Brinkley still hospitalized

NEWPORT BEACH — Newport Harbor High football coach Jeff Brinkley, who was hospitalized Friday night because of a heart arrhythmia, is still being held for tests and will likely be released Sunday, his assistant said.

Brinkley was expecting to be released Friday afternoon, but doctors wanted to run more tests, said defensive coordinator Tony Ciarelli.

Brinkley, 54, was taken to Hoag Hospital during halftime of Newport Harbor’s season opener against Aliso Niguel Thursday night after his heart started racing.

“Overall he sounded good,” Ciarelli said. “He’s feeling much better than he did last night.”

Ciarelli and offensive line coach Zach Biehl spoke from San Fernando Valley, where the two men were scouting a game between Long Beach Poly and Birmingham (Lake Balboa).

The Sailors play host to Long Beach Poly Friday at 7 p.m.

“When something like this happens, everything else becomes secondary in a sense,” said Ciarelli, who is also good friends with Brinkley outside of Harbor football. “On the other hand, you don’t want to let anybody down after all the hard work they’ve put in, so we have to stay focused and kind of split our feelings.”

The football team will meet Sunday morning at Newport Harbor, and Ciarelli said students “have been asking about his progression and how he’s doing, and they were relieved to hear he’s doing good.”

There are no definite answers about what this will mean for the rest of the season, but Ciarelli acknowledged that it was on Brinkley’s mind when he talked to him Friday afternoon.

“This is probably not a great thing to go through, and since your arousal level goes up as a football coach,” Ciarelli said.

Ciarelli has been coaching with Brinkley for 14 seasons, but this is a new situation for himself and the rest of the staff.

“He hasn’t missed a practice or a game that I can think of,” Ciarelli said. “Ever.”