Helfrich, Green share experience=

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Newport Harbor's Michael Helfrich (= 1) is headed to USC as a preferred walk-on.

Recent Newport Harbor graduates pla= ying for South in 50th OC North-South All-Star Game Friday.

By David Carrillo Peñaloza

Updated: Thursday, July 9, 2009 12:= 31 AM PDT

Just the other day, Michael Helfrich and JB Green rode together, preparing for their final high school football game.

Since last week, the recent Newport Harbor High graduates have been carpool= ing to and from Tesoro High, the practice site. Their last hurrah is Friday at = the 50th Brea Lions Orange County North-South All-Star Game at Orange Coast Col= lege at 7:15 p.m.

The drives have been fun. They normally are when you are a teenager, almost= on your own.

This week won’t be the last time these two sit in the same vehicle. U= SC is their next destination.

Before Helfrich and Green try to make the Trojans football team as preferred walk-on players, they have one goal as members of the South All-Star team.<= br>
The two are taking the all-star game seriously.

“It’s a big deal,” Helfrich said. “This is the 50th one. We definitely want to win. Our season didn’t end the way we want= ed it to this year, so we want to go out as a winner.”

Helfrich and Green failed to get a taste of the playoffs as seniors.

Sure, the Sailors won the Sunset League. So did every team in the six-team league except one.

Three teams qualified for the postseason. Newport Harbor stayed home after losing out in a bizarre draw out of a wooden bucket.

Helfrich and Green hope to kick the bucket, the bad memory. A victory can o= nly help.

Helfrich said he expects to start in the secondary at strong safety and Gre= en said he has been working out with the offense’s first unit as a wide recei= ver.

The two earned All-Sunset League honors, Green shared the Offensive Back of= the Year award and Helfrich made the first team.

Green and Helfrich are a lot alike, fast, strong and athletic. Both are 6-foot-1. Green weighs 196 pounds, seven pounds heavier than Helfrich.

As for who’s faster, Helfrich hesitantly gives the title to Green.

“JB is a little faster. Not by much,” said Helfrich before Green objected in the car. “I used to be faster.”

Back then, Green and Helfrich were in fifth grade, around the time the two befriended each other.

Over the years, their fathers, Kevin Green and Peter Helfrich, became good friends.

Growing up, Green and Helfrich said they rooted for USC, but they almost decided going to another Pacific-10 Conference school.

Both said UC Berkeley offered them preferred walk-on status. Even though th= eir chances of making the field looked more promising with the Golden Bears, th= ey chose USC, a perennial Pac-10 and national championship contender.

Location and knowing they could room together factored in their decision.
“I always wanted to go to USC,” Green said. “I’m go= ing to do everything I possibly can to contribute at USC.”

Green did it all at Newport Harbor, earning him the Newport-Mesa Dream Team Offensive Player of the Year accolade.

He was a threat to score every time he touched the ball.

The all-purpose weapon scored 12 touchdowns, seven on catches, two on rushe= s, two on special teams and one on a fumble return.

Green was the kind of player Helfrich loved to stop dead in his tracks.

Dare to go over the middle and there was Helfrich walloping a receiver.

Helfrich developed into one of the most-feared safeties in the county. Some= of the best in the county have learned Helfrich is all business on the field.<= br>
“I’m looking forward to going head-hunting,” said Helfric= h, who recorded 65 tackles, two interceptions and two fumble recoveries. “We’ve been in full pads, going at full speed in practice. When= Friday comes, watch out for the collisions.”

As long as they come during the game and not when Helfrich and Green are ri= ding together, Green can’t wait to watch.

This McDonald rolls to the desert

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Newport Harbor's Andrew McDonald, left, is headed to the University of Arizona.

Andrew of Newport Harbor plans to walk-on at Arizona after father Paul starred at USC and brother Mike became= a backup USC quarterback.

By David Carrillo Peñaloza

Updated: Thursday, July 9, 2009 11:= 00 PM PDT

On a night in the Tucson desert bac= k in late October, Andrew McDonald found the sideline he has known as a kid.

The home team, the University of Arizona, provided the high school recruit = from Newport Harbor the access. Yet, McDonald left the football program’s sideline.

“I didn’t know anyone,” McDonald said before he spotted t= wo coaches on the other sideline.

The senior quarterback walked over. For the rest of the game, McDonald hung= out with the visiting team, USC.

That night, Paul McDonald, his father, worked in the radio booth. He’s the color analyst for USC’s broadcast.

Before that, Paul starred as an All-American quarterback for the Trojans. He won a national championship in 1978, well before Andrew was born. Another s= on, Mike, went on to become a backup quarterback at USC.

The latest son with a college decision chose a different path.

Paul is excited for Andrew, who plays his final high school game tonight in= the 50th Brea Lions Orange County North-South All-Star Game at Orange Coast Col= lege at 7:15.

The Wildcats saw Andrew walk away from the sideline on Oct. 25, only to lea= rn he planned to return later. Andrew said he’s walking on at Arizona th= is upcoming season.

The night in the desert is something Andrew never forgot. The Trojans hung = on for a 17-10 victory, keeping their national championship hopes alive for another week.

The Wildcats’ fight is what impressed Andrew.

“I knew I could be playing here. It looked like a lot of fun,” Andrew said. “When the fireworks went up, I got the chills.”

Expect Paul to feel the same way when his son earns a shot to play.

Paul said the opportunity might come in three years, when Andrew settles in, adds bulk, develops arm strength, and learns the offense. The expectation r= ight now is for the 6-foot-2, 185-pound Andrew to make the team as a preferred walk-on player.

That hasn’t stopped Arizona Coach Mike Stoops from giving Paul a hard time.

“The first thing he asked me was, ‘Paul, what are you going to = do when you’re in the booth and Andrew is playing on the field against USC?’ ” said Paul, acknowledging it will be nutty. “IR= 17;m going to say something like, ‘Watch the blitz!’ I’m going= to get a little earpiece in his ear, have a direct hookup from the booth.̶= 1;

When the time comes, Andrew knows he will have his father’s full supp= ort.

Andrew always has, from the time he overcame the odds, a 135-pounder one ye= ar, to the starting quarterback the next season at Newport Harbor, to overcoming injuries.

Andrew recorded strong junior and senior seasons. He went 15-7 as the start= er and in his career threw for 3,207 yards, the latter stat ranks fourth all-t= ime at Newport Harbor.

The recognition as a senior for leading the Sailors to a share of their fir= st Sunset League championship since 1974 came from everywhere.

Andrew made first-team All-Sunset League and the Newport-Mesa Dream Team af= ter throwing for 1,697 yards and 15 touchdowns, and only six interceptions.

He completed 134 of 201 passes, a 66.7 percent completion ratio.

Delivering that kind of accuracy on the next level will only benefit Andrew= .

Paul helped his son put together a highlight tape of his arm before last year’s Pacific-10 Conference media day. Andrew said they gave each sc= hool a copy, and his father talked him up as much as possible.

During the college season, Paul hopes he can on-air on a Saturday.

USC versus Arizona won’t be the same if there’s a McDonald thro= wing passes on the field for the Wildcats and a McDonald breaking down plays in = the booth for the Trojans.

“I’m rooting for my son 100%,” Paul said. “Don̵= 7;t tell the Trojans.”