High school playoff action in full swing locally today

It’s playoff time and that certainly won’t keep Estancia High senior Eric Duarte on the boys’ soccer team’s bench, nursing an injury.

The Eagles’ forward, who hyperextended his anterior cruciate ligament against Laguna Beach Feb. 6, is expected to start against Norwalk in the first round of the CIF Southern Section Division III playoffs today at 3 p.m. at Estancia.

“He was named MVP of the [Orange Coast League on Monday], so he’s all pumped up now,” said Estancia Coach Gannon Burks, whose team (10-6-3) won the OCL. “He’s got something to prove.”

Duarte is not the only one returning from a setback.

At Corona del Mar, boys’ basketball coach Ryan Schachter is expecting senior Joe Eberhard to return from illness. Schachter said Eberhard has been, “looking good,” in practices recently. Eberhard, who averages 15.5 points per game, plans to give his team a boost tonight at 7:30 when the fourth-seeded Sea Kings play host to Sultana in a CIF Division III-A second-round game. CdM, the CIF Division III-A defending champion, had a bye in the first round.

The Sea Kings also feature 6-foot-9 center Stefan Kaluz, a Brown-University-bound senior who averages 17.4 points, 10.7 rebounds and 2.3 blocks per game.

Newport Harbor has a standout big man of its own. Senior Kyle Caldwell (21.3 ppg.), the 6-9 center who’s going to UCLA on a volleyball scholarship, leads the Sailors (17-9) in their home game at 7 p.m. Newport will face Huntington Beach (22-4), in a first-round game of the CIF Division I-A playoffs.

The Newport Harbor High girls’ water polo team (25-3), the top seed in CIF Division I, will play at El Toro in a quarterfinal at 3:15 p.m.

Corona del Mar (21-6), the No. 2 seed in CIF Division I, will play against Montebello at the Commerce Aquatorium in a quarterfinal today at 3:30 p.m.

The Estancia boys’ basketball team (14-13), which won just two games last year, will assume the underdog role at 7:30 p.m. when it plays on the road against top-seeded Renaissance Academy in La Cañada, in a CIF Division III-A second-round game.

In wrestling, Estancia’s Pedro Lopez and David Phan, as well as Costa Mesa’s Cody De La Mater, Tamas Gyorfi and Juan Garces will begin competition in the two-day CIF Southern Section individual tournament (Eastern Divisional) at La Quinta High in La Quinta.

Newport Harbor’s Josh George (36-3 in the 140-pound division), Guillermo Perez and Cameron Rausch will be in the Coastal Divisional at Marina High. Corona del Mar’s Austin Kaye, Max Prescott and Kevin Lineback will be in the Northern Divisional at Oxnard.

— From staff reports