Eagles, Sea Kings will collide

There will be at least one Newport-Mesa area high school football team advancing to the quarterfinals of the CIF Southern Section playoffs.

That’s because Corona del Mar High will face Estancia at Newport Harbor High Friday night at 7, in the Southern Division’s opening round, it was learned when pairings were released Sunday.

In the Northeast Division, Sage Hill will travel for its first-round game to play Maranatha, Friday at 7 p.m. at a site in Pasadena to be determined today, Lightning Coach Tom Monarch said.

Estancia (7-3), the visitor, won’t need to drive far to face the Sea Kings (6-4). Talk about meeting at a halfway point. The Eagles are 3.62 miles away from Davidson Field, while CdM is 3.48 miles from the stadium, according to mapquest.com.

“The game will be great for the community,” Estancia Coach Brian Barnes said.

The closeness to the playing site isn’t the only aspect the teams share. They both were within one win of capturing outright or at least a share of their respective league titles.

Estancia nearly scored a touchdown in the closing moments of a 21-14 loss to Laguna Beach, the Orange Coast League champion.

The Eagles finished second in the league at 2-1.

Corona del Mar came even closer. With less than a minute remaining, the Sea Kings, who were at the University six-yard line, turned the ball over and the Trojans won, 13-12.

Laguna Hills was the Pacific Coast League champion. Corona del Mar finished tied for second with Irvine, 2-2, and represented the league’s No. 2 seed in the playoffs.

CdM Coach Dick Freeman and Barnes agreed there are plenty of similarities between the teams. Plus, it’s a great rematch.

Last year, the Sea Kings opened the season with a 26-6 win over the Eagles at Orange Coast College.

This season, Matt Redding expects a different outcome.

“This year, we’re not going to lose to CdM,” said the Estancia senior, who had a career-high 261 receiving yards and four touchdowns in the Eagles’ 49-12 win over Calvary Chapel Friday. “I’m really excited for this game. Last year we had them. Our mentality just went lost. This year it’s not going to happen.”

If the Eagles live up to Redding’s words, they will have won their first playoff game since 1980. Corona del Mar won its first playoff game last year since 1995, when they went on to the semifinals.

Freeman wants his Sea Kings to do that again. He said he hopes they are not too rusty after having the week off. He added he liked the first-round matchup because of the site.

“It helped us out because we use the same stadium,” Freeman said.

Barnes added playing at Newport is a benefit to the Eagles.

Corona del Mar and Estancia used to play in the same league three different times since 1965, but have never met in the playoffs. CdM leads the series, 18-10-3.

The Lightning will meet Maranatha for the first time ever. Sage Hill won its first playoff game in the first round of Division XII last year.

The Lightning (6-4), who finished second in the Academy League are hoping for the same kind of magic Friday.

Maranatha (8-2) shared the Academy League title with Whittier Christian and Brentwood and took on the No. 2 seed from the league for the playoffs.

Monarch said he spoke with Maranatha Coach Joel Murphy Sunday about playing sites. The matter requires athletic directors to find an open stadium, Monarch said.

Maranatha has no lights at its home stadium. The Minutemen usually play on Saturday afternoons for their home games.

If the Lightning advance to the quarterfinals, they will face the Fairmont Prep-at-Salesian winner Nov. 24. Sage Hill lost to Fairmont Prep, 27-20, Sept. 30.

The winner of the Newport-Mesa District matchup, featuring Estancia and Corona del Mar, will take on the Cypress-at-Western winner next week.