The Sailors’ date with ’94 destiny

ROGER CARLSON

“How do I want to be remembered?”

Newport Harbor High’s 1994 football team was asked that question

daily as it left the weight room. It answered with an unbeaten run

through the regular season, five nonleague victories, and five

straight wins to claim the Sea View League championship as the third

chapter is unveiled, looking back on a team separated by a decade.

But there was still business to tend to as the upstart Sailors

readied for the CIF Southern Section Division V playoffs as the No. 1

seed in the 16-team field.

With victories over Canyon, Savanna, Irvine, Corona del Mar and

Santa Margarita, they had built their reputation by averaging a

three-point margin of victory against that group.

Unheralded Saddleback was the first-round foe. Brian Johnson ran

for a 56-yard touchdown and Scott Sandstrom blocked two punts as the

Sailors rolled, 28-14.

“They hammered us as freshmen [14-0],” said Bill Johns, who served

as a lightning rod for the Tars at nose guard and offensive guard.

A bus trip to Brea Olinda resulted in a 24-8 victory as Harbor

dominated with a 314-113 margin in total yardage and led, 17-0, at

halftime.

“That one wasn’t boring,” said Johns. “They hit hard.”

Still to come, a rematch with Foothill in the semifinals and a

title showdown against Servite. The word “boring” never surfaced

again.

This was hardly the same Foothill squad that folded in nonleague

play. The Knights had won seven straight and they would dominate this

game with a 353-121 edge in total yardage.

“I remember Ruben Vaughn of Foothill hitting our quarterback, John

Giordani, square in the back and John came back to the huddle and

said, ‘OK, let’s get these guys.’

“It was the toughest game of the year, but it was so fun,”

continued Johns. “They hit us and we hit them.”

Scoreless through three quarters, the Sailors broke the ice with a

24-yard drive, capped by Brian Johnson’s 15-yard touchdown run up the

middle.

“Brian was sick in the locker room with the flu, but he still

played,” said Johns. “He never lifted weights, you know, but he came

in one day and lifted 315 pounds in a lift-a-thon. He was only

5-foot-9, but he could dunk a volleyball.”

Foothill responded with a touchdown and the game went into

overtime with the score 7-7.

The Knights converted a 22-yard field goal to go up, 10-7, setting

up Harbor’s moment of truth.

Newport’s series from the Foothill 10 in the overtime format found

the Sailors with fourth down at the 1-yard line and Coach Jeff

Brinkley called timeout to survey the situation.

It was either kick a field goal and try again in the second

overtime, or throw the dice and win or lose on the single moment.

“I asked the kids if they wanted to go for it and they all said

yes,” was Brinkley’s quote in the Pilot’s game account.

They went to a play called “36-power” and Johnson drove in behind

the blocking of Johns and James Moureaux. Hit at the goal line, he

spun and powered over.

“The fans were all around the track and the dads were trying to

jump over the fence and jumping in for us,” said Johns of the

aftermath of the 13-10 victory.

“Beating Foothill was fun. They were great guys, it was a great

game and both sides knew it,” added Johns, who shared the Sailors’

Player of the Week laurels with Johnson.

Nothing, it seemed, would be able to top this moment.

And still there was another hurdle awaiting: highly regarded

Servite in the championship game at Orange Coast College before

8,200.

Rewind ... four years earlier, when those in the 300-pound bench

club were freshmen, as in Johns, Matt Riggle, Mike Freeman and Dan

McDonough.

It was Riggle who was the centerpiece, the one who stood out,

because support comes in many ways, but seldom as in the case of

Riggle, whose dad, Dave, was a spectator of every practice and every

game.

The Sailors’ 12th man became a four-year starter, and four-year

starters went out with the days of Hal Sheflin in the very early

1940s.

He was featured, and pictured in the Pilot a couple of days before

the showdown with Servite, surrounded by McDonough, Dan Eadie,

Giordani, Jon Benzinger, Andre Woodward, Mike Freeman, Johns and his

son, Matt.

Known as “Mr. Riggs,” the team appreciated his devotion to Matt,

as well as to them, and loved him as if he were their own.

It was as if he held this team of destiny in his right pocket. The

12th man on the most exciting unbeaten team ever.

So Friday night arrived amid much fanfare and, on the Sailors’

first touchdown run of 14 yards, Johnson suffered torn knee

cartilage. He continued to play on it and did not submit to surgery

until a couple of years down the road.

On his way to CIF Division V Player of the Year laurels, Johnson

rushed for 147 yards on 19 carries. His 26-yard run to the Servite 11

set up Giordani’s 1-yard TD run and the Sailors had a precarious 14-9

halftime lead.

Servite, which dominated the clock, took a 15-14 lead with 4:08

left, setting up those final, frenetic moments.

After a couple of Johnson bursts netted 19 yards, it was second-and-four from Servite’s 38 when Mike Freeman got the call,

Giordani patting the top of his helmet. Freeman dashed downfield and

pulled in Giordani’s pass for the winning edge, 20-15.

There is still 2:37 left, but Dan Eadie sacked Servite’s

quarterback on the Friars’ third snap in the ensuing series and

Hogan, the hero of the victory over Corona del Mar with a fumble

recovery, did it again.

McDonough and Johns were named first-team All-Orange County by the

Times; Johns was a Register All-Orange County choice, ignoring

Brinkley for Coach of the Year honors. Newport Harbor’s top honors

went to Johnson (MVP), Giordani (Offensive Player of the Year) and

Johns (Defensive Player of the Year).

The Pilot’s Dream Team was stocked with Johnson as MVP and Johns

as Defensive Player of the Year. First-team selections went to

Giordani, Benzinger, Pulido, Freeman, Sherif Pepic, Brandon Baker,

Moureaux, McDonough, Riggle, Hogan and Sandstrom. Brinkley, of

course, was the Coach of the Year.

CIF Player of the Year laurels went to Johnson and other All-CIF

picks were Freeman, Hogan, McDonough, Pepic and my favorite assassin,

Bill Johns.

Today the ’04 team continues to build on its nonleague endeavors

as it enters its final tuneup up for Sea View League play. And guess

who they’ll be battling Friday night? The Foothill Knights, at Tustin

High.

Photos and various honors decorate the weight room walls and a

little bit of dust collects on a framed photo of a band of Newport

defenders, crushing a Savanna High player.

Those same sounds and the aroma of winners prevail where daily

they’re asked that same question: How do I want to be remembered?

How do I remember the ’94 Tars, the only team in virtually

three-quarters of a century to post a perfect mark at Newport Harbor

with a 14-0-0 record? Seven of those victories were by an average of

3.45 points. It starts with 2:37 left at OCC as the Tars savor the

lead in the title game.

Freeman’s catch and touchdown rumble, virtually right in front of

me on the east sideline at about the 20, spun me into gear as I, and

two Pilot sportswriters, hustled to my car where I had stashed about

1,000 copies of a four-page commemorative championship edition.

I hustled back with a slug of them in a flight bag and stopped

momentarily above the fray at the elbow of former Estancia High

Principal Bob Francy.

As I made my way down the ramp to the field, and just as I reached

the playing surface, Eadie came through with that crushing sack and

Hogan covered the ball as sounds of victory echoed. Newport Harbor

Athletic Director Eric Tweit was close by and I asked him and his

coaches to distribute the papers and took one good look as the

Sailors invaded the field en masse as undefeated, undefeated and

unreal champions ... 46, 27, 7, 23, 54, 5, 3, 64, 55 bouncing and

dancing ... numbers only in a storied program of team play.

They quickly began forming a position for a team photo and they

had a copy of our souvenir edition, so I turned and hustled back to

the car for the quick escape, back to the office, all the time trying

to maintain a straight face.

What a night!

* ROGER CARLSON is the former sports editor for the Daily Pilot.

He can be reached by e-mail at [email protected].