The lights will be turned on for the first time this season at Davidson Field Friday night August 16th as the Newport Harbor High football team clashes with Capistrano Valley High in a controlled scrimmage to finish off week two of fall training camp. The action is scheduled to start at 7:00 p.m. It will be the Sailors first taste of competition a week ahead of their season opener on the road at Woodbridge in Irvine.
Under second year head coach Peter Lofthouse, the Sailors look to improve on their 3-6-1 record from a year ago with the goal of reaching the playoffs. The team looks to build around a defense led be experienced seniors at the linebacker and secondary positions and proven underclass talent at the skill positions on offense. The goal for the scrimmage is to execute and stay healthy.
“We’ve had a good start to training camp and so we like where we’re at,” Coach Lofthouse said after Wednesday’s practice. “We’ve stayed for the most part relatively healthy. The goal right now is get a few reps with our starters, get the jv’s a few more reps and hopefully we run the ball well, throw and catch well, and stay healthy, that’s the key.”
Capo Valley went 9-4 in 2018 and reached the CIF playoffs for the fourth straight season. The Cougars are led by first-year head coach Sean Curtis who takes over for Ernie Bucher after six seasons at the helm. Curtis was most recently the head freshman coach and varsity assistant at J.Serra.
“The opportunity to get out there and hit against a really good football program will give us a good barometer as to what Sunset League is going to be like,” Lofthouse added. “So we’re looking forward to that.”