Prep football: Tars’ trickery pays off

Barry Faulkner

NEWPORT BEACH - The Newport Harbor High football team unwrapped a

few playbook leftovers against visiting Cerritos one day after

Thanksgiving.

The result was a satisfying 36-25 victory Friday night over the Dons,

which propelled the No. 3-seeded Sailors (10-1-1) into Saturday’s CIF

Southern Section Division VI semifinal at unseeded La Mirada. The

Newport-La Mirada showdown is a rematch of last year’s semifinal, in

which the Sailors upset the previously unbeaten and top-seeded Matadores,

35-16.

Combating an explosive Cerritos offense, triggered by elusive senior

Tim Austin, who scrambled from the shotgun to produce 201 rushing yards, typically conservative Sailors Coach Jeff Brinkley, whose gadget plays

have generally been reserved the for the practice field, opened things

up.

“We always have what we call the complete package in,” Brinkley said.

“Tonight, we didn’t leave (some trick plays) waiting in the wings.”

The hosts uncorked a flea-flicker throwback to the quarterback for a

touchdown, a swinging gate two-point conversion run, as well as

uncharacteristic misdirection runs by fullback David Marshall and

quarterback Morgan Craig that kick-started critical touchdown drives.

“Coach Brinkley and the staff did a real good job of coming up with

some schemes tonight,” said Craig, who threw for four TDs and scored

another on the receiving end of Mike McDonald’s “Nebraska pass,” which

built the lead to 22-7 with 1:26 left before halftime.

David Marshall made the swinging gate conversion run, a play which

Harbor sets up for after every TD, but had not utilized all season.

Marshall sprinted 42 yards to the Cerritos 44 on the first play of a

nine-play, 86-yard scoring drive, on a play in which tailback workhorse

Dartangan Johnson exited the backfield in motion, evidently leading the

Dons to think pass.

“We tried to exploit some parts of our game they may not have worked

on very much,” Marshall said.

The confusion continued for the visitors (9-2) after the Suburban

League tri-champions closed to within 29-19 with a 28-yard Austin pass to

Dawin Whiten with 7:59 left in the game.

Johnson returned the ensuing kickoff 48 yards to the Cerritos 40, but

a personal-foul penalty put the Tars back in their own territory.

On the first snap, the Sailors lined up in their full-house backfield,

typically used in short-yardage or and goal-line situations. But as the

backs angled behind left tackle, Craig snuck around the right corner on a

26-yard bootleg scramble that muffled the Cerritos crowd and and returned

momentum to the Harbor huddle.

“It was time to try to catch them off guard,” Brinkley said of the

call, which he acknowledged was one of a boat load of big plays for both

teams.

Six plays later, Craig capped a highly productive aerialperformance by

dropping a bootleg pass over Marshall’s shoulder in the back right

corner of the end zone. Adam Kerns’ fourth conversion kick gave the Tars

an insurmountable 36-19 lead with 4:37 left in the game.

“I felt like we had to be aggressive with our play calling,” said

Brinkley, whose postgame praise of Craig is becoming predictable.

“Morgan has been playing this way all season,” Brinkley said of the

senior two-year starter, who completed 8 of 14 for 122 yards and also

rushed for 37 yards on six carries. He now has 31 career TD passes and

nearly 2,800 career passing yards.

Craig’s 12-yard bootleg keeper, on which he turned up inside and

lowered his shoulder to get the Sailors’ final first down, let the Tars

run out the clock and enjoy a postgame celebration on the seniors’ final

game at the school’s stadium.

“We’re fortunate to be practicing again on Monday,” Brinkley said.

“The intensity level certainly climbed this week and all the coaches

could feel the kids were very focused tonight. We talked a lot about not

this not being the night to let it end.”

Cerritos had no answer for Harbor’s offensive balance, which included

a 104-yard, 23-carry effort by Johnson, who became the first ball carrier

to gain more than 100 against the Dons’ nine-in-the-box defensive scheme.

Offensive linemen Robert Chai, A.J. Slater, Jeff Marshall, Chris

Badorek and John Dobrott, tight ends David Marshall and Joe Foley, and

fullback Dave Erickson helped the hosts compile 215 rushing yards, to go

with their 137 passing yards.

“We knew what we were in for,” Cerritos Coach Kurt Bruich said of the

Sailors’ physical running game. “They were much bigger than us, up front

and they pretty much pounded on us. And they made big plays with their

wide receivers and quarterback, which was the difference.”

Senior Brian Gaeta hauled in Craig’s first two TD tosses, from 9 and

11 yards, respectively. Gaeta finished with 52 yards on four receptions,

all in the first half.

Kerns caught a 30-yard TD from Craig on a wheel route which put Harbor

ahead, 29-16, with 4:17 left in the third quarter.

Bruich was dissatisfied with his team’s passing game, which produced

just eight completions in 23 attempts, with just 31 first-half passing

yards.

“We dropped so many balls it was ridiculous,” Bruich said.

Austin, whose rushing total was a season high, had a 35-yard

completion on a flea-flicker of his own on a 78-yard scoring drive early

in the fourth quarter.

Austin sprinted 23 yards up the middle of the Harbor defense, a

familiar sight all night, for the Dons’ final TD.

But senior Lu Castillo made a fair catch on the subsequent short

pooch kickoff and Cerritos never saw the ball again.

Cory Ray, Scott Kohan, Foley, Tyler Miller, Kerns, Gaeta and McDonald

spearheaded the defensive effort for the winners.