Sailors hope to stand ground against Marina

Jeff Brinkley said he liked what he saw of his Newport Harbor High

Sailors’ effort during last Thursday’s season opener at Orange High, but

the head coach, in his 13th season, didn’t get the chance to completely

assess his starting units because the Sailors won in a laughter, 55-6.

Well, tonight at Westminster High, Brinkley knows that a better

battle will unfold when Newport Harbor invades Boswell Field to tangle

with the Marina Vikings (1-0).

Kickoff for tonight’s nonleague clash is set for 7:30 p.m.

‘We know this is going to be a much tougher test than last week’s

game with Orange,’ said Brinkley, who owns a 105-50 record as a head

coach. ‘But for openers, I thought we played pretty well.’

Newport Harbor led Orange 35-0 at the half and never was

challenged.

Brinkley had planned to use a two-platoon quarterback system in

the opener, but inserted sophomore Craig Joiner for the entire second

half.

Joiner emerged with a TD pass, as did Newport starter Brian Gaeta,

as sophomore who played the first quarter, and junior Chris Manderino,

who took over for Gaeta in the second quarter.

‘I had planned to play Brian (Gaeta) through the first quarter and

Chris (Manderino) in the second, then alternate them both in the second

half,’ Brinkley explained. ‘But, we had the luxury of such a big halftime

lead that we decided to have Joiner go the entire second half.’

It wasn’t the Sailors passing game that hurt Orange most (the

Newport trio combined to finish with 83 yards between them); rather, it

was the Tars rushing attack that ran right through the Panthers.

Backs Andre Stewart and Ryan Brill combined to rush for 219 of

Newport’s 308 total rushing yards.

Both Newport and Marina figure to cover a lot of ground tonight.

The Sailors will pit Stewart and Brill against Marina’s veer offense -

and, the rushing of big, bullish fullback Ray Mietkiewicz.

Brinkley will be seeing Mietkiewicz for the third consecutive

year, and he knows what to expect.

‘We’ve definitely got to stop their big kid,’ he said. ‘Actually,

you’re not really going to stop him, just, hopefully, contain him. He’s a

load and I’m sure he’s going to get his yards.

‘If we’re able to take care of the football with a time-consuming

offense, then we’ll be able to keep him (Mietkiewicz) on the sideline.

That will be to our benefit.’

Mietkiewicz and Marina also opened their season last Thursday and

thumped Newport’s archrival, Corona del Mar, 28-7, at Newport’s Davidson

Field. The Vikings did most of their damage on the ground, too, with

Mietkiewicz leading the way with 169 yards and two touchdown runs on 20

carries.

Junior quarterback Beau Brown, in his first varsity start, also

scored on a 55-yard run in the third quarter.

‘Our kids are anxious for this one,’ Marina Coach Mark Rehling

said. ‘We’ve had some very good, intense practices this week, and we hope

to bring that intensity over to game time.’

The two schools have met on the football field 20 previous times,

with Newport Harbor leading the series (which resumed in 1996 after a

short hiatus), 15-3-2.

‘We’re due, and hopefully, we can end a long, long draught

Thursday,’ Rehling added. ‘It would be a tremendous win for our program.’