Prep football: Newport romps

Barry Faulkner

DANA POINT - You can load up to combat the Newport Harbor High run,

but you cannot hide.

This was the inevitable truth revealed to host Dana Hills High, which

saw the Sailors mix the pass with the run well enough to earn a 41-14

nonleague football victory Friday night.

“I told our guys they should be prepared to pass block a little more

tonight, because I knew, sooner or later, someone was going to play us a

little differently,” Newport Harbor Coach Jeff Brinkley said .

Coming off two straight 200-yard-plus rushing performances by junior

tailback Dartangan Johnson, Brinkley’s hunch was correct, as the Dolphins

(2-2) crowded the box, leaving a little wiggle room for Sailor wide

receivers.

The result was 115 first-half passing yards by senior Sailor

quarterback Morgan Craig, who connected on 10 of 17 pass attempts by

intermission to fuel a 24-7 halftime edge.

Craig added a third-quarter touchdown toss to Adam Kerns, the second

Craig-to-Kerns TD connection of the night, to finish 11 of 19 for 130 yards, without an interception.

“(The Dolphins) weren’t detaching on our wideouts, so Morgan threw the

ball out there,” Brinkley said. “Our philosophy is to take what the

defense gives us and we had much better balance tonight (than previous

weeks). Morgan checked off into a couple pass plays and we got a couple

TDs out of our passing game.”

The Sailors (3-0-1), ranked No. 7 in Orange County and No. 3 in CIF

Southern Section Division VI, also did some damage on the ground.

Johnson, averaging a little more than 200 yards his first three

varsity starts this fall, broke loose in the third quarter after

collecting 56 rushing yards in the first half.

Johnson amassed 72 yards on five third-quarter attempts, including a

25-yard touchdown jaunt to cap the opening possession of the third

quarter. He finished with 128 yards and two TDs on 17 attempts and now

has 729 rushing yards this season.

Johnson gained 36 yards on a 49-yard touchdown drive on Harbor’s first

possession, including the 6-yard capper. Adam Kerns booted the conversion

to make it 7-0 with 6:48 left in the first quarter.

Newport Harbor’s defense, which came in sharing the Orange County lead

in scoring defense with just 14 points allowed, then created some quality

opportunities for its offense.

Mike McDonald recovered a fumble at the Dolphins’ 23-yard line to set

up a four-play mini-drive, completed when Craig hit Kerns on a 17-yard

post pattern to make it 13-0.

Dana Hills’ misdirection offense caught the Sailors off guard on the

first play of the second quarter, as Billy Tanner took a counter 48 yards

to the end zone to cut the deficit to 13-7.

Newport punted on its ensuing possession, but Jim Rothwell recovered

another Dolphin fumble at the Dana Hills’ 10 and Harbor widened the lead

with just two plays.

After a penalty and 19-yard completion to McDonald, Matt Casserly ran

for a 1-yard TD. Craig hit McDonald for a two-point conversion and Kerns

added a 30-yard field goal on the Tars’ next possession to establish the

17-point edge at the break.

For the third straight week, Harbor scored on its first third-quarter

possession and Kerns’ conversion kick began a personal 11-point run to

close out the third quarter.

First Kerns added the conversion kick, then caught a 15-yard TD toss

from Craig with 3:52 left in the third. He added another PAT, then, after

linebacker Matt Encinias recovered a fumble on the ensuing kickoff,

drilled a 26-yard field goal to make it 41-7.

Dana Hills’ next drive was halted by a Jon Vandersloot interception,

but the Dolphins went 85 yards on five plays on its next possession to

finalize the scoring as Newport Harbor substituted liberally on defense.

McDonald, who also completed both of his passes filling in for Craig,

caught four passes for 56 yards. Kerns added three receptions for 55

yards to help the Tars post seven of their 17 first downs through the

air.

“I was pleased we put together a pretty complete package on offense,”

Brinkley said. “We had a couple breakdowns on defense, but that’s a tough

offense to defend.”