Tars find Link to victory

Barry Faulkner

The play is called X-in Post. But when Newport Harbor High

quarterback Kasey Peters called it, without the assistance of his

coaches, in the closing moments of Thursday’s Battle of the Bay

football game against visiting Corona del Mar, he figured he was

putting the Sailors in good hands.

That’s exactly where the ball landed this fateful play, as Peters

hit senior wideout Spencer Link in stride behind the Sea Kings’ last

line of defense.

Link, who until the final 3:30 of the game had played a contest he

would just as soon have forgotten, proceeded into the end zone for a

46-yard touchdown and the winning margin in the Sailors unforgettable

21-17 victory before 6,000 at Newport Harbor.

“He’s a winner,” Newport Harbor Coach Jeff Brinkley said of the

5-foot-9, 181-pound standout, who sat out the first two games this

fall with a balky shoulder, after earning Newport-Mesa Player of the

Year honors as a junior.

“He was a little rusty in the beginning, but he found a way to

make plays,” Brinkley added of Link, who scored three touchdowns, two

on catch-and-runs of 43 and 58 yards, to help Newport rally past CdM

last season, 29-14.

Link, who fumbled the ball away at the CdM 29-yard line after a

reception in the second quarter, had just three catches for 27 yards

and one run for minus-6 in the first three quarters.

His greatest disappointment, however, was yet to come. That

occurred with just less than six minutes remaining in the game after

the Sailors had marched 60 yards on 10 plays in hopes of cutting into

the Sea Kings’ well-earned 17-6 cushion.

Link, open near the CdM sideline, had separation from the closest

defender and was in position to catch Peters’ accurate, clutch toss

on fourth-and-five. But, with the ball in the air long enough for

onlookers to calculate that Link, positioned just outside the CdM 10,

was easily beyond the first-down marker, such thoughts were jolted by

a collective groan from the Newport Harbor side of the field.

The groan was triggered by the ball trickling through the hands

and down the front Link’s uniform for a drop that appeared to all but

lock up CdM’s first win in this series since 1998.

Link, however, wasn’t willing to accept that legacy.

“I wanted to make up for it,” said Link, who also noted his

inspiration came from the loss of senior teammate Trevor Theriot, who

left the game midway through the third quarter with what appeared to

be a fractured left arm.

Whatever the spark, Link fanned the flame by taking a punt at his

own 37-yard line, dodging the first line of tacklers, and sprinting

63 yards for a touchdown with 3:27 left in the game. A two-point

conversion pass from Peters to Thomas Martin, pulled the Sailors

(3-0), to within 17-14.

The Newport Harbor defense then forced a three-and-out after the

ensuing kickoff.

Newport, which, Brinkley said has not won so dramatically since

scoring on a blocked punt in the final 10 seconds against La Habra in

1987, took over at its own 24 with 1:45 left in the game.

Not surprisingly, Peters threw to Link on first down. It was

hardly a routine catch, however, as Link, already suffering from

muscle cramps in both legs, leaped to snag the ball, while managing

to come down inbounds for a 16-yard gain to the 40. The dazzling grab

both stopped the clock and triggered a roar from the Newport

faithful.

Peters threw to Alex Orth on the next snap for 14 yards to the CdM

46, and the clock ticked down as the chains were reset.

“We were in our two-minute offense, so I called two plays in the

huddle,’ Peters recalled. “[The Sea Kings] hadn’t shown man coverage,

but they were in man on Link and our other receiver [James Coder] on

that [winning] play. I saw the safety jump [move toward] Coder, so I

saw Link open on the post on the other side. I was hit as I threw it

and [Link] took it for six points.”

The play was stunning for more than its importance, as it was,

perhaps, the first time all night CdM defensive backs had failed to

keep Newport receivers in front of them.

“They had my number,” Link said of the Sea King secondary. “But

[the cornerback] was backing out on my post. Things slowed down when

the ball was in the air. It still hasn’t kicked in yet, but it

doesn’t get any better than this. More than anything, we wanted to

win this thing for Trevor.”

As bedlam overtook the Newport stands and sideline, Link struggled

off the field and immediately collapsed on the sideline as a trainer

massaged a cramp in his left calf muscle.

After the kickoff, three incomplete CdM passes and a sack brought

the Sailors’ offense back onto the field to run out the clock.

After Peters downed the ball to exhaust the final seconds and

Newport players began retreating toward midfield to meet teammates

and coaches rushing at them from the sideline, Link, typically,

charted his own path.

Marching directly toward a pack of CdM defenders he had, moments

before, managed to run away from and into Battle of the Bay history,

he shook hands and tapped shoulders as if the opponents were the

game’s hero.