| 1Q | 2Q | 3Q | 4Q | Total | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Santa Monica | 0 | 0 | 6 | 8 | 14 |
| Newport Harbor | 3 | 14 | 7 | 7 | 31 |
Go ahead and say it: TarBall is back!
Justin McCoy racked up 193 yards of total offense with two touchdowns, Cole Lavin hit Aidan Goltz with a pair of 7-yard scoring passes and the Newport Harbor football team remained unbeaten with a convincing 31-14 victory over Santa Monica High Friday night at Davidson Field.
It’s the first time in 15 years the Sailors have started the season 4-0 as the 2019 squad has already surpassed last year’s win total.
In a sense, the season seemed to start fresh as the Sailors wore their navy-blue jerseys for the first time in four games. The home opener included a Senior Night celebration before the team took the field. Twenty senior players were honored alongside their parents as were all senior members of the cheer squad and NHHS band.
After three straight road wins to start the year and coming off a bye week, the 17-point margin of victory was Harbor’s largest of the season so far. Yet Head Coach Peter Lofthouse was not altogether pleased. Asked if this was his team’s best game of the season, Lofthouse instantly replied, “No. Absolutely not,” while referring to the effort as sloppy.
“We were able to persevere through it and get another ‘W’,” he continued. “We made some gains in some areas, we learned some very valuable pieces of information from this ballgame, so hopefully next week we’ll be a better football team.”
After a slow start, Harbor opened the scoring when senior kicker Jack Starnes hit a 32-yard field goal late in the first quarter. The Sailors extended the lead to 10-0 on their next possession when McCoy scored on a 1-yard plunge in the second quarter. The game’s first touchdown capped a quick 6-play drive featuring a pair of key Lavin to McCoy pass completions; the first for 15 yards on a 4th and ten play, and another covering 25 yards to the goal line.
A consistent workhorse in the running game, McCoy finished with 63-yards on 18 carries yet was more productive in the passing attack with a team-leading 9 receptions for 101 yards. Adding 29 yards on four punt returns, McCoy totaled 193 on the night.
“We kinda had another slow start, but we picked it up in the second quarter,” said the junior running back. “I was pretty surprised. I wasn’t expecting as much receiving yards, or getting the ball as much as I did, but that’s how it was and it just worked out. Overall I think we played pretty well.”
Lavin was on target hitting 23 of 35 pass attempts for 242 yards with two touchdowns and an interception. The junior quarterback hit Goltz with a 7-yard strike to finish off a 13-play drive and take a 17-0 lead into halftime.
The offense continued to click in the third quarter when McCoy scored from three yards out to make it 24-nothing before Samohi had any response. The nine-play touchdown drive featured another clutch fourth down conversion when Lavin hit senior receiver Austin Muro for 21 yards to keep the chains moving.
Santa Monica responded with urgency, scoring its first points of the game on a 4-play drive featuring a 60-yard pass completion and another 31-yarder from quarterback Anthony Arnou to tight end Colby Bell for a touchdown.
With the score 24-6, any momentum the Vikings might have counted on was snuffed when junior receiver Joe Knipp returned the ensuing kickoff 48 yards into Vikings territory. After chewing most of the third quarter clock, Harbor made it 31-6 early in the fourth on Lavin’s second 7-yard TD pass to Goltz. The senior returning All-Sunset league receiver made a leaping grab over the defender for the score. Goltz finished with seven receptions for 58 yards and the two TD’s.
With the lopsided score, Lofthouse used the opportunity to get his back-ups some valuable playing time. Samohi completed the scoring with a late 10-yard touchdown pass to produce the final 31-14 score.
Defensively, the Sailors were solid once again, winning the turnover battle 2-1 on a Chad Koste fumble recovery and a Muro interception to seal the win. Senior safety Michael Morrison led the team with 5.5 tackles including his work on special teams where he took over for injured Brendan Duffy as the team’s long-snapper.
“We came in confident and I think it showed,” Morrison said of the team’s impressive win on Senior Night and encouraging 4-0 start. “I think our offseason program helped a lot, with our weight training and conditioning. Last season was kind of our transitioning into the new coaching staff, and I think this year we’ve kind of figured it out.”
But four non-league wins does not a season make. Just ask Lofthouse, whose team was winless in the Sunset League last year.
“Right now we gotta focus on San Marino. Let’s take care of that one first,” said the prudent head coach. “We all know the league play is right around the corner, the Sunset League is a tough test, but we have a tough test with San Marino next week and that’s our focus right now.”
– Matt Morrison