Dawn Patrol:

What has been an outstanding season for Newport Harbor High’s surfing team continues Saturday at the Red Bull Riders Cup National Championship at Lower Trestles.

The tournament began earlier this year with 33 high school teams from California, Florida, and New Jersey. Now it’s down to the final eight. To get to the finals, Newport recently defeated Huntington Beach, who had upset perennial favorite San Clemente, in an exciting match at the HB pier.

The Riders Cup is better known to the surfers as “The Game� because it uses the unique format of the same name, conceived by pro surfer and big wave legend Brad Gerlach. The Game (TG) has been likened to the NCAA’s “March Madness� because of its single elimination, bracket style competition.

Newport Harbor Coach Scott Morlan recently explained TG’s workings to me.

In normal high school surfing contests, and pretty much all surf contests, riders from opposing teams are in the water together, jostling and positioning for the best waves. Riders’ scores are determined by adding the points awarded for their pre-determined number of best waves. In TG, only one team at a time is in the water – four scoring riders two substitutes, and an in-the-water coach. The team score for the 12-minute heat is the combination of the best single wave scored by each of the four riders.

The substitutes, normally employed when one or more of the four starters is struggling, can be used only once per heat. Substitutions can be risky because the original rider is out for the remainder of the heat, and his score will stand unless the sub betters it. Each team has five two-minute timeouts that can be used any time during its three heats. These can come in handy when there are long lulls between sets. And if the waves are mushy, an assist, where one or more surfers push or otherwise launch a teammate into a wave, is perfectly legal.

Both teams surf a 12-minute heat in each of three periods. After the third period the team with the most points goes on to face the next opponent and the loser goes home.

It’s no wonder that Morlan describes TG as “very intense for the coaches and the surfers�, and he notes that decisions such as which team takes the water first can be critical, “If the conditions look pretty stable you might want the other team to go first so you know what you need to do. But if conditions are deteriorating, or the tide is coming up quickly, you want to go first and get the good waves before it shuts down.�

Newport won’t know who it will go against until Saturday, but Morlan says the opposing teams aren’t the only challenge.

“We’ve got Grad Night Friday, SAT’s for the Juniors Saturday, the commute to the contest, and then we’ve got to be ready to go out there and do it�.

His starting lineup is expected to be Chase Wilson, Victor Done, Erik Heimstaedt, Canon Call, Mark Contreras, and Jared Cassidy.

JOHN BURTON’S surf column appears Fridays.