Prep football: Tars roll over Seahawks

Barry Faulkner

NEWPORT BEACH - Ocean View High Coach Sean Simpson said he hadn’t

seen anything like host Newport Harbor after the Sailors’ 49-0 romp in

the first round of the CIF Southern Section Division VI football playoffs

Friday night.

Newport junior tailback Dartangan Johnson also saw something

unprecedented against the Seahawks.

The No. 3-seeded Sailors (9-1-1), ranked No. 6 in Orange County,

advance to face Suburban League tri-champion Cerritos (9-1) at a site to

be determined by coin flip in a quarterfinal scheduled Friday.

Simpson was referring to the caliber of team the Sailors presented in

winning their fifth first-round playoff game in a row, their 11th in 12

postseason appearances under 16-year coach Jeff Brinkley.

“They’re the best we’ve seen, by far,” said Simpson, whose team

(3-7-1) fumbled the second play from scrimmage and was relegated to

playing catch-up the rest of the night. “(The Sailors) are so disciplined

and well coached, they just don’t make mistakes. They’re big and strong

up front and they do things very well.”

Johnson, whose postgame smile was as broad as the holes he cavorted

through for 239 yards and five touchdowns on just 10 carries, was

referring to the gaps blown open by his starting front wall.

“I can’t say I have,” said Johnson, when asked if he’d ever had such a

consistently unobstructed view of the opponent’s end zone. “I’ve never

scored five TDs before at any level.”

Doing the honors up front were senior tackles Robert Chai and John

Dobrott, senior center Jeff Marshall, as well as junior guards A.J.

Slater and Chris Badorek.

Johnson, who now has 1,719 rushing yards, putting him back in reach of

becoming the third straight Harbor tailback to reach 2,000, scored on

runs of 5, 47 and 55 yards before nine minutes had elapsed. He added a

9-yard TD run in the second quarter, then sprinted 77 yards to paydirt

with his final carry of the night, just 98 seconds into the second half.

“We had a great week of practice and we were focused tonight,” said

Johnson, whose single-season rushing yards are fifth best in Harbor

annals.

That rich Newport Harbor tradition, now in its 71st varsity season,

does not include a playoff victory by any bigger margin. The 1982 team

routed Norwalk, 55-6, in the first round, while they 1999 squad earned a

49-0 Division VI semifinal decision over Kennedy.

Brinkley, like his counterpart on the other sideline, was impressed.

“I thought we played well on both sides of the ball,” Brinkley said.

“(Johnson) ran the heck out of the ball and I thought we played good

defense. It was a nice first week and, hopefully, we can build on it.”

Scoring three touchdowns on the first eight plays led to dozens of

Sailor reserves building some experience, as more than 50 Tars saw

action, including freshman tailback Spencer Link (five carries for 65

yards).

“Those guys deserve some playing time, because, every week, they work

so hard in practice,” Brinkley said.

Quarterback Casey Peters, who along with Link led this year’s freshman

squad to its first league title since 1984, was among those who saw

several snaps.

Harbor, coming off its lone loss last week to Westchester, in which

Brinkley was disappointed by his players’ effort, made sure its tempo was

crisp from the outset.

After cornerback Brian Gaeta recovered Ocean View’s aforementioned

fumble, Johnson took just three plays to open the scoring. The first of

seven Adam Kerns conversion kicks made it 7-0 with 10:09 left in the

first quarter.

Johnson capped Harbor’s second possession, a three-play TD drive, with

a 47-yard scoring romp, then bolted 55 yards on the second play of

Newport’s third possession to bury the Golden West League’s third-place

team.

Johnson’s fourth TD cashed in a Warren Junowich interception, one of

several big plays by a dominant defense.

Linebackers Cory Ray, Tyler Miller and Matt Encinias, as well as ends

Jim Rothwell and David Marshall, tackle Scott Kohan, nose guard Joe

Foley, corners Gaeta and Kerns, and safeties Junowich and Mike McDonald,

led the way for the county’s stingiest unit to record its fourth shutout

this fall.

Ocean View managed just 38 yards rushing and 36 through the air, while

Newport amassed a season-high 425 rushing yards and 460 total offense.

Rhett Hartsfield and Brian Campos rounded out the Harbor scoring with

TD runs of 13 and 5 yards, respectively.