Sailors sink Sea Kings

Bryce Alderton

Never one to shy away from giving a straight-forward opinion, Corona

del Mar High freshmen football coach Gary Almquist had to deal with

the reality exhibited by a polished, powerful Newport Harbor team

Thursday afternoon.

“They pounded us in a fashion that makes every coach on the

opposing sideline jealous and on their side proud,” Almquist said

after the visiting Sailors rammed through the Sea Kings, 35-13, in

the annual Battle of the Bay at CdM High. “Our linebackers are our

best athletes and they pounded them.”

The Sailors, who defeated Marina, 31-0, a week ago, dominated the

line of scrimmage, allowing tailback Jason Ruiz to romp through the

middle for touchdown runs of 45, 65 and 10 yards. Ruiz amassed 179

yards on 19 carries with fullback Nick Frazier gaining 29 yards on

five carries while also catching one pass from quarterback Kevin

Williams for eight yards.

“[Frazier] had a great game,” Almquist said. “It is not often two

of our coaches go up to a player and say, ‘You had a great game.’ ”

Newport (3-0) opened the game with a 15-play drive that ate up

eight minutes, 34 seconds and was capped by a 22-yard touchdown pass

from Williams to Jarrett Daniel, running down the sideline.

The Sailors had the ball for almost 13 minutes in the first half

and gained the ball right back early in the second half.

Daniel intercepted CdM quarterback Danny Malyacky at the 50,

ending the Sea Kings’ first drive of the second half. Six plays

later, Williams, flushed out of the pocket, hit Dan Winkle with a

30-yard touchdown pass and after a successful two-point conversion,

the Sailors led, 28-6.

Williams completed 6 of 9 passes for 88 yards, two touchdowns and

one interception.

“Williams did a great job of going outside and throwing the ball,”

Newport Coach Joe Urban said. “That loosened up the offensive line.”

Each team capitalized with a touchdown following an interception.

The two interceptions were the only two turnovers Thursday.

CdM cut the lead to 20-6 with less than 40 seconds to go in the

first half when Malyacky hit Steven Hillgren on a slant across the

middle and the receiver raced 79 yards for the touchdown.

Urban was careful not to become too overconfident, even though his

team still led by two touchdowns at the half.

“They burned us on [the 79-yard TD pass] and grabbed the momentum,

so I told our kids, ‘This is CdM, it is not over at halftime,’ ”

Urban said. “They are always well prepared and their coaches do their

homework. Hats off to them, especially [tailback Dio Johnson]. He is

a stud.”

Johnson gained 160 yards on 28 carries, 99 of those yards coming

in the second half as CdM took control of the ball for the final five

minutes of the game. The Sea Kings went 80 yards in 11 plays, capped by Johnson’s 3-yard TD burst up the middle.

But the offensive outburst was too little too late for CdM, which

saw an unrelenting Newport defense make the yards well earned.

Newport end Frank Muscatella wrapped up CdM ball carriers on two

consecutive plays for a total loss of 8 yards while cornerback Taylor

Sepulveda had the game’s only sack -- a 7-yard takedown in the second

quarter. Sepulveda caught one pass for 11 yards.

Hillgren stopped a Newport drive near the end of the first half

with an interception, setting up his touchdown catch two plays later.

Newport has won the last four meetings against CdM.

“We just had a physical group of kids that has had a tough week,”

Urban said. “We had some off-field problems, but the kids bounced

back well.”

Urban preferred to focus less on the win and more on the larger

picture.

“It is more important for us to develop good people, rather than

just good football players,” Urban said.