Calhoun’s Games to Watch: Edison vs. Newport Harbor
October 20th, 2009, 7:16 pm · · posted by Damian Calhoun
Best games to watch on the Game 7 schedule:
No. 1 Edison (6-0, 1-0) vs. No. 10 Newport Harbor (4-2, 1-0)
Friday at Newport Harbor High, 7 p.m.
Outlook: The Sailors fired the first blast in the Sunset League with their 23-20 upset victory over previous No. 4 Los Alamitos. You have to credit the Sailors for rebounding after two disappointing losses before the start of the league.
Newport Harbor had lost to Dana Hills (41-7) and Mira Costa (24-10) before taking on the Griffins.
The Sailors intercepted two passes and were able to get Cedric Whitaker back on track. Whitaker had gained 122 yards in the losses to Dana Hills and Mira Costa. He gained 131 against the Griffins.
The Chargers opened league play with a 34-10 victory over Esperanza. Quarterback Matt Viles completed 20 of 31 passes for 291 yards and four touchdowns.
The Chargers have to be the toughest team in the county to defend because there are so many weapons on the field. There are five receivers with at least 12 catches, six with at least one touchdown and seven with an average per catch of at least 12 yards.
And that’s not even factoring in the work on the ground by Wade Houston (103 carries, 603 yards). If you can’t put pressure on Viles, then he will carve you up.
Can the Sailors slow down the Charger offense? Can they pull off a second consecutive upset?
It isn’t going to be easy, but then again, this is the Sunset League.
Links to the rest of The Calhoun Six: Games to Watch:
No. 14 Trabuco Hills vs. Huntington Beach
No. 6 Orange Lutheran vs. No. 19 JSerra
No. 13 Tesoro vs. No. 2 Mission Viejo
No. 11 San Clemente vs. No. 5 Dana Hills
No. 8 Mater Dei vs. No. 3 Servite
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Newport will come into this game very pumped up and ready to play but i do not think they will come ready to face an offense and defense like Edison. Everyone or I at least thought Edison was going to destroy Esperanza which they “so so” did 34-10 so it should be a good game for the first quarter or two and then Edison will feel comfortable and make half time adjustments and win 35-14
Not so fast my friend!………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………maybe your right!
Edison bigger, faster, stronger. Newport Harbor got lucky against Los Al. Los Al had an off night, they’ll play Edison Tougher.
Chargers 34 – Sailors 12
Newport got lucky??? They should have won by two touchdowns just like last year! Expect Coach Brinkley to come up with a little wrinkle this week. Newport always seems to come up big in big games.
stay tuned.
UH WARRIOR- please don’t spout cliches and pretend that it is an opinion! “Bigger”- about even. “Faster”- EDISON, definitely more team speed across the board. “Stronger”- NEWPORT, the NH weight program is the best in the county.
I agree with yourassessment that EDISON should win- but the reasons are:
1) more impact playmakers
2) much better QB
not “bigger, faster, stronger”
I’m by no means disputing your claim Newport has the best weight program in the county.
I would, however, like to know how that was decided. Just curious?
Check out the Power Clean, and Squat Totals (which are football lifts) for NEWPORT. The only other program in OC that is even close to comparable is ESPERANZA.
Most programs do “conditioning lifts”, they do not address the “CORE LIFTS”. You can check the numbers by asking the programs to submit the lift totals- i.e how many kids over 245lbs in power clean? over 300? same with squats? bench, etc…
BTW, being “strong” does not always mean how much weight you can lift in the gym. Speed, leverage and technique are more useful on the front lines. Obviously, how much NH could Power Clean and Squat as team didnt’ help them against a mediocre Mira Costa team.
If “Esperanza” so “strong” (second only NH) how come they aren’t even picked to make the playoffs? Remember this is a football game not a weight lifting competition. It’s pretty clear based on record and how well Edison plays, they are the “stronger” team. Think about it!
Warrior, My question is how do you know they got lucky? I thought you were watching high school football in Texas.
Wow, someone actually read a previous message of mine. You are correct I was in Texas. My comment was based on what I have seen both teams do in the past this season. I watched Los Al in person and seen NH highlights. I did see the Highlights of the game, and I admit NH outplayed Los Al, which isn’t like them. Los Al against a good La Habra team and a good Narbonne team looked like world beaters. Newport Harbor seemed average at best and Dana Hills seemed to have handled them pretty easily. So did NH get “Lucky”? hmm…maybe not. I guess like my comment “bigger, faster, stronger” it has a hint of hyperbole.
Warrior, I’m just kiddin around. I appreciate your input as well as that
of The Gorilla and BHSFF. Keep up the informative info.
number 1: don’t mix in the speed with “STRONGER”- you’ve already said that
number 2: Strength is a component- just like speed or size- you don’t qualify it or say it’s “not how much weight you lift in the gym”. YES IT IS!
How you use and combine those attributes is a different issue- and that is why I said EDISON will most likely win- because they have “MORE IMPACT PLAYMAKERS”, and much better QB play. Best EDISON team I’ve seen.
But continuing to justify a weak cliche like “BIGGER, FASTER, STRONGER” is pretty lame- its not accurate, and its not what will decide this game.
Ohhh, yes it will.
I love the energy! The fact is nobody except the Newport faithful really gave them a chance last week. It is the same this week, we will see. The big difference in my opinion is that Newport has beaten a favored Los Al team the previous 2 seasons and apparently has their “number.” The same cannot be said of Edison however, Newport has not beaten them on the varsity level yet. But as someone pointed out Brinkley does a great job of getting his kids ready to play big games, they don’t get any bigger than the #1 team in California.
ehh Dana’s lifting program under Coach Mitchell is up there. Dana sure looked much stronger in there 41-7 bashing of Newport.
I have to say I live in the Newport/Costa Mesa area and know several players in the Newport program. They told me that they started to learn how to lift on the first day of freshman summer camp. I am not sure if that is teenage hyperbole or reality, but that emphasizes the importance placed on the weight lifting program. I thought Coach Mitchell has been at Dana for 2 years, it is great to see him changing the culture of the program. I am sooo tired of Mission recruiting all of the players from that area. I did say recruit, Mission has an “agricultural” program unique to their school that is the pretense for many football players to transfer, after a few months they exit the program but are now enrolled at Mission.
Greendog- “Agricultural” program? really? man, you learn something new everyday. But, it makes sense, Mission has had a long history of success in that area. hmm… makes you wonder.
The Moline brothers were in the Dana enrollment area and both transferred to Mission under that program. If Dana can build a solid program I hope that will stop happening.