Newport Harbor falls for second week in row
NEWPORT BEACH - Jeff Brinkley’s quest for his 200th career victory will have to wait for at least another week.
Brinkley will become the eighth county coach and the sixth active coach to reach the 200-victory mark with his next victory.
The only question for him is when.
Mira Costa of Manhattan Beach, like Dana Hills last week, kept Brinkley from the record books, this time with a 24-10 victory Friday night over host Newport Harbor (3-2).
The Sailors now turn their attention to the Sunset League where they will begin play next Friday against Los Alamitos, Edison (Oct. 23) and Fountain Valley (Oct. 29).
"Our kids expect to win … we just weren’t good enough tonight. That’s the way it goes," Brinkley said. "We didn’t move the ball very well tonight, and defensively we weren’t stopping them very well either.
"You have to be able to run the ball and stop the run, but early they were controlling the game."
The Mustangs (3-2) entered the week ranked second in the latest CIF-SS Western Division poll.
Newport Harbor showed some life in the second half.
Trailing 17-3, the Sailors finally won the field-position battle, forcing the Mustangs to punt from their own 3.
The Sailors took possession on the Mira Costa 28. Faced with a 3rd-and-12 from the 30, quarterback Austin Rios found Parker Norton open for a 20-yard gain to the 10. On the next play, Rios connected with Cecil Whiteside in the end zone to cut the deficit to 17-10 with 10:21 remaining.
On the next Mustangs possession, the Sailors forced them into a punting situation with 7:05 on the clock, but Newport Beach was called for roughing the punter, giving the Mustangs a first down on the Sailors 44.
Mira Costa later sealed the victory with a 1-yard touchdown run from quarterback Kyle Demarco for a 24-10 lead with 3:11 left in the game.
"We’ve let a couple of things slip away from us in the fourth quarter in a couple of games," Mira Costa coach Don Morrow said. "We had a better fourth quarter and finish tonight."
One of those opportunities was a 21-20 loss to Esperanza on Sept. 17.
The Mustangs scored on their second possession of the game when Morgan Reece scored from 3 yards out for a 7-0 lead with 1:59 left in the first quarter.
Mira Costa led 14-0 at halftime thanks to a 75-yard halfback pass for a touchdown from Jackson Morrow to Kyle Nunn.
Defensively, the Mustangs focused a lot of attention on Newport Harbor running back Cedric Whitaker, limiting him to three rushing yards in the first half.
Whitaker finished with 56 yards on 12 carries.
"He’s a great back," Mira Costa coach Don Morrow said of Whitaker. "We saw him go off against Loyola (of Los Angeles) and he scared the heck out of us. The guys did a great job of keeping leverage outside."
Newport Harbor didn’t score its first points until Dillan Freiberg’s 34-yard field goal in the third quarter.
After averaging 36.6 points in their first three victories of the season, the Sailors have scored just 17 in their last two games.
"We will regroup and see what we can do next week," Brinkley said.
