Bravehearts

Patrick Laverty

Needing a victory to maintain hope of reaching the CIF Southern

Section Division VI playoffs, Newport Harbor High’s defense stepped

forward with a tremendous effort Friday, holding Laguna Hills scores

to overcome an 11-point halftime deficit and post an 18-14 victory.

Keying the defense was the Sailors’ trio of junior linebackers,

Thomas Martin, Greg Miner and Trevor Theriot.

After allowing 194 yards and two touchdowns in the first half,

Newport Harbor’s defense limited the Hawks to 58 yards over the final

two quarters.

The biggest stop came after Laguna Hills recovered a fumble at the

Newport Harbor 7-yard line in the fourth quarter.

Newport Harbor came up with a goal-line stand, aided by the

efforts of backup linebacker Taylor Young, who was in on three of the

four stops, and the offense then drove 99 yards for the winning

score.

“I don’t know if the intensity goes up or what happens,” Brinkley

said of the goal-line stand. “I just think that the players knew that

their backs were against the wall.”

Martin (6-foot, 215 pounds), Miner (6-1, 190) and Theriot (6-1,

221) are all first-year starters, but they have been the leaders of

the defense this year and that was evident against Laguna Hills.

Martin was a part of 13 tackles for the Sailors, including a

13-yard sack that he shared with tackle Austin Nieto and another

4-yard sack.

Miner contributed with a big tackle for a loss in the second half

and Theriot had a couple tackles for losses and was a big part of the

Sailors’ goal-line stand, including the fourth-down stop at the

1-yard line.