Newport Harbor rolls past Marina, moves to 2-0

Boswell Field (Westminster HS) (Thursday night game)

There was no Hawaii hangover from last week for the Newport Harbor football team, as it defeated Marina 52-7 on Thursday at Westminster High School

“We’ve been pretty fortunate this season because based off last year’s team and the success we had, we were able to return roughly 15-16 starters from last season, so there’s a lot of football players on our field that have a lot of experience, a lot of confidence and that is showing early in the preseason in these first two games,” Sailors coach Peter Lofthouse said.

The Sailors only needed two plays and 21 seconds to get on the board first, as Colton Joseph found Kashton Henjum for the score to put the Sailors up 7-0.

On the Vikings’ first drive, after they ran the ball two times in a row, Newport Harbor had a hunch its opponent would throw it on third down. Whether that was the Sailors’ hunch or not, the Sailors were correct, as Peter Kim threw it to a receiver, who bobbled the ball, eventually falling in the hands of Billy Ridley who ran it in for six.

After forcing Marina to go three and out, it looked as if the Sailors were going to get great field position, but instead the ball went off a Sailor player and Marina recovered it near midfield.

The Sailors didn’t panic, as on the Vikings’ next drive, Kim threw another interception this time to Davis Post, who took the ball down to the 2-yard line. Following a personal foul penalty, which wiped away a Newport Harbor touchdown, Joseph used a quick shovel pass to Lamarque who ran it in for a 30-yard touchdown.

The Vikings finally had some good fortune go their way, as Kim, found Luke Lastra for a 77-yard touchdown. But after that touchdown, the Sailors shut out the Vikings the rest of the way.

While the Sailors’ defense made sure to keep Marina off the board, the offense was effective as Joseph, added three more touchdowns in the first half, before taking a breather for Bode Stefano in the second half. In addition, Payton Irving scored a touchdown in the third quarter, marking his first touchdown scored since week 4 of last season.

“In Hawaii, there was a lot of mistakes we had and a lot of things we need to fix, so all week at practice, we would just focus on the small things we need to do to be perfect. We still have a lot of work to do, but we got better,” Henjum said.

Defensively, the Sailors shined as Cade Fegel, a sophomore, had an interception and a fumble recovery.

“Last season, we had a lot of new players who were making some mistakes in some tough football games. They’ve learned from that, they’ve brought in new energy, confidence and understanding what we’re trying to do offensively and defensively and that is translating on the field now,” Lofthouse said.

The Sailors (2-0) will need to be clicking on all cylinders next week, as they head down to San Juan Capistrano to play JSerra on Friday at 7 p.m.

“We’re just going to have to focus in practice this next week. No messing around, we’re going to have to get our things done, special teams needs to be on point and we can put up a battle,” Fegel said.

Article by Teran Rodriguez who can be followed on Twitter @TeranRodriguez1

————– other notes —————

Thanks to Ted Meyers (photographer) for submitting Kashton Henjum’s one-handed catch, which gave the fans a thrill. Amazing catch.

Thanks for Jennifer Brennon Photography for the slide show photos.

And our sponsor McKown Wenstein Associates   M | W | A

————– game stats and players of the game updated as information filters in ————–

QB
Joseph 10/15, 209 5-Tds
Stefano  2/2, 25

REC
Henjum – 4 for 118  2-Tds
Lamarque  – 2 for 50  2-Tds
Remsen  – 1 for 13  1-Td
Irving – 2 for 32
Lavin –  1 for 10
Bitetti  – 1 for 15

RUSH
Irving  – 6 carries 29 yards  1-Td
Joseph – 1 scramble 12 yards
Ketchum – 1 for 18
Mason Jr – 2 for 7
Waterman – 1 for 0

TACKLES (still not reported)
de Avila –
Crowell –
Ridley –
Muir –
Carlon –
Regitz –
Chaix –
Emerson –