Yeager thrives in Masters

IRVINE — Nick Yeager didn’t get a chance to play in Newport Harbor High’s 6-5 loss to El Toro in the CIF Southern Section Division I boys’ water polo semifinals.

But the inaugural CIF Masters Tournament, for both Yeager and his Sailors teammates, continues to offer a chance at redemption.

Yeager scored two goals on offense and had two steals on defense, helping lift Newport Harbor past Villa Park, 9-6, in a Masters Tournament quarterfinal Friday at William Woollett Jr. Aquatics Center.

“I’m glad that I can finish it out actually playing,” said the Newport senior, who missed the El Toro game due to a penalty incurred in the Division I quarterfinal win over CdM. “It’s awesome that I get a second chance.”

The No. 3-seeded Sailors (25-6) move on to play No. 2-seeded Northwood in the semifinals today at 3 p.m. The championship game is scheduled for 7 p.m.; El Toro and Santa Barbara are in the other semifinal.

Newport Harbor had lost to Villa Park, 9-7, in a nonleague game on Sept. 26. But the Sailors came out quickly on Friday night and never trailed, scoring twice in the first three minutes.

Blake Hockenbury scored from the left side with 6:02 remaining in the first quarter, then Yeager got a steal and led the counterattack.

His shot, into the left corner of the goal, gave Newport a 2-0 lead just 4:27 into the game.

“When we played them the first time, we spotted them a three-goal lead,” Yeager said. “It was 3-0 after the first quarter, and we could never recover from that. This game was all about getting revenge for that. We knew we had to come out hard, because we knew from before that they were going to. I think we did.”

Villa Park, like Newport Harbor, received an at-large berth into the tournament after losing in the Division II semifinals. The Spartans did fight back against the Sailors, getting a rebound goal by Josh Samuels and a man-advantage goal by Rex Learmouth to tie the score at two-all.

Clinton Jorth’s skip-shot goal with 2:46 left in the quarter gave the Sailors back the lead, but Villa Park’s Dillon Fisher scored another on another power play with 1:12 left in the first.

“All of their goals were on defensive mistakes,” Newport Harbor Coach Jason Lynch said. “We made it too easy on them. We were a little scrambled on our five-man [defense] early. They do a little driving that confused us a little bit.”

Riley Hayes’ goal with 6:07 left before halftime gave the Sailors a 4-3 lead, and Jorth’s cross-cage skip shot again put Newport up, 5-4.

With 1:52 left in the second quarter, Jorth then sent a beautiful cross-pool pass to Yeager, who stuck it in at the near post for a 6-4 halftime lead.

“He did a nice job tonight, especially defensively,” Lynch said of Yeager. “That was huge for him. That’s been the message to the seniors the whole time: ‘This could be your last game.’”

One such senior, goalie Bryce McLain, had 10 saves. He said losing to Villa Park earlier in the season definitely provided motivation.

“We needed to redeem ourselves and come out really hard, show them that we were serious,” McLain said. “We tried to control the tempo of the game this time, to speed it up and play to our level.”

Villa Park drew within 7-6 headed into the fourth quarter, but Colin McKibbin’s goal from just inside five meters gave the Tars an 8-6 lead with 5:53 left in the game.

After McKibbin earned a Villa Park exclusion, Brandon Parole knocked one in across the cage with 2:08 left, giving Newport Harbor its final margin of victory.

Newport Harbor now faces Northwood, the Division I runner-up. It’s one of the few elite teams the Sailors haven’t yet played this season, but they’ll likely have their hands full with Timberwolves senior Caleb Hamilton. Coming into the Masters Tournament, Hamilton had scored 115 goals this season and is averaging over four goals per game.

El Toro beat Northwood, 11-8, in the Division I final on Tuesday.

“We really look forward to [playing Northwood], because we played El Toro to a one-goal game,” Yeager said.

McLain said he likes his team’s chances.

“Everyone’s playing really well,” he said. “If everyone has a good game and everyone’s on, I think we can definitely win this thing.”

In earlier action Friday, Newport Harbor beat Redlands, 10-1, in the first round behind four goals from McKibbin.

CIF Masters Tournament

Quarterfinal

Newport Harbor 9, Villa Park 6

Score by Quarters

Villa Park 3 2 1 0 — 6 Newport 3 3 1 2 — 9

Villa Park -- Learmouth 2, J. Samuels 2, Fisher 1, P. Mitchell 1. Saves -- Rapacz 6.

Newport -- Yeager 2, Jorth 2, Hockenbury 2, McKibbin 1, Parole 1, R. Hayes 1. Saves -- McLain 10.

CIF Masters Tournament

First round

Newport Harbor 10, Redlands 1

Score by Quarters

Redlands 0 0 1 0 — 1 Newport 3 4 1 2 — 10

Redlands -- Kwappanberg 1. Saves -- Davis 4.

Newport -- McKibbin 4, Jorth 2, A. Hayes 1, Hockenbury 1, Parole 1, Yeager 1. Saves -- McLain 2.