Tars QB musters some success

NEWPORT BEACH — Even when the parade to the pocket had ceased and Newport Harbor High junior quarterback Andrew McDonald shuffled to the end of the line awaiting midfield postgame handshakes with visiting Long Beach Poly, the Jackrabbits came at him from all sides.

McDonald, discolored by grass stains on nearly every visible surface of his uniform — the product of eight sacks and nine carries that wound up worse than where they began — merely extended both palms inches from his hips, pointed them toward the onslaught of rivals and accepted open-handed acknowledgment of a courageous and, perhaps, career-turning performance.

After a first half in which McDonald discovered that the ear holes on his helmet were most useful listening for the sound of Jackrabbit footsteps, the rail-thin 6-foot-1, 160-pound varsity neophyte personified one of limited bright spots for the Sailors.

In a 34-7 nonleague loss to the perennial powerhouse ranked No. 6 in the CIF Southern Section Pac-5 Division, McDonald completed 15 of 22 pass attempts for 142 yards. He also scrambled for two first downs. He was five-for-five passing on the Tars’ 11-play, 75-yard touchdown drive that helped them avert being blanked for the first time in 40 games.

McDonald was four of 12 for 87 yards in a 16-3 season-opening win over Aliso Niguel.

“I thought Andrew did real well,” Newport Harbor Coach Jeff Brinkley, who oversees the quarterback position as offensive coordinator, said of the son of former USC All-American and NFL signal caller Paul McDonald. “He took some big hits, but he showed he’s a competitor. I thought he showed a lot of moxie.”

McDonald showed admirable poise while standing in the cross hairs of a Poly pass rush Brinkley said was as strong and speedy as any his Sailors squads have faced in his 22 seasons at the helm.

“Those guys were big and physical and they were fast,” Brinkley said of a four-man Poly front that often overpowered as many as seven blockers to direct McDonald to the turf.

Brinkley has seen teams harry his quarterbacks before, including seven sacks by a blitzing Santa Margarita unit in the Tars’ 38-0 setback in the CIF Division V title game in 1996.

Irvine High, using a blizting Buddy Ryan 46 defense, also made itself at home in the Newport pocket to help earn a 14-0 CIF Division VI title game triumph over Harbor in 2000.

But Poly unleashed shear physical prowess more than schemes to enter McDonald’s consciousness, not to mention penetrate his personal space.

“It was more power and speed than anything else,” Brinkley said of Poly’s pursuit of his passer. “That No. 52 kid (6-1, 245-pound senior All-CIF returner Jurrell Casey, who collected three sacks] is a pretty good player. They moved him around, bringing him up the middle one play, then off the edge the next. I even thought we did a good job of getting bodies on bodies and we kept guys in to give us extra [pass] protection. But a lot of the time, they just overpowered us.”

Dressed in gold helmets, gold jerseys and gold pants, a shade McDonald might remember as ghoul’s gold, Poly (2-1) forced McDonald into a shotgun formation most of the night.

McDonald also had to deliver the ball quickly, on short hitch routes and screens, or step forward past the oncoming first wave of defenders to bye time to find junior JB Greene several strides downfield [Green averaged 13 yards on his six receptions] mostly on curl patters in front of a back-peddling cornerback.

“The first half [when the hosts managed minus-three rushing yards and 41 yards total offense], we couldn’t get anything done,” McDonald said. [Poly] has a great defensive line and a good program and [it] played at a higher level than we’ve seen.

“But our offensive line did a really good job on that [third-quarter scoring] drive. We got some rhythm going in the second half.”

Brinkley, who said he scheduled the first meeting between the two schools in order to better realize what kind of level is needed to compete in the Pac-5 playoffs, said the loss will eventually make his squad (1-1) better.

“I think in the long run, it’s going to help us to have played against a team with this kind of speed and athletes,” Brinkley said. “I thought we did some good things tonight.”