Back in action for the first time in over two weeks, and three games into the first month of the season, the Newport Harbor football team seemed to slip back to square one. In a game fraught with too many penalties and ill-timed turnovers, the Sailors dropped a frustrating 30-19 decision to Capistrano Valley Friday night at Davidson Field.
“It was nothing but frustration,” said Head Coach Peter Lofthouse. “We spent all night trying to recover from self-inflicted wounds that put us behind the chains. I think there was one point we were looking at a 3rd & 30 and it was all because of false starts and holding calls, things that are usually uncharacteristic of us.”
The Sailors (1-2) defense looked dominant out of the gate with linemen Grayson Simon and Alexe Pappageorge delivering thundering hits on the Cougars first two plays to force a 3rd and long situation. Senior linebacker Andrew Cheiner, in his first action of the season coming off an injury, then made the most of his return with an athletic downfield interception that the NHHS offense would capitalize on.
On a six play drive, quarterback Nick Kim was 3 for 3 passing with two completions to Duke Starnes covering 38 yards. Runningback Payton Irving carried the ball twice for 25 yards including his 17-yard touchdown run off the right side for a 6-0 nothing NHHS lead. The extra point failed yet the Sailors were on the scoreboard first after shrugging off the first two of their 12 penalties on the night.
Capo Valley (3-1) cut the lead in half with a late first quarter field goal then tied it on another from 37 yards out on their next possession. While the Harbor defense remained stout, the offense stalled with more penalties proving costly as the game went to halftime tied 6-6.
The Cougars opened the third quarter with a 12-play drive (aided by an NHHS defensive penalty) that resulted in sophomore Dylan Fingersh’s third field goal of the night, this one good from 40-yards, and a 9-6 Capo Valley lead.
Seemingly suddenly ‘woke’, the Sailors responded with a steady diet of Irving to get the offense moving. His 50-yard blast up the middle on the first play of the possession sparked an 11-play drive to retake the lead. Irving carried six times for 60 yards on the possession and made a spectacular effort on a 3rd down catch & carry for 10 yards to set up first & goal. After another penalty pushed the Sailors back out of the red zone, Kim found Josiah Lamarque on a short hitch that the sophomore playmaker turned into loud home crowd cheers. After making the catch, Lamarque dodged through traffic across the middle before sprinting to the outside for a 23-yard go-ahead touchdown. The blocked extra point kick left the score at 12-9, Harbor.
“When we had everybody moving in the right direction, going where we were supposed to go, we looked pretty darn good,” Lofthouse remarked.
Alas, sustaining the lead unraveled quickly. The Cougars scored on the second play of their next possession on a stunning pass play covering 79-yards straight down the middle of the Sailors’ secondary. Capo took a 16-12 into the fourth quarter and held the momentum.
While a Harbor nine-play drive marred by three more crucial penalties resulted in a punt, Capo responded with another quick strike. On a first down play from their own 36-yard line, quarterback Trey Kukuk found receiver Owen Taylor break free on a post pattern and the connection went for a 64-yard touchdown and 23-12 Capo Valley lead.
The back-breaker occurred on the first NHHS play after the kickoff when Irving was stripped of the ball on a run play up the middle and a Capo defender returned it for a 15-yard touchdown. The Sailors added another score on Kim’s 26-yard touchdown pass to Zach Zamora to produce the 30-19 final. The evening ended with interceptions on Harbor’s last two possessions in desperation time.
“Don’t take away anything from Capo, that’s a good program, a good coaching staff,” Lofthouse reflected, “but the fact is, we created the environment we were in tonight. It was the penalties, it was our execution.”
If a dozen penalties and three turnovers weren’t enough, there was a steady stream of disruptions as several Harbor players were helped off the field suffering from muscle cramps.
“It really surprised me because we haven’t had that issue in the past. So we have to look at some things conditioning-wise that triggered those incidents,” the head coach said.
On the stats sheet, Irving led the Sailors with a 130 yards rushing on 20 carries with a touchdown. Kim finished 25 of 38 passing for 235 yards with two touchdowns and as many interceptions. Starnes was the team’s leading receiver with eight receptions for 86 yards. Lamarque added five catches for 44 yards and a touchdown. On defense, junior safety Carson de Avila stood out as the team’s leading tackler.
The Sailors travel to Trabuco Hills next Friday night before returning to Davidson Field the following Friday to make up the postponed JSerra game. Sunset league play begins Thursday, September 30th against Edison at Cap Shue Field in Huntington Beach.
-Matt Morrison
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