Green leads cast of Sailors with all-league recognition

Newport Harbor High senior JB Green was named Co-Offensive Back of the Year of the Sunset League, highlighting a cast of Sailors who earned all-league honors in football.

Green, a first-team All-Sunset League selection a year ago, shared the award with Esperanza senior Jared Moore.

Green, an all-purpose threat for the Sailors, was also named the Daily Pilot’s Dream Team Offensive Player of the Year after he finished with 12 touchdowns. Seven were on receptions, two on rushes, one on a 77-yard kickoff return, another on a 51-yard punt return and one TD on a 10-yard fumble return. He led Newport Harbor with 53 catches for 735 yards and he averaged 32.5 yards on kickoff returns and 15.9 yards on punt returns. For a career, his 102 receptions rank fourth all-time at Newport Harbor and his 27 touchdowns rank eighth.

Seniors Andrew McDonald (quarterback), Michael Helfrich (running back), Brandon Kula (linebacker), Scott Ward (offensive lineman) and Danny Miller (defensive back) also earned first-team All-Sunset League honors. Junior linebacker Cecil Whiteside, the two-time Dream Team Defensive Player of the Year, also received first-team all-league recognition.

Kula, Whiteside and Helfrich were first-team all-league players for the second straight year.

McDonald and Ward earned second-team honors last year.

McDonald threw for 1,697 yards, 15 touchdowns and six interceptions, completing 134 of 201 passes (66.7%). In his career, McDonald went 15-7 as a starter and threw for 3,207 yards, ranking fourth all-time at Newport Harbor. His 1,697 yards ranks seventh for a single-season total.

Six Sailors earned second-team all-league honors. Seniors Ned Lyon (linebacker), Peter Kinney (offensive lineman), Jason Jacobi (defensive back), Nick Svendsen (linebacker) and Michael McKay (offensive lineman) were on the second team, which also included junior kicker Dillan Frieberg, who hit a 22-yard game-winning field goal in Newport Harbor’s 24-23 win over Los Alamitos in the season finale.

The Sailors finished 8-2, 3-2 in league to be one of four teams to share the league title, Newport Harbor’s first since 1974.

Senior Alex Rios, juniors Zach Moghaddam and Jake Taylor, as well as sophomores Ryan Andrews and J.B. Salem were honorable mention for Newport Harbor.

— From staff reports