Football battles making news off the field

Taking a look around Orange County high school sports:

• Cypress senior football player Jamil Douglas has committed to Utah, but as long as he has not signed a letter of intent, which he cannot do until Dec. 16, other schools can recruit the 6-foot-5, 255-pound defensive end/H-back. And they are doing just that, with Arizona State, Nebraska and San Diego State having tendered scholarship offers. Douglas was All-Empire League first team as an offensive lineman in 2008.

• The CIF-SS office will have a hardship appeal hearing on Sept. 1 for Joey Sego, a junior  quarterback on the football team who is seeking athletic eligibility after transferring to St. Margaret's from San Clemente without making a change of address. Attorney Mike Madigan, representing Sego, said it is hoped that the CIF-SS office will understand the student-athlete's need to be in a private school setting and that the status of Sego's father - Marine Corps Master Sergeant Russell Sego continues a long deployment in Iraq - further supports the request for a hardship waiver.

• The transfer of senior linebacker Dominic Greco from Servite to Fullerton was approved. Greco, All-Trinity League last season, has impressed Fullerton coach Julian Smilowitz. “Hard worker, great wheels, good vision,” Smilowitz said.

• Newport Harbor senior football kicker Dillan Freiberg takes a streak of 54 successful extra-point kicks into the 2009 season. The county record is 58, set by Irvine's Tommy Louie in 1993. (Louie was the pitching star of the Irvine team that went to the Little League World Series finals in the late ‘80s).

• Another top senior kicker is Orange Lutheran's Parker Flynn. Flynn is getting contacted from schools all across the nation, and UCLA and Arizona State are among the leaders.

• Harbor football coach Jeff Brinkley is four victories away from No. 200. Only seven coaches have reached 200 victories in county football history, and five of them are active coaches: John Barnes at Los Alamitos (county-leading 272 victories); Mike Marrujo at Valencia (237); Bob Johnson at Mission Viejo (230); Terry Henigan at Irvine (212); and Bruce Rollinson at Mater Dei (200).

• The varsity football season starts with Week 0 games on Sept. 3. Girls golf can hold its first interscholastic contests that day, too. Other sports' first contests are Sept. 10.

• Look for Villa Park boys basketball coach Kevin Reynolds to take eight games off to complete what the CIF-Southern Section requested to be a 10-game suspension for an undue influence violation that was founded before last season. Reynolds took two games off last season, as Villa Park directed, and the issue remains a hot one. The CIF-SS office likely won't allow Villa Park into its boys basketball playoffs unless Reynolds does sit out eight games this season. If Reynolds does so it would be hard for him personally, as he contends the two games sufficed as punishment, but it would be good for the school and the boys basketball program and that's why he would and should do it.

• At 26 years old, Jesse Jackson, just named boys basketball head coach at Fullerton, might be the youngest at his position in the county. Jackson, a 2001 graduate of Valencia, was an assistant coach for seven years at Valencia where he also was the junior varsity head coach last year.

• Four county girls basketball players helped the USA Women's U-16 National Team win the gold medal at the FIBA Americas U16 Championships in Mexico City this month: Jordan Adams of Mater Dei; Justine Hartman of Brea Olinda; Kaleena Mosqueda-Lewis of Mater Dei; and Alexyz Vaioletama of Mater Dei.

• You might have read at ocvarsity.com and in print about how well San Clemente's Cassie Harberts played for the Cal Swish girls basketball club team. Another county player who starred for the team this summer was Edison junior Bonnie Samuelson. Among her highlights was a team-high 15 points, nine in the final minutes, for the Swish in a huge semifinals victory at the Nike Nationals in South Carolina.

• Tim Mesenheimer is doing quadruple duty at Saddleback. The Roadrunners' longtime boys basketball coach has replaced retired Jerry Witte as boys athletic director, and recently added girls basketball and freshman football head coaching duties to his resume. Eat smart and get your sleep, Coach Mes!

• The county was well represented, as usual, at this summer's Area Code Baseball Games at Blair Field in Long Beach. Three players who drew the highest marks were Mater Dei senior outfielder Cory Hahn, Tustin junior third baseman Travis Harrison (the only sophomore on the 2008 All-County team) and Dana Point senior pitcher Peter Tago. The Area Code Games, in their 23rd year, are the most heavily scouted baseball event every summer.

• We're breaking high school sports news all day and every day at ocvarsity.com. Our football league and team previews, and so much more on the '09 football season, will be at ocvarsity.com starting Monday. And you can follow me at twitter.com/stevefryer.

Contact the writer: sfryer@ocregister.com