Tars roll on, 35-14

Barry Faulkner

The suspense lasted slightly longer than the Woodbridge lead. But,

in the end, Newport Harbor’s 35-14 Sea View League football victory

over the host Warriors Thursday at Irvine High amounted to about what

most Sailor rooters figured the first nine weeks of the season would

be: a prelude to a league title showdown with Foothill Thursday at

Tustin High.

A win over Foothill would give the defending league champion

Sailors (7-2, 3-1 in league), ranked No. 6 in CIF Southern Section

Division VI, at least a share of the league crown. Should Foothill

knock off Irvine tonight, a Newport win next week would give the Tars

a co-title and the league’s No. 1 playoff berth.

Woodbridge (1-8, 0-4) went 75 yards on 11 plays with the opening

kickoff, aided by a key fourth-down conversion on a fake punt pass,

to take a 7-0 lead with 8:18 left in the first quarter.

But if the Sailors’ defense was, in Newport Harbor Coach Jeff

Brinkley terminology “flat-footed,” the visitors’ offense appeared

willing and able to deliver a swift kick to his team’s momentum.

“I don’t know if it was being a Thursday night or what, but it was

a very weird feeling out here in pregame,” Brinkley said. “I told the

coaching staff, we needed to get some emotion going.”

Newport Harbor senior quarterback Michael McDonald and senior

tailback Dartangan Johnson appeared to have all the emotion they

needed, and they wasted little time sharing their sense of urgency.

On Harbor’s third snap, McDonald flipped to Johnson in the flat,

where he collected the ball, turned the corner and sprinted down the

sideline for a 74-yard touchdown.

Joel Walker’s conversion kick erased a Warriors’ lead that lasted

all of 65 seconds and the Sailors were on their way to 35 straight

points, before ushering on the subs with more than a quarter

remaining.

“This was our league title game, because, if we didn’t win this

one, we wouldn’t be playing for the league title next week,” said

McDonald, who threw for 139 yards and two touchdowns and added a

career-high 104 rushing yards on just six carries, including scoring

scampers of 4 and 1 yards. McDonald, who completed 9 of 18 passes,

but had four would-be completions dropped by receivers, also threw a

two-point conversion pass to Taylor Young.

Johnson whose 8-yard scoring run with 4:27 left in the third

quarter put an exclamation point on Newport’s efficient offensive

performance, rushed for 135 yards on 23 carries. It was his seventh

straight game of at least 100 rushing yards, upping his school career

record of 100-yard games to 16. Johnson went over the 1,000-yard

plateau for the second straight season (1,070) and upped his school

career-record rushing total to 3,075. He is only the sixth player in

Newport-Mesa history to rush for at least 3,000 yards.

While the offense scored on four of its first five possessions,

the Newport defense settled down, as well. The Sailors forced the

Warriors into eight punts and senior cornerback Ben Soza intercepted

a long pass in the end zone to halt another Woodbridge possession.

Senior tackle Chase Brawner was in on two quarterback sacks, among

nine stops behind the line by Sailor tacklers. Newport also stuffed

one running play for no gain and surrendered only 1 yard on five

other rushing attempts.

After Oermann had runs of 15 and 20 yards on the opening series,

the Warriors’ final 20 rushing plays gained just 35 yards.