Prep Football: Tars Win!

Barry Faulkner

COSTA MESA - Newport Harbor High football players said they were

playing on their heels. But for much of the opening half of Friday’s CIF

Southern Section Division VI championship game against Irvine at Orange

Coast College, on their backs may have been closer to the truth.

However, despite a swarming Vaquero defense which sacked quarterback

Chris Manderino eight times, the Sailors rallied for a dramatic 19-18

victory to claim their second section crown in 69 seasons.

Newport (13-0-1) was stunned by a 64-yard touchdown pass from Mike Ricci

to James Whitted on Irvine’s first offensive play just 1:54 into the

game.

Then, after Irvine end Brian Porteous popped the ball loose on a sack and

Brandon Mendoza recovered on the Vaqs’ 45-yard line, Ricci capped a

10-play drive with a well-placed fade pass to Eric Patton to make it

12-0.

The 12-point deficit was the Sailors’ biggest of the season. It had been

nearly seven full games since Harbor had trailed at all.

Brian Gaeta’s 38-yard field goal, the first of his two on the evening and

the first three-pointer of the season for the Tars, was about the only

first-half highlight for the Sea View League champions.

“I told our kids at halftime, I didn’t know if we came out nervous or

scared or what,” Newport Harbor Coach Jeff Brinkley said. “But whatever

it was, we were flat-footed.”

The Sailors put their foot down from the outset of the second half,

forcing a fumble on the first snap. Cornerback Kelsey Peterson recovered

at the Irvine 13 and Gaeta eventually cashed in with a 36-yard field goal

to halve the deficit.

The two teams exchanged punts, before Irvine showed it wasn’t through

yet. Ricci, who completed six of his first nine, connected with Chris

Sinner on a 57-yard post pattern to give the Vaqs (10-3-1) an 18-6.

After Irvine’s initial conversion kick sailed wide, the Vaqs elected to

go for two points on both successive TDs. Harbor junior end Garrett

Troncale, who would figure in the key play later in the fourth quarter,

sacked Ricci on the second two-point try and Harbor’s offense went to

work.

Newport senior tailback Andre Stewart, the Sea View Offensive Player of

the Year who came in with 2,245 rushing yards, had 40 yards on 15 carries

to that point.

But, darting behind blue-chip 6-foot-8, 262-pound left tackle Blair

Jones, Stewart finally found a chink in the Irvine defensive armor.

“I told our coaches we were going to run behind Blair on the left side in

key situations, because we didn’t have (6-6 senior 325-pound right tackle

Robert Cole, who watched the game from a wheelchair after breaking his

leg in the semifinals),” Brinkley said.

It finally worked, as Stewart took a third-down handoff and raced 42

yards to the Irvine 19, before Keith Short chased him out of bounds.

Brinkley went back to the same play on the very next snap and Stewart

sprinted untouched to the end zone. He finished with 159 yards on 33

carries. The score, along with Gaeta’s PAT, pulled the Tars to within

18-13 with 4:53 left. It also electrified the Harbor half of the capacity

crowd of 7,600 and triggered jubilation on the Sailor sideline.

“I was excited,” said Manderino, who ran into a pack of awaiting

teammates to celebrate after the TD run. “I think that was the turning

point in the game.”

Short, the Vaqueros versatile senior star, temporarily silenced the crowd

by taking the ensuing kickoff 82 yards to paydirt.

But a clipping call, which Irvine Coach Terry Henigan later pointed out

rather forcefully to officials had cost the Vaqueros the victory, negated

the big play.

Instead, Irvine marched to the Harbor 17, before Jessob Reisbeck missed a

34-yard field-goal attempt with 1:46 left in the third quarter.

After a Harbor punt, the Sailors’ defense, which had allowed an Orange

County-low 99 points coming in, took the pressure off its offense.

On third-and-12 from its own 22, Ricci dropped to pass. Troncale,

however, came clean off the left flank and punched the ball free while

sacking Ricci. Senior nose guard Andy Kalanz, a former running back,

scooped the ball up at the 4 and galloped into the end zone for the

deciding score with 10:15 left in the game.

“I was just playing football,” said Troncale, who had half of the Tars’

four sacks. “I got a piece of the ball and my buddy Kalanz ran it in.

It’s was a scoop and score. We work on that every day in practice.”

Irvine went to the air to try to rally, but Billy Clayton (one) and

Peterson (two) intercepted, the latter with 30 seconds left. “I’m really

proud of our kids,” Brinkley said. “This is an emotional thing. Everyone

wanted this real bad.”

Peterson added a sack, as did Kalanz, while linebackers Alan Saenz, Mike

Tunney and Manderino, along with defensive linemen Nick Langsdorf and

Nick Moghaddam, also played well for the winners.

Irvine managed just 71 yards on the ground, though Ricci finished with

166 passing yards.