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Still plenty of reasons to celebrate

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The Newport Harbor High football team closed the book on the 2016 season with its annual banquet on Sunday at Balboa Pavilion.

Coach Jeff Brinkley, who completed his 31st season in charge of the Sailors, expressed disappointment that Newport Harbor were denied the playoffs even though the team finished third in the Sunset League.

But Brinkley still knew there were plenty of reasons to celebrate a season that featured many highlights, a sensational running back in Cole Kinder and a remarkable story in Max Werner.

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There were several awards received by various players, including Werner who won the inaugural Greg Gladstone Memorial Scholarship. It’s a $1,000 scholarship and an award for great character in the name of the former Newport Harbor water polo standout who died while surfing in Newport Beach on Jan. 23, 2010.

Werner was featured in the Daily Pilot a couple years ago amid his battle against Ewing’s sarcoma, a rare form of bone cancer in the pelvis. Back then doctors gave Werner a 50% chance of survival. But Werner came back to the Sailors.

He contributed as a defensive lineman for the Sailors this season.

“He has a positive outlook on life,” said Rich Gladstone-Lamas, who presented the award. “He has a passion for the game. In 2014, he was diagnosed with a rare form of bone cancer. Most kids would have given up and stopped playing football, but not him. He battled several rounds of chemotherapy and radiation treatments. I can’t tell you how impressed I was that he came back to play. I am thrilled that he is in remission.”

Gladstone-Lamas said the award was created by his wife Alex, the widow of Greg Gladstone.

The scholarship award winners at the Newport Harbor Football banquet were selected by the coaches. The awards also went beyond the players’ efforts on the field.

Gladstone-Lamas’ son, John Lamas, won the John Gust Scholarship Award. He was the 44th recipient of the award named after a former Newport Harbor football and wrestling standout who died tragically in a car accident.

Alex Michaelsen, the Sailors’ elite long snapper, won the Cade Feitler Scholarship, named after the Newport Harbor student who suffered a traumatic brain injury after a car accident.

Kinder received the Vince Mulroy Scholarship Award. Kinder and Michaelsen are still deciding on what college they will play for next season.

Kinder was also named the team’s MVP.

Kinder, a Daily Pilot Dream Team Offensive Player of the Year, holds the Newport Harbor rushing records for a single game (327) and a career (4,041). The Sailors have had some great running backs in their rich history. Kinder is definitely among the greatest. He scored 44 touchdowns in his career, one shy of the school record.

Newport Harbor seniors Tucker Knipp and Blake Terry both received the Kamble Chai Foundation Scholarship.

Michaelsen was named Newport Harbor’s Special Teams Player of the Year.

Gage Roberson was named the team’s Linebacker of the Year and Mike Jarboe the Offensive Lineman of the Year.

steve.virgen@latimes.com

Twitter: @SteveVirgen

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