CdM streaking into league debut

The football teams at Corona del Mar High and Estancia extended winning streaks to three Friday night, while Newport Harbor averted what would have been the third three-game losing streak in Coach Jeff Brinkley’s 21 seasons at the helm with a surprisingly dominant victory.

The timing could not be better for CdM and Newport Harbor, who open their respective league seasons this week.

Sage Hill, which lost for the third straight game, will attempt to turn things around in it’s Academy League opener Friday.

Costa Mesa, which fell to 1-5 with its loss Friday, will try to regroup during its bye week, while Estancia, 5-1 for the first time since 1996, gets its final Orange Coast League tuneup Friday.

Here’s how Newport-Mesa programs viewed Week 5:

But Freeman, whose team (4-2) has clearly become a Pacific Coast League title contender, can’t be accused of over-analysis.

When asked how his undersized defense endured 85 offensive plays run by Villa Park, to just 34 plays run by the Sea Kings — which resulted in CdM possessing the ball for only 12:59 of the 48-minute contest — Freeman didn’t hesitate.

“I don’t know,” he said.

Though small, the Sea Kings defenders were clearly mighty. They not only held up to the physical demands placed on them by a bigger Villa Park team, the Sea Kings actually caused four Spartan starters to be removed from the game due to injuries.

The Sea Kings’ victory came despite the absence of productive senior quarterback Taylor Hughes, who sat out to rest a sore throwing shoulder that has sidelined him for two straight games.

Hunter Alder stepped in for Hughes on offense and threw the game-winning touchdown pass — an 82-yard pitch and catch to Steven Hillgren — one play after linebacker Tom Folks helped stuff a sweep for no gain on fourth-and-one with 5:19 left and Villa Park leading, 10-7.

Folks recovered a fumble at the CdM 36-yard line to halt Villa Park’s next possession and Erik Rask broke a 53-yard touchdown run to seal the victory.

Freeman credited his defense for “hanging in there,” against the Spartans.

The Sea Kings’ ability to persevere may be credited to Freeman’s emphasis on conditioning.

“We’ve been in pretty good shape the last couple seasons,” said Freeman, who admits trying to find an edge anywhere he can, since his teams usually give away the size advantage.

In addition to running hard during weekday practices, Freeman said his players also get a good workout on Saturdays.

“We run for an hour and we lift for an hour,” Freeman said of the Saturday routine, which is atypical. Most programs bring players in to stretch and, perhaps, stride through some half-speed running in order to loosen up soreness still lingering from game night.

Freeman said Hughes, who threw for 889 yards and eight touchdowns the first four games, has full range of motion with no pain, but, was less than 100% warming up before the game.

“He is still improving,” Freeman said. “But we don’t know yet about [his availability] this week, either.”

The Sea Kings begin play in the newly configured Pacific Coast League Thursday, when they play host to Beckman (5-1) at Newport Harbor.

The result was a 24-0 Newport Harbor triumph, the Tars’ third shutout of the season.

“It was good to go out and put the whole thing together,” Brinkley said. “We played the way we have been, defensively, and offensively, we didn’t turn the ball over.”

Newport Harbor (3-2) had nine combined turnovers in close losses to CdM (14-6 on Sept. 21) and Dana Hills (19-10 on Sept. 28).

The Sailors had no turnovers against Mira Costa (4-2), while the Newport defense recovered one fumble and intercepted one pass.

“I thought we were going to play well, because we had a good, physical week of practice,” Brinkley said.

The win was encouraging, Brinkley said, especially due to the strength of the opponent.

“That might have been the best team we played all preseason,” Brinkley said. “Someone told me they had not been shut out since 1998.”

Senior Kevin Williams went most of the way at quarterback. He completed 10 of 17 for 177 yards and two touchdowns, without an interception.

Williams had been splitting time equally with senior Stephen Peterson.

Brinkley said the quarterback job could still be up for grabs, and that he still has confidence in both candidates. But, he said, rather than alternating quarters, he may start one player and not make a change, until the one playing isn’t doing the job.

Doing the job has become expected of a defense that yielded just 31 rushing yards, 129 yards of total offense.

The Sailors are now allowing an average of just more than 70 rushing yards per game and have yielded only three touchdowns.

The Sailors played without starting receiver and cornerback Jarrett Daniel, who had a toe problem, Brinkley said.

Brinkley praised the play of sophomore Coby Peterson (two receptions, including a 20-yard touchdown) and J.B. Green, who filled in for Daniel, an All-CIF Southern Section Division VI performer as a junior.

The Sailors open Sunset League play Friday at home against Esperanza (5-0), ranked No. 5 in the CIF Pac-5 Division.

Coach Brian Barnes would prefer his players shut the alarm off, so as not to have to deal with any recurrence.

Estancia, which trailed against JSerra and was tied with La Quinta, before recording nonleague wins, saw Ocean View score first in the Eagles’ 35-7 nonleague triumph Friday.

“I don’t know how to explain it,” Barnes said of the slow starts in recent weeks. “But we definitely want to change that.”

Still, with five wins, more than double the total achieved in 2005, his first season at the helm, Barnes isn’t about to quibble.

“We’re improving each week and I’m pleased with our effort,” Barnes said.

Barnes did, however, trace the poor start against Ocean View to a less-than-stellar week of practice.

“We ended up doing a little more conditioning than we wanted to last week, so the kids may have been tired,” Barnes said. “The kids may have needed a little wake-up call and when Ocean View scored on the second play of the game, it woke our kids up.”

The Eagles’ continue to work toward Orange Coast League play when they play host to West Ranch (3-2) in a nonleague game Friday at Orange Coast College.

Coach Jeremy Osso, who prevented two additional players from starting due to unspecified violations, said he was not trying to make an example of the offending players.

But he was, perhaps, trying to send a message.

“It’s not just about football, it’s about life,” Osso said. “There are rules you have to adhere to. I think any time a new coach comes in, players will test the waters to see what they can get away with. This is a matter of being consistent. If you break a rule, there are consequences. Hopefully, our kids learned a life lesson.”

The Mustangs enjoy a bye this week.

They will meet Cerritos Oct. 20 in their final nonleague game.

“For what we had going in, I could not have asked for more,” said Monarch, referring to a string of injuries that has created widespread havoc on the depth chart.

“We had about six or seven kids playing of of position due to injuries,” Monarch said.

The Lightning (2-3) played without starting quarterback Jamie McGee (shoulder injury) and junior two-way standout Tom Multari (mandatory one-game suspension after being ejected in the previous game), among others.

Sage Hill will have Multari and possibly McGee back for Friday’s Academy League opener at home against Linfield Christian (1-5).

“We might be able to go with plan A, B, and C, as opposed to D, E, and F,” Monarch said of the expected return of several injured players.