All-Orange County tailback Steve Brazas and two-way lineman Brett
Kacura were returning for their senior season in 1983 for the Newport
Harbor High Sailors in Sea View League football under the guidance of
Coach Mike Giddings.
So were linemen Mike Beech, Tom Kitchens, Frank Roa, Pat Williams
and Steve Moses, tight end Joey James, wideout Rich Power,
quarterback Bruce Goodfield, fullback Fritz Howser, linebackers John
Stockham and Mark Parry, as well as Long and Ho Truong in the
secondary.
And, surfacing would be linebacker-center Chris Parks and
linebacker Andy Stoneman, defensive back John Spangler, place-kicker
Sterling Coberly, Gary Cunningham, Scott Huntley and Jerry
Piaskowski.
So there wasn't much doubt in the minds of the Sailors, after
posting a 7-5 record in '82, that nothing less than a league
championship would do.
"This team could have won it all," Giddings mused during a recent
interview with the Murrieta resident as we talked about his memorable
four-year tour as a walk-on coach with the Sailors. "And the next
team (1984) could have won it all, too."
The Sailors would hold seven foes to less than a touchdown,
blanking five of them in 1983.
Offensively, it was all Brazas as the All-CIF back scored 13
touchdowns over a span of four league games en route to the finale
against Back Bay rival Corona del Mar.
It began with a powerful foe in Santa Ana where Tom Meiss was in
command of the Saints, and Giddings remembered it as a "heckuva
game." It was tied after three quarters, 15-15, and ended 22-22.
Santa Ana ran up 316 yards on the ground and it triggered some
changes in the Sailors' game, mainly in terms of "two-platooning." A
number of standouts would now be required to go both ways.
Assistant Coach Bucko Shaw would be instrumental in the next
nonleague start, a 37-0 thrashing of Don Lent's Cypress eleven.
Lent was Newport Harbor's coach in 1971-73 and Bucko, one of his
players, did not forget Lent's tendencies.
"Bucko had all the answers," Giddings said with a big grin.
The Tars ran into Sunset League power Huntington Beach the
following week and they could not stop the Oilers, losing, 35-14. A
lot of people could not stop the Oilers that year, as Huntington had
one of the most electrifying backs in Orange County history on its
side, UCLA-bound Danny Thompson.
Brazas was held to 50 yards on 15 carries and caught three passes
for 23 yards.
Sea View League play began with University High and it would take
a memorable pass play from Goodfield to Power in the second half to
