TARS WIN CIF

For a photo gallery of the game, click here.

IRVINE — As the Newport Harbor High boys’ water polo team came out of the pool for pre-game player introductions, many Sailors supporters in the estimated crowd of 2,200 gave the team a standing ovation.

After months of training, the season would all come down to 28 minutes. Newport Harbor was about to play its most important game of the year, the CIF Southern Section Division I championship game against a team it had narrowly defeated earlier in the season.

Oh, and the standing ovation? The Sailors spent the whole game earning that.

Newport Harbor jumped on Northwood early and cruised to an 11-3 victory Saturday night at Irvine High, bringing the Tars their 12th CIF title overall and first since 2000.

The margin of victory was the largest in a Division I final since the Southern Section went to the Roman numeral division system in 1992.

“Everyone was super fired up,” said Newport Harbor senior captain Clinton Jorth, who had two goals and two steals for the Sailors. “We started the game just so fired up. We were just so confident going into it. With our first goal, the momentum was going for us, and we just didn’t stop. We didn’t stop at all the rest of the game.”

Top-seeded Newport Harbor had a tenuous 2-1 lead after a quarter against No. 2-seeded Northwood, on goals from seniors Brandon Parole and Colin McKibbin.

But Newport Harbor (27-3) owned the second quarter, scoring five consecutive goals to surge into halftime with a comfortable lead over the Timberwolves (16-11).

After McKibbin scored again, junior David Linden’s steal and counterattack goal put the Tars up, 4-1. Then, Linden got another key steal from Northwood’s Jonathan Colton right in front of the goal. He tipped the ball to Newport Harbor goalie Myles Christian, who slung a pass way up the pool to McKibbin.

McKibbin’s goal on a one-on-nobody put Newport up, 5-1, then Andy Hayes scored from two meters with 1:42 left in the half. With five seconds before halftime, McKibbin scored his fourth goal from up top, and Newport Harbor was cruising, 7-1.

“We’ve been playing together forever, and [winning CIF] has been our goal forever,” said Parole, who also had three steals and whose defense helped hold Northwood standout Travis Noll scoreless. “We just came super-prepared and pumped up. It’s just the unity of our team. I know we’ve been saying it game after game after game, but that’s what it is. We just wanted it so much more.”

Newport Harbor kept building its lead in the second half, scoring goals in bunches and increasing the margin to eight when Hayes scored the game’s last goal with 5:48 left in the fourth quarter.

Late in the fourth quarter, Newport Harbor Coach Jason Lynch called timeout to insert seniors Jimmy Burger, Spencer Richley, Austin Fleming and Rush Stevens, as well as backup goalie Nick Holbrook.

“All of the seniors, we’re all best friends,” McKibbin said. “Since we were freshmen, we knew we were going to have a great team. Over the years we’ve just seen it building. We had a good feeling about this. We’ve worked so hard for it; we just couldn’t let it go.”

Lynch said after the game that it was his team’s best game of the season. Lynch, who has been coaching high school boys’ water polo for 19 years, also said this year’s Sailors are the best team he’s ever coached.

“They’re beyond great,” said Lynch, whose team will next compete in the CIF Masters tournament, Nov. 23-24 (pairings will be released Monday). “They’re exceptional. They’re a true team.”

The Sailors had narrowly beaten Northwood, 8-7, in a four-overtime game on Oct. 9.

“I wasn’t happy with [that game] at all,” Lynch said. “They didn’t bring the focus, but they did tonight, when it mattered most. I thought our defense was the difference. All of the kids did a great job at helping back and keeping the ball out of two meters.

“They just love each other so much, they work so hard for each other every day. It all came together today, and I hope they understand what it was all for. I think they do.”

Jorth does. As a sophomore, he was out with an injury when Newport Harbor lost in the Division I title game to Long Beach Wilson. But after Saturday night’s win, the only remaining player from that 2005 team closely gripped the CIF championship plaque.

“Coming back and being able to play in the championship game my senior year is the best way to retire from my high school career of water polo,” Jorth said with a grin. “It’s so awesome. I’ll come back to Newport Harbor and see the 2007 CIF championship plaque, and know that was me.

“When someone asks me what I did in high school, it’s not ‘I hung out with the girls’ or whatever. It’s [that I] won a CIF title with Newport Harbor High School.”

CIF Southern Section

Division I Playoffs

Championship game

Newport Harbor 11, Northwood 3

SCORE BY QUARTERS

NH – McKibbin 4, Jorth 2, Hayes 2, Linden 2, Parole 1. Saves – Christian 10, Holbrook 3.

NW – Colton 3. Saves – J. Hartshome 6.

MATT SZABO may be reached at (714) 966-4614 or by e-mail at matthew.szabo@latimes.com.