TWO-MINUTE DRILL

Sage Hill School senior linebacker Nazir Katbi has quieted his teammates by doing what comes naturally.

Katbi is a practicing Muslim, which means that during the month of Ramadan, he fasts during the day and eats at night.

The linebacker has been participating in practice and games without food or water, and it has garnered the respect of his teammates, Coach Pete Anderson said.

In Friday’s 41-10 nonleague home win over Tri-City Christian, Katbi played during the Lightning’s first defensive series and kickoff with an empty stomach. He had some water and a nutrition bar when he came to the bench, and a more substantial meal at halftime.

“He’s a good example of being committed to what’s important to you,” Anderson said. “If you think practice is hard, try doing it without any water or eating all day. It makes everybody else less prone to complain.”

 Sage Hill senior quarterback Jamie McGee will likely continue his football career at a small private school on the East Coast, according to his father, Jim McGee. The younger McGee is currently being recruited by Georgetown, Colgate, the University of Rochester, Trinity College, Williams College, Grinnell College, Dartmouth College and the University of San Diego. Jim McGee, who was a backup quarterback at Penn in 1971, said that Jamie is leaning toward Dartmouth.

Jamie McGee threw for 394 yards and five touchdowns in Sage Hill’s 42-10 nonleague win over visiting Tri-City Christian on Friday. The 6-foot-3, 180-pounder has thrown for 652 yards and nine touchdowns in his last two games, while also rushing for a touchdown.

 Corona del Mar Coach Dick Freeman said Friday’s 27-7 nonleague loss to Troy was the first time the Sea Kings have ever played a “home” game at Laguna Beach High.

Freeman, who wasn’t exactly pleased about it, said it had to do with scheduling of stadiums as well as Rash Hashanah, the two-day Jewish holiday that ended Friday night.

“We had another stadium set up, and then the Jewish holidays are there,” Freeman said. “For some reason, our [school] district doesn’t say anything until May. The process of scheduling the stadium needs to be fixed. It’s tough to find an open stadium on Friday, in May.”

 All Friday night, it seemed like standout Long Beach Poly defensive lineman Jurrell Casey wanted to be close to Newport Harbor quarterback Andrew McDonald.

Maybe it was because McDonald’s father, Paul McDonald, was an All-American at USC — the college Casey said he’s leaning toward attending — and the senior wanted some advice.

Andrew McDonald’s older brother, Michael, is a senior backup quarterback for the Trojans.

Casey recorded three sacks, though the Sailors managed to somewhat alleviate the pressure in the second half. They put McDonald in the shotgun, moved him around and kept extra players in to block.

Newport’s best drive came with its first opportunity after halftime, when McDonald was nearly perfect and was sacked only once. The junior went five for six for 59 yards, leading Newport Harbor to its lone touchdown. He hit three players for completions, first Cecil Whiteside, then JB Green and Ben Frazier.

Frazier eventually capped the march with a 6-yard TD run.

The 11-play drive would be Newport Harbor’s second longest of the night, the other came right before halftime when the Sailors ran off 12 plays. The latter ended with an interception on Poly’s six.

“We let them get to us,” said McDonald, who threw for 142 yards on 15-of-22 passing. “We didn’t play our game. The offensive line did a good job in the second half. We started to pick up blitzes.”

 When Estancia High Coach Mike Bargas said the mistakes he saw in the Eagles’ season-opener were correctable, he meant it.

Estancia’s season-opening 35-6 loss left defensive players scattered all over the field, as the Aquinas players ran through missed or botched tackles.

Two weeks later, there was a complete turnaround.

Since the loss to Aquinas, the maximum number of points the Estancia defense has allowed has been 16, in Friday’s 21-16 nonleague win over Buena Park. The Eagles relinquished just 13 against Bolsa Grande.

 Despite Costa Mesa’s 0-3 start, Mustangs Coach Jeremy Osso knows there’s no lack of heart from his players — senior two-way starter Cody De La Mater, in particular.

“He just never gives up,” Osso said. “No matter the score, that kid goes hard every play.”

The same can be said of 5-foot-8 sophomore quarterback Brian Waldron.

“I can’t say enough about Brian,” Osso said. “He’s a great leader and a great kid. He gives it his all out there.”

 While Sage Hill’s aerial attack has attracted the most attention lately, the gritty ground game has been more than sufficient to keep defenses honest. With star running backs such as Don Ayres and Keya Manshadi having graduated, senior running back Max Torres has stepped up. Torres ran for 76 yards and a touchdown for the 3-0 Lightning Friday.

Torres gained 107 yards in Sage’s 41-6 nonleague win over visiting Midway Baptist Sept. 7.

McGee might be the headline grabber, but the high-flying passing game might not be possible without the bruising ground game Torres provides.

 Newport Harbor’s Green found the soft spots against a speedy Poly secondary. The junior hauled in a game-high six passes for 78 yards. Four of those receptions went for first downs.

 Costa Mesa didn’t have an easy time Friday replacing the usual yardage earned by junior running back Antwon Byrd. Byrd, who has 199 rushing yards in his two games this season, sat out the game nursing a hip flexor injury.

The Mustangs rushed for only 32 yards Friday against Irvine, the biggest ground gain coming on a 12-yard reverse to junior receiver Manny Gomez.

Byrd is expected to return this week, Osso said.

 Corona del Mar junior Hunter Alder was the far busier quarterback against Troy Friday night.

Alder was 16 of 37, while Troy quarterback Tyler Swaney completed six of 14 passes.

Three of Swaney’s six completions, though, were caught for touchdowns.

Corona del Mar’s passing was necessitated when the Warriors shut down the Sea Kings’ running game. CdM sophomore J.D. Abbott had a 24-yard run, but none of CdM’s 31 other rushing attempts produced more than seven yards.

“I thought we could have run the ball better than we did,” Freeman said. “[Troy] linebackers were better than I thought they were. They filled the holes and caught up to us. But if we would have caught some passes, that would have helped. It was a lot of stuff.”

— From staff reports