Gaeta poked the ball loose and Manderino recovered and

returned it to the Kennedy 1-yard line.

Kennedy senior tailback Kelvin Beatty collected 42 rushing yards on 12

carries and the Irish finished with 64 ground yards as a team.

Harbor’s defense forced four turnovers, including a Saenz interception

and fumble recovery, after Foley punched the ball free from Beatty in the

trenches.