TWO-MINUTE DRILL

Most Newport Harbor High football players didn’t realize until after the Sailors’ 16-3 nonleague win over visiting Aliso Niguel Thursday night that Coach Jeff Brinkley wasn’t on the sideline.

Newport Harbor defensive coordinator Tony Ciarelli, who assumed head coaching duties in Brinkley’s absence, had the players gather around him immediately following the win to inform them that Brinkley had been taken to Hoag Hospital at halftime while suffering from an irregular heart beat.

However, senior running back Ben Frazier, who finished with 103 rushing yards on 19 carries, knew something was afoot midway through the third quarter.

“I’d seen that Coach Brinkley wasn’t there, and I asked what happened, and someone said he just left because he wasn’t feeling well,” Frazier said. “I didn’t know the severity of what had happened. After they told us, I think everyone was pretty amazed, and pretty worried and curious as to how he was doing.”

• Sage Hill School is in the middle of a scheduling quirk that it plans to take full advantage of.

The Lightning have played two of their five straight home games to start the season. They go on the road to play Animo on Oct. 5 at Hawthorne High, then have a bye on Oct. 12. So, for the first seven weeks of the season, Sage Hill has just one road game.

Senior running back and linebacker Max Torres said he appreciates the chance to play in front of the Lightning faithful.

“It’s great,” Torres said. “I definitely like that. Most of the teams we play are kind of far away, so it’s better than having to drive far for those games.”

• Costa Mesa (0-2) played better defensively in Friday’s 26-0 loss to Rancho Alamitos, after a 62-7 loss to Savanna.

Juan Garces, a junior defensive tackle, played huge, recording three tackles for losses. The defense sacked quarterback Jason Willis four times and intercepted him once.

• The Lightning’s big lead against Midway Baptist gave some starters a chance to rest. Among them was senior quarterback Jamie McGee. McGee, who was 16 of 21 for 213 yards and three touchdowns in the first half. He attempted just two passes in the second half as freshman quarterback Colton Gyulay came on.

However, one of the two pass attempts in the second half was a 44-yard touchdown strike to Preston Oklejas, Oklejas’ second scoring grab of the game.

• Brian Waldron, a Costa Mesa sophomore, started for the first time at quarterback Friday, following in the footsteps of his older brother, Cody.

Cody started the last couple of years at Costa Mesa and is now at Brigham Young University, where Brian said Cody is trying to walk on to the football team.

Brian went five for 13 for 52 yards against Rancho Alamitos and Coach Jeremy Osso said he plans to start the 5-foot-8, 144-pounder at quarterback against Irvine (2-0) Friday. The offense totaled only 85 yards against Rancho Alamitos.

“[Brian Waldron] was really kind of our fifth-string quarterback,” said Osso, who started Brett Farthing in the season opener. “He’s a point guard in basketball. I always say he’s kind of like Steve Nash.”

• The Corona del Mar offensive line has allowed only one sack the first two weeks.

“They do a pretty good job,” Sea Kings Coach Dick Freeman said. “We had some OK rushing totals. It was a pretty good [El Toro] defensive line and for us to do anything, we needed to block pretty well.”

Freeman was particularly impressed with the performance of senior left tackle Max Prescott.

“He’s had two pretty good weeks in a row,” Freeman said.

• Osso said junior running back Antwon Byrd, who left the Rancho Alamitos game in the third quarter with a hip flexor problem, should be ready for Friday’s game.

“I guess he has had [the hip flexor] for awhile, and he’s never really talked to anybody about it,” Osso said of Byrd, who has 199 rushing yards this season.

• Estancia High senior quarterback Mike Morley connected with Ryan Redding for a 23-yard touchdown pass in the fourth quarter Thursday in the Eagles’ 13-6 nonleague at Bolsa Grande.

Morley has now thrown at least one TD pass in four straight games, dating back to last season. He has thrown a TD pass in 10 of his last 13.

• Long Beach Poly, ranked in four separate national polls heading into last week, lost, 20-7, to Birmingham.

Ciarelli and Newport Harbor offensive line coach Zach Biehl were in the San Fernando Valley scouting the game.

Ciarelli coached a game against Poly, ranked No. 6 in CIF Southern Section Pac-5 Division this week, when he was the head coach at Huntington Beach, and he was expecting more.

“I don’t think Long Beach played up to its potential,” he said. “[The Jackrabbits] looked a little flat to me.”

Still this week’s opponent is nothing to sneeze at.

“They’re very good,” Ciarelli said. “They’re not as fast as some other Poly teams they’ve had in the past, but they’re still fast compared to us. We’re going to have to play mistake-free football, and be in position, and make those secure tackles.”

• CdM senior running back Austin Raiger (6-foot, 195 pounds) made his debut for the Sea Kings against El Toro, rushing for 72 yards on eight carries Friday. Raiger transferred from Monte Vista (7-4 in 2006), but didn’t play last year. He just became eligible before the El Toro game, Freeman said.

“He’ll get to play more,” Freeman said. “He catches the ball pretty well out of the backfield.”

• CdM (1-1) will return to action Friday to face Troy (1-0), which beat Brea Olinda, 34-14, in its season opener. Troy is ranked No. 1 in the CIF Southeast Division, while CdM is ranked No. 9 in the Southern Division.

From staff reports