Prep football: Back for seconds

Barry Faulkner

LONG BEACH - It was, of course, fitting that players from Newport

Harbor and Irvine high schools had seconds Monday at the annual football

press conference and luncheon, which kicks off championship week in 13

CIF Southern Section Divisions.

The two schools, after all, will meet for the second straight season

in the CIF Division VI championship game, Friday at 7:30 p.m. at Orange

Coast College.

Newport Harbor won last year’s title clash, 19-18, and enters its

fifth section final in nine seasons with an 11-2 record as the No. 4

seed. The Sailors, who also won a section crown in 1994 by defeating

Servite, 20-15, at OCC, are the designated home team.

No. 2-seeded Irvine (13-0 for the first time in school history) won

the first meeting with Newport this season, 19-14, to open Sea View

League play Oct. 13 at Irvine. The Vaqueros played for four section

titles in the 1990s, winning their first three consecutively (1991-93,

all at OCC).

Newport Harbor Coach Jeff Brinkley was accompanied by senior captains

Chris Manderino, a star tailback and outside linebacker, All-CIF middle

linebacker Alan Saenz and defensive end Garrett Troncale at the affair,

which hosts players and coaches from all division finalists.

Irvine Coach Terry Henigan brought along quarterback Travis Otott,

running back Peter Abe, defensive end Brian Porteous and safety Joe

Bollard.

Saenz and Troncale wore their 1999 championship rings, but both teams

took care not to provide any bulletin board material for what is becoming

one of Orange County’s most competitive rivalries.

“It’s going to be an interesting game,” said Manderino, whose shift

from quarterback, where he started during last year’s title run, to

tailback this fall has been a catalyst for the Sailors’ return to the

final.

“We’re just happy to be here,” said Henigan, whose 20-year career at

Irvine includes a 30-8 Division IV title-game triumph over Newport Harbor

in 1992.

Abe, who was helped off the field in the first quarter with an

apparent left knee injury and did not return in the Vaqs’ 23-6 semifinal

win over Tustin Friday, limped slightly Monday. But Henigan said the

team’s leading rusher (806 yards and 11 touchdowns on 129 carries) should

be fine by kickoff.

Troncale, who was also sidelined early in the Sailors’ 35-16 semifinal

win Saturday over top-seeded and previously unbeaten La Mirada, said he

plans to play on a gimpy ankle that had caused him to miss three

regular-season games.

Henigan said Irvine will likely be without starting defensive tackle

Richard Ahn, a 5-foot-9, 240-pound senior who hurt his left shoulder in

the first half against Tustin.

Otherwise, both teams will be at full strength, supremely motivated

and largely unaffected by the media hype that envelops Week 14.

“Having gone through the experience last year will help me be more

poised Friday night,” said Manderino, a punishing 6-1, 205-pound rushing

machine, who has amassed 2,068 yards and 31 touchdowns this fall, the

latter a Newport-Mesa District single-season record. “I want to take it

all in and make it memorable.”

Porteous, one of seven Vaqueros who started last year’s title contest

and a talented member of the county’s stingiest defense (90 points

allowed all year), said his team takes no special motivation, having lost

last year’s championship game.

“We try not to think about last year too much,” said Porteous, whose

97 tackles rank second on the team to inside linebacker Andy Howe’s 106.

“It’s two good football teams and we had a very good game already this

year,” Porteous said. “But that’s over, too.”

Orange Lutheran Coach Jim Kunau, whose Lancers will face St.

Bonaventure in the Division XI final, was asked about the Newport-Irvine

showdown, since he played both in the preseason.

“Irvine (which beat Orange Lutheran, 55-14 in Week 3) started out as a

great team and has remained a great team,” Kunau said.

“Newport (which topped the Lancers, 14-7 in the season opener) started

out as a very good team, but has become great.”

Kunau praised both teams’ coaching staffs and the class with which

both programs are known. He said if there was a difference between the

two, it would be Irvine’s edge in team speed.

“We’re excited both teams are in the finals,” Kunau said. “We were

rooting for both of them.”