Polytechnic-al KO

NEWPORT BEACH — Stacked outside Newport Harbor High’s locker room were signs, the most visible a Long Beach Poly player read aloud.

“Smile like you mean it!” he turned around, telling teammates. “How about like this?”

The smile grew, everyone laughed. The Jackrabbits were in celebration mode, with good reason after easily beating the Sailors, 34-7, in a nonleague game at Davidson Field.

By the time the storied program’s players fled, a Newport Harbor fan suggested to a friend that someone might want check out Coach Jeff Brinkley’s heart rate after the Sailors’ performance.

They picked a bad time to speed up the 22nd-year coach’s heart, five days after getting released from the hospital with an irregular heartbeat.

Brinkley still appeared as his stoic self before addressing the team. Mistakes, too many of them are what Brinkley harped on. Practically every miscue a team can have in a game, Newport Harbor committed in the first half and fell behind, 21-0.

Bad timing.

Long Beach Poly came to town for the first time. Speed usually does in the opposition, but what killed the Sailors were penalties, missed blocks and a blocked punt returned for a touchdown.

“We usually don’t have the breakdowns,” said Brinkley of the nine penalties for 79 yards, before convincing everyone around that he felt “good, really good” in his return to the sideline after leaving at halftime of last week’s season-opening win in an ambulance.

Brinkley stuck around for this one, even being the last member of the team leaving the field, with the lights already out.

The Jackrabbits, who came into the year nationally ranked as always, made sure to shut them off earlier than expected. The defense battered Newport Harbor quarterback Andrew McDonald throughout the night, collecting eight sacks.

Three of those sacks were by senior lineman Jurrell Casey, who said he’s leaning toward top-ranked USC. But he was really leaning on McDonald, who finished with 142 yards on 15 of 22 passing. It seemed every time the junior dropped back to throw, the 6-foot-1, 245-pound Casey was on top of him. Before, or after, causing McDonald to throw two interceptions.

Newport Harbor will have to regroup next week when it plays cross-town rival Corona del Mar.

Casey said Long Beach Poly needed this win badly after losing to Los Angeles City Section champ Birmingham, 20-7, last week. The offense was able to move the ball against Newport Harbor, totaling 265 yards and three touchdowns on the ground.

“It was really big,” said Casey, who’s also being recruited by Oregon and Nebraska. “We had a little struggle during practice this week, but we just came ... and played hard.”

It showed from the start in a matchup pitting two recognizable CIF Southern Section programs with seven section title-game appearances each since 1992. The biggest play in the first half was made by the more known program, Long Beach Poly, which has sent more players to the NFL than many college programs.

The Jackrabbits blocked the second punt attempt of the night. It went up and lineman Iuta Tepa caught it in midair, scoring from two yards out to make it 14-0 late in the first quarter.

“We were fired up after that one,” said the junior, who recorded three sacks.

Still, Long Beach Poly Coach Raul Lara wasn’t satisfied. Something was missing. The Sailors managed to move the ball in the second half, scoring their lone touchdown on running back Ben Frazier’s six-yard sweep, cutting the deficit to 21-7 midway through the third.

“We need to learn how to put teams away,” he said. “Newport Harbor has a great program. They were forced to move up [to the Pac-5 Division], obviously they need to play stiffer competition and that’s what’s happening. I think they are going to be pretty good this year.”

Now there’s something Newport Harbor can smile about.

LONG BEACH POLY 34, NEWPORT HARBOR 7

FIRST QUARTER

LBP – Walters 11 pass from Fennell (Heinze kick), 3:51

LBP – Tepa returns punt block (Heinze kick), 1:32

SECOND QUARTER

LBP – Johnson 6 run (Heinze kick), 10:29

THIRD QUARTER

NH – Frazier 6 run (Freiberg kick), 5:56

FOURTH QUARTER

LBP – Richardson 16 run (kick failed), 8:42

LBP – Fennell 1 run (Heinze kick), :24

INDIVIDUAL RUSHING

LBP – Westbrook 11-102; Johnson 13-81, 1 TD; Richardson 7-62, 1 TD; Fennell 4-17, 1 TD; Barner 2-7; Skara 1-minus 4.

NH – Frazier 13-33, 1 TD; McDonald 12-minus 16

INDIVIDUAL PASSING

LBP – Fennell 8-10-0, 60, 1 TD

NH – McDonald 15-22-2, 142

INDIVIDUAL RECEIVING

LBP – Walker 4-41, 1 TD; Norell 3-16; Barner 1-3

NH – Green 6-78, Whiteside 4-26; Frazier 3-21; Campbell 1-15; Kula 1-2