‘94 Sailors’ ultimate video: Hitting the wall

ROGER CARLSON

The heart and soul of every successful football program is the weight

room, where the basics are boiled down to the noise and din, and an

aroma of success.

At Newport Harbor High the walls are decorated with past glories

and as you leave there is an inspirational message painted on the

wall above the door, capped with the classic line: “How do I want to

be remembered?”

How do I remember the Tars of ‘94?

It’s been 10 years since that remarkable campaign of 14 victories,

no defeats, no ties, no arguments. No matter how good anyone who

comes down the lane, nobody’s going to do any better.

As a sportswriter, it was my annual routine over 20-plus seasons

to make the rounds with the photographers as we conducted “photo

day,” getting our base material ready for the season. And I always

looked forward to Irvine and 16th, where the Newport Harbor Sailors

awaited. As a sports editor since 1988, the routine continued for a

time, and 1994 was no different.

They were always ready, never a glitch, and the proceeding was as

smooth as silk.

How do I remember?

Danny Pulido was a sophomore and standing 6-foot-4, weighing 190,

appeared as if a Greek god.

What an emergence, considering the Sailors’ attack no longer

included the graduated Wade Tift and a host of others that resulted

in just three returning offensive starters.

I had already spoken with the coach, Jeff Brinkley, to put

together my list of special subjects and he had offered various

inside information to assist me in putting the list together.

Defensively, he told me, the real key was a 5-foot-9 noseguard

named Bill Johns, a second-team all-league returner.

The appraisal was glowing and it had stuck in my mind as the

Sailors approached.

So you can imagine my thoughts as this polite, happy and pleasant

kid with an angelic face came forth, representing Brinkley’s

so-called vaunted defense.

It’s the only moment in an association nearing 20 years that I

found myself believing Brinkley was either pulling off an unheard-of

prank, or was flat deceiving me. This nice kid can’t possibly be the

key to Harbor’s defense, I told myself.

A chess player? The best trumpet player in the band? A class

president? A 4.0 student? I could buy any of that, and more. But

Harbor’s noseguard? Sure, and I’ll be signing my contract with the

Rams next week.

Little did I know I had been looking at a reincarnation of Audie

Murphy.

As time went along, nobody made the same mistake as this virtual

assassin on the field would flatten ballcarriers, then pat them on

the back as he went on to his next assignment.

As a sports editor in 1994 with difficult deadlines and various

responsibilities it was not my option to write the game stories, but

to assign Daily Pilot sportswriters to cover the games. I was

relegated to watching home games from the sideline, then hustling

back to the office to be ready for the frenetic late-night pace in

putting things in their best place.

So I’ve enlisted the help of my favorite assassin in looking back

on a season that concluded with such comments as “magical” and “a

team of destiny.”

First, the pep talk.

A prep sports segment on a local television station invited two of

my sportswriters, Richard Dunn and Barry Faulkner, to inform viewers

of their opinions of Newport Harbor, Corona del Mar, Costa Mesa and

Estancia football teams, as well as their respective competition.

With the Sailors faced with highly regarded Foothill, Canyon and

Savanna in nonleague before the likes of Irvine, Santa Margarita and

Woodbridge in the Sea View League, and with three returning offensive

starters from a team that lost its last two games of ‘93, finishing

7-4, well, the Sailors had, indeed, enjoyed more optimistic outlooks.

Faulkner’s honest appraisal: “I think Newport has hit the wall.”

“We played the video daily,” recalled Johns as the Sailors pumped

iron and poured out of that weight room door.

Dan McDonough, a tight end and middle linebacker, had taken the

end of ’93 very personally.

And, there was the presence of a running back named Brian Johnson,

a 5-foot-8 senior.

“Everyone on the team knew how good he was, but nobody else did,”

said Johns.

Orange High, with a lackluster reputation, was first on the list

and broke the scoring ice before Newport pulled away with a 28-10

victory.

“Everyone was just trying to figure out where they were,” said

Johns. “Our quarterback, John Giordani, calmed everyone down. No one

led like John Giordani.”

It was Giordani, and McDonough, who were the leaders of a pack of

about 20 players in a virtual year-round conditioning in preparation

for the season.

Hapless Ocean View was next, a 28-0 loser, and only the most rabid

of Sailors’ fans would disagree that it was a boring game. Even Johns

said it was boring.

The only significant item was the price tag: Offensive tackle Andy

Langsdorf went down with a knee injury, and was not really heard from

again. Thankfully, a fellow called “Big Country,” a Kentuckian named

James Moureaux, took his place and became one of the Tars’ true

secret weapons.

Foothill’s huge Knights were favored, but ignited by a perfect

57-yard touchdown pass from Giordani to Jon Benzinger, suddenly the

Sailors were thrust into the legitimate limelight with a 28-7

victory. Few prisoners were taken as the Tars led in net yardage,

324-131.

Brinkley, forever the motivator, was quoted in the next day’s

Daily Pilot as saying: “That’s all we’re talking about, one game at a

time. This group realizes, more than anybody, that we can’t be too

happy about the past.”

The game wasn’t five minutes over, but Brinkley was just lumping

these three nonleague wins in with the seniors’ last-season

disappointments of ’93. What a guy.

Brinkley had his own way of entertaining the troops, as Johns

recalled.

“He’s one of the funniest guys I know,” said Johns. “He’d get out

there and say, ‘It’s great to be young in Newport Beach.’

“He’d start talking about the weather and we’d wonder ‘What’s he

talking about?’

“Then he’d say, ‘You guys don’t know how good you’ve got it.’

“And then he’d start talking about a movie, called ‘Lonesome

Dove.’ ”

Canyon was next. Both teams were 3-0 and the Sailors survived,

21-19.

“Danny [Pulido] just hammers the corner [who was trying to tackle

the big receiver] and afterward [Pulido] was shaking his hand at

him,” said Johns of the taunt.

“We must have watched the game films 10 times and every time Coach

Brinkley is saying, ‘Hey, none of this.’ ”

Jeremy Mason really stepped up in the Canyon game.

“He just lit it up,” said Johns. “All of a sudden, one game, he

just came in and just destroyed everybody. A lot of us loved the

smashmouth part of the game; we enjoyed every minute.”

Dan Eadie and Sherif Pepic were major movers.

Newport, scoreless in the second half, did not fumble, was not

sacked or intercepted.

Savanna’s Rebels were ranked No. 1 in Division V circles, but a

10-game winning streak was snapped by the surging Sailors, who were

not intercepted, not sacked and lost one fumble, and, once again,

were scoreless in the second half.

“That was a fun night” said Johns, recalling Johnson’s 94-yard

opening kickoff return for a touchdown.

Johnson, under wraps for the most part through the first four

games, was suddenly the All-Star everyone at Newport had already

known.

Savanna averaged 45 points a game in its first four wins, but the

Tars prevailed, 22-15.

“I was in a one-on-one with their tailback and he just went right

by me,” said Johns. “But once we started hitting them hard, they

started getting softer.”

Next week, Part II, and the run for the 1994 Sea View League

championship.

* ROGER CARLSON is the former sports editor for the Daily Pilot.

He can be reached by e-mail at [email protected].