High School Football: Harbor cooks up big win

Tony Altobelli

LA VERNE - The Newport Harbor High football team found the perfect

ingredient in its recipe for stopping host Claremont’s potent offensive

attack.

Just add water.

Under a steady light rain, the Sailors completely shut down the

Wolfpack’s offense en route to a 28-7 nonleague win Friday night at

Bonita High.

“That’s a good team we just beat over there,” Sailors’ Coach Jeff

Brinkley said. “They have tremendous speed and talent. It was just a

great team win for us. When you travel this far, it’s nice to get a win.”

Dominant on both sides of the ball, Newport (4-1) sloshed its way to

415 net yards, while holding the Wolfpack (3-2) to only 97, 77 of those

yards coming on one play.

“We didn’t do anything too fancy on defense,” Brinkley said. “We

played with a lot of intensity and we were able to bottle up their

attack.”

For the Wolfpack, the only fireworks on their side of the field came

during the halftime homecoming show. They managed only four first downs

and had 13 plays go for negative yardage.

Offensively for Newport Harbor, senior tailback Chris Manderino

rushed for 156 yards on 28 carries and had one touchdown in three

quarters of work.

“He’s a mudder,” Brinkley said of Manderino. “With his strong running,

that enabled us to open up our offense.”

It was vintage smash-mouth football for Manderino, who only had three

of his carries go for more than 13 yards.

Despite the impressive numbers, Manderino still prefers dryer

conditions.

“I really don’t like the rain,” he confessed. “It was hard to cut

back, so I kept it right up the middle.”

Manderino’s running allowed junior quarterback Morgan Craig some time

to pick the Wolfpack apart, which he did to the tune of 10-of-17 passing for 149 yards and two touchdowns.

“Morgan’s play was a real big lift for us,” Brinkley said. “He looked

more confident back there and as each week goes by, we’re going to ask a

little more from him.”

Craig’s favorite target was junior wide receiver Brian Gaeta, who

caught six passes for 98 yards and had one touchdown.

Newport set the tone on its first drive, marching 59 yards in 15

plays, with Manderino finding the end zone on a two-yard run.

The Sailors’ defense allowed only 14 total yards of offense the entire

first half, while the offense controlled the clock with long sustaining

drives.

Newport scored again when senior running back Ryan Ortega, who rushed

for 92 yards on 12 carries, plowed up the middle for a 15-yard score.

After a large helping of ground offense, Newport went to the air and

found success.

Craig hit Gaeta with a 26-yard touchdown pass midway through the third

quarter and later, hit wide receiver Mitch Gray with a 26-yard touchdown

strike, blowing the game open.

The Wolfpack’s side of the 3,000-plus in attendance finally had

something to cheer about when Tristian Walker, who was held at that point

to only 30 yards on 12 carries, broke free on a 77-yard run, setting up

their lone touchdown.

“We’ve had a nice preseason so far,” Brinkley said. “That’s what you

look for heading into league competition.”