Prep football: Something to talk about

Barry Faulkner

NEWPORT BEACH - The halftime cliches don’t apply in the Newport

Harbor High football locker room, where there’s much less Knute Rockne

than stone silence.

The Sailors didn’t need fiery oration to tell them a 7-0 lead over Sea

View League visitor Laguna Hills wasn’t quite what was expected.

“Everyone realized what needed to be done,” said Newport Harbor Coach

Jeff Brinkley, who, along with a homecoming crowd of 3,300 watched the

Sailors take command in the third quarter to claim a 23-7 triumph Friday

night. “We didn’t need a lot of talking; we just needed to perform.”

The Sailors (5-2, 1-1 in league), ranked No. 6 in CIF Southern Section

Division VI, marched 89 yards on 12 plays with the second-half kickoff to

double their lead.

Ryan Ortega, subbing for senior tailback Chris Manderino, who carried

nine times for 50 yards on the drive, sprinted 20 yards around the right

side for the touchdown, capping a procession which ate 6:33 off the

clock.

Brian Gaeta’s conversion kick made it 14-0, but the Sailors still

hadn’t made their point.

After stopping the Hawks (3-4, 0-2), ranked No. 9 in CIF Division VI,

on three downs, two straight punting snafus led to more points.

The first began with when the long snap sailed through the hands of

punter Brian Anderson, bouncing off his face mask. The melee that ensued

resulted in a 15-yard penalty against the Hawks (believed to be an

illegal kick), moving them back to their own 12. The next snap sailed

over Anderson’s head and out of the end zone for a safety.

Two plays after the ensuing free kick, Manderino burst 46 yards

through the left side for a touchdown to ice the victory, which will help

Harbor forget a 19-14 loss in the league opener last week to Irvine.

The Tars’ 16-point blitz required just more than three minutes.

“We needed this win,” Brinkley said. “We were concerned about the

emotion, coming off a tough loss. I was hoping we wouldn’t be mentally

out of it, but we started a little flat-footed. The second half was much

better than the first.”

Newport senior offensive tackle Scott Lopez said his team’s

third-quarter intensity was no accident.

“We just decided at halftime we had to turn the game over into our

hands,” Lopez recalled. “We went out and got things in order.”

The long touchdown drive to open the second half matched Harbor’s

first possession of the game, in which it went 80 yards on 12 plays to

take the lead.

Manderino, who finished with 180 rushing yards on 28 carries to up his

season total to 1,068 yards, had seven attempts for 39 yards on that

opening drive, including the 5-yard capper with 2:33 left in the first

quarter.

The drive also included a 38-yard Morgan Craig pass to Brian Gaeta to

the Laguna Hills 13-yard line.

Harbor struggled the rest of the half, however, as its next four

drives ended with two three-and-outs and a pair of third-play fumbles.

But the Sailors’ defense, led by senior All-CIF middle linebacker Alan

Saenz, helped keep the Hawks off the board.

Harbor’s defensive dominance continued until the closing moments, when

Laguna Hills ended seven-plus quarters without a Sea View League point on

an 11-yard scoring pass with 1:01 left.

Laguna Hills managed only 55 yards on the ground, 28 of which came on

one Matt Chandler run.

The Hawks’ Chris Johnson threw for 133 yards, but 58 of those came on

a bomb to spark the scoring drive, with several Harbor reserves on the

field.

Newport quarterback Morgan Craig completed 7 of 12 for 72 yards, hooking up four times with Gaeta, who collected 55 receiving yards.

Gaeta also added an interception and Saenz, who had several big hits,

recovered a Hawk fumble to help Harbor break even in the turnover battle.

Newport’s defensive showing came without senior all-league end Garrett

Troncale, who rested his sprained right ankle.

Ian Banigan, C.J. Collins, Rankin, Manderino, Jim Rothwell, and Dane

Barton, among others, picked up the slack for the Tars.