Tars win, 22-0

Barry Faulkner

NEWPORT BEACH - After the first five minutes of Friday night’s 22-0

CIF Southern Section Division VI first-round football playoff victory

over visiting El Dorado High, the Newport Harbor side of the 50-yard line

became a Golden Hawk-free zone.

The Sailors’ defense, Orange County’s stingiest, having given up a

county-low 83 points in the regular season, did not allow El Dorado to

cross midfield after the Golden Hawks pushed to the Harbor 25, were

driven back 20 yards, then forced to punt on their opening possession.

El Dorado, which produced just 69 yards of total offense and surrendered

nine Newport Harbor sacks, reached its 49 in the closing moments of the

first half.

After intermission, the visitors got only as far as their own 45, as the

Sailors stopped 17 of the Golden Hawks’ 37 running plays at or behind the

line of scrimmage, including a third-quarter safety. Harbor also grabbed

one receiver for no gain after a completion, en route to their third

shutout in the last four games.

The victory propels the No. 2-seeded Sailors (10-0-1) into Friday’s quarterfinals against Villa Park. The Spartans (9-2) defeated Santa Ana,

38-28, Friday. The site will be determined by a coin flip today.

“Our defense sticks together and gets the job done,” said Newport junior

end Garrett Troncale, who finished with a pair of sacks.

Senior pass-rush specialist Brad Rothwell had three sacks, while middle

linebacker Alan Saenz (two), senior nose guard Andy Kalanz (one) and

senior reserve end Brad Craig (one) also got into the act.

“I guess we just wore them down,” Troncale said.

“We played good defense and we finally moved the ball a little better in

the second half,” Newport Coach Jeff Brinkley said. “Andre (Stewart, who

ran through a tackle for a 47-yard scoring burst two plays into the

second quarter) stuck it in the end zone, we were looking for one more

score to get over the hump. Once we got that, we put them in a position

to chase, which meant they had to throw the ball. Our ends did a great

job of getting pressure on their quarterback.”

Fittingly, it was the defense which pushed the Tars over “the hump,” on

the first snap after Stewart was chased out of bounds at the 1 on

fourth-and-goal from the 2, six plays after intermission.

Outside linebacker Chris Manderino exploded through a gap on the ensuing

snap and beat a horde of Harbor tacklers to tailback Nick Zehner about 2

yards deep in his own end zone to push the lead to 9-0.

After a Billy Clayton interception (his second) set the Sailors up at the

El Dorado 27 moments later, two Stewart bursts moved the ball to the 1.

Manderino dived over the right side on a sneak for the touchdown,

creating an insurmountable 15-0 cushion.

After El Dorado’s longest possession of the game (nine plays) resulted in

the seventh of its eight punts, Harbor went 65 yards on nine plays to

finalize the scoring. Stewart, who finished with 184 yards on 27 carries

-- his 10th 100-plus output of the season -- capped the drive with a

7-yard stroll through a cavernous hole created by center Luis Cruz, guard

Nick Haddy, tackle Robert Cole and fullback Travis Trimble.

El Dorado (5-6), the third-place team from the Empire league, limited the

Sailors to 154 yards total offense (it’s second-lowest total of the

season), but just couldn’t mount any offense.

In addition to the aforementioned sack pack, linebackers Mike Tunney and

Andy Rankin, tackle Nick Moghaddam, safeties Dayne Pfaff and Clayton, and

cornerbacks Justin Jacobs and Stewart, proved too tough to crack.

“We utilize what we have and we have speed,” Rothwell said. “So, we

incorporate that in our defense.”

El Dorado starter Brian Zurheller was sacked seven times. After

completing his first three passes, he connected on just 1 of 7 with two

interceptions, prompting El Dorado Coach Rick Jones to call upon Greg

Reese.

Reese, however, completed just 1 of 3 passes and was sacked twice.