Corona del Mar, Newport Harbor football teams eager to play Battle of the Bay
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Jake Meer knows he’ll see some familiar faces staring back at him when he steps onto the field Saturday night.
The Newport Harbor High football senior quarterback wouldn’t have it any other way.
“We’ve been competing against CdM guys since we were in second grade,” Meer said, adding that they were opponents growing up in the Matt Leinart Flag Football League. “It’s been fun. It was Mariners Elementary against Andersen kids, then Ensign [Middle School] against CdM. It’s just fun. We’ve been competing for a long time.”
Back then, of course, there weren’t thousands of fans watching. But that will be the case Saturday, when the Sailors and Sea Kings renew the Battle of the Bay rivalry at 7:30 p.m. at Orange Coast College in a Bravo League game.
Newport Harbor leads the overall series, 40-23, and has won the Battle of the Bay the last two years. Before that, Corona del Mar ran off 10 straight rivalry victories.
Meer and CdM senior quarterback Brady Annett answered questions at the monthly Tackling Sports meeting Monday night at Oasis Senior Center, along with Newport Harbor head coach Matt Burns and CdM head coach Kevin Hettig. CdM Principal Jake Haley, Newport Harbor Principal Sean Boulton and Newport-Mesa Unified School District Supt. Wesley Smith also joined in the discussion.
CdM (6-0, 1-0 in league) is the designated home team and will be favored against Newport Harbor (2-4, 0-1). The Sea Kings are coming off probably their most impressive win of the season so far, a 33-10 drubbing of last year’s league champion San Juan Hills on Friday night.
Will Chavez and Cash Pearsall had interceptions on defense for the Sea Kings, and Arshan Habibi recovered a fumble.
Annett, who has returned strong from a torn labrum suffered last season in league, has three very talented targets in Haley’s son, sophomore JJ Haley, along with seniors Dorsett Stecker and Garrett James. The trio has combined for 80 catches for 1,332 yards and 22 touchdowns this season.
Yet, the numbers won’t mean much when competition begins on Saturday. Hettig is a social studies teacher at CdM and Burns teaches science at Harbor, so they are on campus and know about the build-up to Saturday night.
Hettig is in his third year as head coach but has been CdM’s offensive coordinator for 15 years. Burns, in his second year in charge, graduated from Newport Harbor in 1994. He was a junior linebacker on the 1992 team, which beat CdM in the Division 4 playoff semifinals to make the program’s first CIF title game. Burns also was a longtime assistant coach under former coach Jeff Brinkley.
“The energy, the feel with this game is so much different than any other game,” Hettig said. “It’s about who plays harder in this game, and that’s what is so fun about this thing. With all of the noise and everything that’s going on, it comes down to that little piece of who plays harder. That’s the beauty of the sport, and kind of the awesome part of this game.”
Newport Harbor’s four losses have all come by a touchdown or less, including last Friday’s 17-14 setback on the road against Tesoro.
Meer has also spread the ball around in the passing attack, with juniors Shane McKibbin, Jackson Stremick and Ryan Palmer all hauling in more than 20 catches so far this season.
Last year, Meer had a rushing touchdown and a passing touchdown in the Battle of the Bay. Glenn Baranoski, a recent commit to the University of San Diego at linebacker, had the go-ahead 2-yard rushing score in the final minute.
Boulton said the only sport he really knows is golf, but he surely looks forward to the battle against CdM on the gridiron. He’s good friends with Haley, who was on staff as assistant principal when Boulton was principal at Laguna Hills High.
“It’s a privilege to be a part of it, to be a bystander really and support the team, support the school and the community through this game, win or lose,” Boulton said.
Smith, who had 24 years of public school education experience when he was hired as superintendent in 2021, said the Battle of the Bay rivalry is unique in his eyes.
“I’ve never seen a rivalry where the athletes represent the character and the values of the community like these athletes do,” Smith said. “They’re respectful. They shake hands. They’re going to be warriors on Saturday, but today, they’re friends. They’re going to play hard, and do so in an honorable way. That’s what this community looks like to me, as someone who’s been here for four years. They represent that.”
