Huntington Beach Edges Newport Harbor

Doug Cunningham, Huntington Beach High School running back, listened carefully to the question and never hesitated in giving his answer.

“We can’t play any worse,” he said. “We just couldn’t get it going. We gotta get our act together.”

Imagine what Cunningham would have said if his team had lost. As it was, Huntington Beach overcame a miserable three quarters to defeat Newport Harbor, 7-6, in a nonleague game Thursday night at Huntington Beach.

A crowd of 3,500 sat in near silence for the first half and nearly half of the third quarter as the teams’ offenses were silent, deadlocked in a scoreless tie.

Each team struggled to gain yardage. Newport Harbor (2-1) had only 109 yards of offense in the first half, Huntington Beach (3-0) had 81. It was tough to tell if it was exceptional defense or lousy offense that caused the problem. Probably a little of both, the teams’ coaches said afterward.

“We didn’t run effectively,” said Jeff Brinkley, Newport Harbor coach. “In order to win we have to run it.”

Said George Pascoe, Huntington Beach coach: “We didn’t do a good job. I’m happy with the defense (though).”

Finally, Josh Klein kicked a 32-yard field goal with 7 minutes 4 seconds left in the third quarter to give Newport Harbor a 3-0 lead.

Klein added a 34-yard field goal on the second play of the fourth quarter and Newport Harbor led, 6-0.

But something changed after that. The Huntington Beach players on the sidelines put four fingers in the air and said, “C’mon. Fourth quarter. It’s ours.”

They proved to be accurate.

Russell Eisenman returned Klein’s kickoff to the 47, but a holding call against Huntington Beach moved the ball back to the 39. It was still good field position and now the crowd was buzzing.

The Oilers came out throwing. On first down, quarterback Jeff Gibson threw to Chad Taylor for nine yards. Cunningham, who rushed for 109 yards in 18 carries and had an interception, gained a yard for a first down at the 49.

Consecutive completions to Eisenman gained 20 and 22 yards and moved the ball to the Newport Harbor 9.

Cunningham then carried nine yards for the touchdown. Tony Canini added the extra point and Huntington Beach had a 7-6 lead