Time for a pep rally

Mond= ay, August 31st, 2009

The Newport Harbor High football program is kicking off their season with a good old-fashioned = pep rally Wednesday at 6 p.m. at the Sailors’ gym.

The rally will include the 2009 Sailors’ football team, as well as coaches, the school band and cheerleaders. Newport Harbor’s football program is also inviting the community. There will be food and raffles for prizes.

The Sailors will scrimmage against Troy Friday at 3 p.m. at Davidson Fie= ld. Newport Harbor opens the season at Aliso Niguel, Sept. 11 at 7 p.m.

Whiteside TarsR= 17; bright side

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Cal-bound senior to be used in many ways as Newport Harbor t= ries to push Brinkley past 200 career victory mark.

By David Carrillo Peñaloza

Updated: Friday, August 28, 2009 1:= 08 AM PDT

Jeff Brinkley enters his 24th season at Newport Harbor High = four wins shy of No. 200.

Despite being close to the milestone, expectations are the same as in years past.

Compete for a league championship. Enter the playoffs. Make a run at the ti= tle.

The Sailors accomplished one of the three last seasons. Their reward for claiming a share of the Sunset League title prevented them from pursuing the other two goals.

Five teams went 3-2 and shared the league crown. Only three advanced to the= CIF Southern Section Pac-5 Division playoffs. Newport Harbor stayed home after a sportswriter randomly picked three schools out of a wooden bucket.

Newport Harbor was not one of the three.

The road back to contending for another league championship will be dauntin= g. The Sailors lost one of their better teams during Brinkley’s tenure.<= br>
This year’s squad is young. Four starters return on offense and three= on defense.

Newport Harbor arguably has the best player in Orange County in UC Berkeley-bound inside linebacker Cecil Whiteside. Brinkley plans to use the 6-foot-2, 222-pound senior in a variety of positions, wide receiver, running back and kick returner.

As to where the team is before the season, the Sailors are no longer senior-laden.

“We have to get some quick maturity out of our younger guys,” Brinkley said. “They’re going to have to figure varsity football out in a hurry.

“They’ve proved they can play at a lower level, but the game ju= st becomes faster and more complex each level that you go [up].”

Newport Harbor starts the season with a nonleague game at Aliso Niguel on S= ept. 11.

Here’s a position-by-position look at the Sailors.

Quarterback: Junior Austin Rios and sophomore Cole Blower are compet= ing for the starting job in which Andrew McDonald excelled last season.

McDonald led the Sailors to a 7-3 record and three straight league victories down the stretch. McDonald threw for 3,207 career yards, ranking him fourth all-time at Newport Harbor.

“We believe in competition and the best guy is going to play,” = said Brinkley, who’s confident in either Rios or Blower, even though Rios rarely played last year on varsity and Blower was a lower-level player. “They’re system guys. We run the same [West Coast] system all t= he way up. By the time you get your chance to be the quarterback, you’re pretty well-schooled in what we’re doing.”

Brinkley said Rios, a 6-3, 175-pounder, holds a slight edge over Blower.

“Mentally, he might,” Brinkley said. “Blower is a little = more athletic, a little more [of a] pure athlete.”

Whoever starts, look for the quarterback to throw to Whiteside often and ha= nd him the ball occasionally.

Running backs: Whiteside will see some time in the backfield because Brinkley said he’s the team’s playmaker this year.

Senior Gabe Gomez will start and share carries with junior Drew Diller. The= two are different, the 5-11, 194-pound Gomez is more physical and the 6-1, 190-pound Diller is a slasher.

Blocking at fullback will be Ryan Andrews, a 6-1, 224-pound junior. He star= ted last year after Brandon Kula tore his hamstring as a senior.

“It was a really good thing in terms of him getting playing time and experience,” Brinkley said. “Kula would’ve been more tale= nted at fullback. On the bright side of it, it gave Andrews that year of experience.”

Receivers: Whiteside takes over as the top threat after JB Green graduated. Green shared the league’s co-offensive back of the year ho= nor.

Whiteside might wind up with a better season because he’s the No. 1 option. He finished with 33 catches for 429 yards and seven touchdowns last year.

Joining Whiteside at receiver are junior Parker Norton, sophomore Buzzy Yokoyama and junior Kellon Truxton.

“[Yokoyama] is probably the most elusive guy we have,” Brinkley said. “If you give him the ball in open space, he’s probably the toughest guy to bring down.

“All these guys are young, with the exception of Cecil.”

Tight end: Ryan Iverson is the starter and backing up the senior is sophomore Vince Aqueveque.

“He’s going to be a good one someday,” Brinkley said of t= he 6-foot, 200-pound Aqueveque.

Offensive line: The left side features experience with senior tackle Jake Taylor (6-0, 261) and senior guard Brandon Coffey (6-1, 220).

Sophomore Conner Miki (5-9, 230) is the center.

“He’s a little bit undersized in terms of length,” Brinkl= ey said. “He’s a good center, who has some leverage and good feet.”

Senior Jake Palanjian (5-11, 224) is the right guard and junior Dillon Gill= ette (6-2, 220) the right tackle.

Defensive line: The line is stacked with senior Zack Moghaddam and junior JB Salem.

“[Moghaddam] is our strongest kid,” Brinkley said. “[Salem’s] got a big upside to him because he played all last y= ear as a 10th grader.”

Gillette and Coffey will see action on the line as well.

Linebackers: Last year’s linebacker group in the 3-4 defense proved to be one of the toughest in the county.

Three of the four graduated after playing a vital role in limiting opponent= s to 14.4 points per game in league play.

The one player returning is Whiteside, the Newport-Mesa Dream Team Defensive Player of the Year the past two seasons. He moves from outside to inside ’backer.

Whiteside recorded 55 tackles and led the team with six sacks and eight hur= ries last year.

Andrews starts inside while Iverson and sophomore Grant Frazier are the out= side linebackers.

Secondary: The cornerbacks last year turned into two of the finest Brinkley’s coached in a long time. Green and Danny Miller are gone.
Gomez and Norton take their spots.

At free safety, senior Cody Campbell moves up from junior varsity, where he= led the team in interceptions. Yokoyama is the strong safety, a new position for the hard-hitting tackler.

Yokoyama played outside linebacker on the lower-level team. This is a big question mark for the Sailors after Michael Helfrich performed well last ye= ar at the position.

Special teams: Senior Dillan Freiberg will try to remain perfect kic= king extra points.

Freiberg has converted 54 straight extra-point kicks, four shy of tying the county record. He made 38 of 38 last year, and was five for six on field-go= al tries.

“He’s the guy who will kick beyond this level,” Brinkley = said of Freiberg, who is getting interest from Cal Poly San Luis Obispo. “= The good selling point for him is whoever gets him gets two for one because he = can punt and kick.”

Freiberg averaged 37.8 yards per punt last year and pinned opponents inside their 20-yard line 10 times.

On kick returns, Whiteside is going to get a shot. Gomez will be back there= as well, and returning punts is Norton.

The Sailors’ special teams are look strong again. Iverson is the long-snapper.

“He’s probably the best long-snapper I’ve ever had,” Brinkley said.

Sailors’ ex-tailback is back

Newport Harbor’s career rushing leader is a first-year assistant coach who st= ill competes on the field.

By David Carrillo Peñaloza

Updated: Saturday, August 22, 2009 = 1:08 AM PDT

Dartangan Johnson wants to teach football. He also plans to continue his career on the field.

Johnson has returned to Newport Harbor High to coach and play. The same pla= ce where he developed into an all-league player is where Johnson strives to tu= rn pro.

Newport Harbor is allowing him to pursue his dreams. In return, as an assis= tant he’s planning to help teenagers reach theirs.

At 23, Johnson is the ideal player’s coach. He’s still in the g= ame. Currently, he’s a running back for a semipro team from Long Beach.

The league Johnson plays in isn’t as famous as the singer it’s named after, Patti LaBelle. Players at Newport Harbor might not even know w= ho LaBelle is.

But they don’t have to turn back the clock too far to notice the kind= of impact Johnson achieved with the Sailors during his varsity career.

The school’s all-time leading rusher with 3,397 yards is working out = with them. Johnson graduated in 2003, but he’s not done with football.

Coach Jeff Brinkley is glad his former star is back.

“He can give the kids a lot of tips in terms of what he went through = and the amount of work that goes into becoming a varsity player,” said Brinkley, who has Johnson slated to primarily work with the running backs a= nd linebackers on the junior varsity level and assist varsity on game day.

“He’s a really good role model and it’s always great to h= ave former players return.”

Seeing players come back to the program has benefitted Brinkley. As he ente= rs his 24th year at Newport Harbor, Brinkley is four wins shy of 200.

Half of Brinkley’s eight assistants on varsity played for him. On the lower levels, he guided five who are now coaches.

Unlike many of those coaches, the 6-foot, 225-pound Johnson can keep up with the youngsters on the field and in the weight room.

These two are vital parts of the job to Johnson and his future. He has to s= tay in shape for the semipro league and when the time comes to work out for an = NFL team.

In the first game of the season with the Long Beach Lions, Johnson said he carried the ball 19 times for 108 yards. Not bad for someone who last played competitively in 2007 in the German Football League.

Sorting through Johnson’s stats overseas is as difficult as reading German.

Understanding Johnson won’t be as trying for the Sailors. He’s closer to their age than the other coaches, helping with the generational g= ap.

“I can relate to a lot of the kids because I went through the system,” said Johnson, who rushed for 1,392 yards and 19 touchdowns a= s a senior at Newport Harbor before going to Santa Ana College, where he became= the No. 1 junior college running back recruit in 2005 after recording 2,040 yar= ds and 17 touchdowns in two years.

“Coach Brinkley and the other coaches give you a shot if you’re hungry,” Johnson said. “You never know when you’ll get yo= ur shot, but you have to make the most of it when it comes.”

Johnson hopes the return to his alma mater launches his career, too.

Sailors change tun= e-up

Newport Harbor will scrimmage against Troy after Notre Dame = of Sherman Oaks creates conflict.

Updated: Thursday, August 20, 2009 = 10:28 PM PDT

Newport Harbor High lost its football scrimmage on Sept. 4 to Notre Dame of Sherman Oaks, ranked No. 31 in the country in the ESPN RISE preseason poll.

Coach Jeff Brinkley found out about it on the Internet.

Notre Dame opted to play Klein Oak of Spring, Texas on Sept. 7 at the new Cowboys Stadium in Arlington, Texas. The game is part of the Kirk Herbstreit Varsity Football Series, which features four games pitting some of the nation’s top high school teams against each other on Labor Day.

“When we saw that they were playing a game on Monday, we go, ‘There’s no way in hell these guys are scrimmaging us on Friday,’ ” Brinkley said of the Knights. “Then we started going to plan B, which was scrambling around trying to find a scrimmage. Luckily, we picked up Troy. We’ll play Troy at home on Sept. 4.

“He’s a really good guy, [Notre Dame Coach] Kevin Rooney. I’ve known him for years. He didn’t do anything intentionally. = It slipped his mind and he apologized and everything once I called up there.”

— David Carril= lo Peñaloza

Whiteside among top ESPNU prospects

Thur= sday, August 6th, 2009

If Newport Harbor High is depending on much of its success in football to Cecil Whiteside this season, he certainly has the resume to back it up.

Whiteside is ranked No. 146 on the recent ESPNU 150 for the nation’s Class of 2010. Whiteside, a senior linebacker who has verbally committed to UC Berkeley, is the only Orange County player= on the list.

Whiteside and the Sailors will scrimmage against Notre Dame of Sherman O= aks Sept. 4 and open the season at Aliso Niguel Sept. 11