| 1Q | 2Q | 3Q | 4Q | Total | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Newport Harbor | 7 | 10 | 9 | 0 | 26 |
| Woodbridge | 0 | 10 | 0 | 0 | 10 |
A dominating defensive effort and a resilient offensive attack added up to an impressive overall performance as the Newport Harbor football team opened the 2019 campaign with a decisive a 26-10 victory over Woodbridge High Friday night in Irvine.
The Sailors defense led by senior linebackers Brendan Duffy, Johnny Brigandi and Chad Koste forced four turnovers and yielded only three points on the night. The unit controlled the line of scrimmage, allowing the Warriors only 108 yards of total offense and five first downs. Duffy recorded three sacks, Brigandi had a fumble recovery, an interception, and a punt block while junior defensive backs Spencer O’Bryan and Kaden Stowell each picked off a pass.
“We’re really confident right now with our defense and where they’re at,” reflected Head Coach Peter Lofthouse after the win. “Coach (John) Arredondo, our defensive coordinator, deserves a lot of credit for the performance tonight. Our defensive staff came out and really schemed them up well.”
The new season got off to an inauspicious start, however, when the Woodbridge kickoff unit caught the Sailors completely by surprise with a perfectly executed onside kick to open the game. The Harbor defense rose to the challenge though, and the Warriors 7-play drive stalled when Brigandi recovered a fumble on a first and goal run play.
The Tar offense responded with an impressive first possession of the year resulting in a 16-play, 85-yard scoring drive capped by junior quarterback Cole Lavin’s 13-yard touchdown pass to senior receiver Austin Muro. Lavin completed 5 of 9 passes on the drive and finished the night with 17 completions in 29 attempts for 191 yards with a touchdown and two interceptions. Lavin also ran for a score.
“I think he was stellar,” said Lofthouse of his second-year starting QB while noting Lavin’s poise in recovering from throwing two interceptions on back-to-back second quarter possessions. “A lot of people don’t realize how many reads are within our offense, with all the screens, the run game, everything’s going so fast and now the game has slowed down for him because he’s got all those repetitions (from last year). I’m glad to see he persevered, corrected a lot of mistakes and played well down to the end.”
“Obviously we can do better, but I think overall we did great,” Lavin assessed. “We were moving the ball all game, we put up 26 points. Two picks are not ideal but overall, I think I did alright. I’m happy with the way I played.”
Junior running back Justin McCoy sustained the ground game with 91-yards on 16 carries and a touchdown. The impressive performance underscored a strong effort from the Harbor offensive line led by senior tackle Carter Mathisrud.
Leading 7-0 in the second quarter, the Sailors saw the Warriors snatch the momentum when Woodbridge junior cornerback Carry Rainey wrestled the ball from senior receiver Aidan Goltz on a short sideline pass, then race 23-yards for the game-tying touchdown.
Lavin was intercepted again on the second play of the next possession leaving the Warriors with a short field for the go-ahead score. The Tar defense stiffened and held them out of the end zone before Woodbridge took the 10-7 lead on a 29-yard field goal. But that would be it for the home team.
Seemingly incensed by the turn of events, Goltz sparked the Sailors response with a thrilling 54-yard kickoff return into Warriors territory. The Harbor offense made quick work of a 5-play, 42-yard drive resulting in Lavin scoring on a one-yard run to grab the lead for good.
The Sailors extended the lead to 17-10 as senior place kicker Jack Starnes hit from 31-yards out just before halftime.
Defensive domination elevated in the second half as Brigandi snagged his diving interception on the Warriors’ first play of the third quarter. Brigandi snuffed the next possession as well with an end zone punt block that resulted in a safety and a 19-10 Harbor lead.
“At halftime we told everyone, ‘the game’s not over, this team’s good, they’re not gonna give up’, which they didn’t,” Brigandi said. “That pick – it really helped our momentum, to keep it on our side. I feel we were just hungry, and we really wanted to win.”
The season-opening victory over the defending Pacific Coast League champs builds confidence for the players and in the off-season preparation the Harbor coaching staff has been preaching since finishing 3-6-1 in 2018.
“These guys really committed from the end of last season and said, ‘hey, we’re gonna hit the weight room, we’re gonna hit the film room, we’re gonna do all the little things’ that we’ve been asking them to do,” Lofthouse explained. “Woodbridge is a heck of a football team, so to get a great win like that against a really well coached team, it’s really a building block to our future for the rest of the season.”
Newport Harbor now embarks on a seven-day road trip to Northern California where the Sailors will take on Aptos High Friday night August 30th at 7:30 in Aptos. The team will load the bus early Sunday morning for the 10-hour trip to the coastal city near Santa Cruz – a ride that will seem much smoother with the winds of victory in their sails.
–Matt Morrison