Sailors edge Wilson

Newport Harbor High sophomore Jackson Westerman is the youngest of four water polo playing siblings.

Brittany Westerman recently finished up her career at Brown University, and Averi graduated from Corona del Mar High last spring and is now at UC San Diego. Lissa Westerman is a junior at Newport Harbor.

“I’ve got to prove to them I can do it, fill in their shoes,” Jackson Westerman said with a laugh.

Jackson, a center for the Sailors boys, lived up to that Tuesday afternoon as Lissa watched while working the desk on the Sailors’ pool deck.

On the first day of classes in the Newport-Mesa Unified School District, Jackson took visiting Long Beach Wilson to school with his play at two meters.

He drew eight exclusions and a penalty shot, proving the Sailors with plenty of scoring chances. They struggled on their six-on-five but hung on to beat the Bruins, 11-10, notching their first win of the season and the first for Coach Ross Sinclair at his alma mater.

“He’s a very hard worker,” Sinclair said of Westerman, who also had a goal, a steal and a field block. “We talked about getting to two meters and establishing position at two meters. Last game [Saturday’s 11-8 loss to Coronado], he would stop at four or five meters and work. He made the adjustment this game, and it was awesome. He was great. I mean, that’s the difference right there. You stop at [four or five] meters, you earn four ejections like last game. You go all the way to two meters, you earn nine ejections.”

Junior Ryan Hurst led Newport Harbor (1-1), ranked No. 8 in CIF Southern Section Division 1, with four goals. Spencer Allen scored five for No. 9-ranked Long Beach Wilson (0-1), leading all players.

Junior co-captain Cole Brosnan scored three goals and added two steals for Newport Harbor, while the other junior co-captain, Nic Rimlinger, had a goal, two assists and two steals.

Ryan Brosnan and John Rankin also scored for the winners, who went just two for 11 on the power play. Long Beach Wilson was three for seven in man-up situations.

“We just failed to read, that was the frustrating part,” Sinclair said. “Nothing against Coach [Jeff] Nesmith and Long Beach Wilson, but when we made our adjustment, the openings were there. We just couldn’t read, unfortunately.”

Senior goalie Joe Ferraro made 10 big saves for Newport Harbor, which never trailed but also never led by more than two goals. Hurst provided a two-goal lead, at 9-7, when he scored with 5:48 remaining in the fourth quarter.

Allen beat a double-team to pull the Bruins within a goal, but Hurst struck again from six meters out on the Sailors’ next possession. Allen added a power-play goal to again narrow the deficit, before Rimlinger scored a power-play goal with 2:55 left in the contest.

Allen added yet another power-play goal for Wilson, pulling the Bruins within 11-10 with 1:31 left. But Ferraro made a key save with about a minute to go. Then, after Wilson got the ball back, Jack Berg earned the visitors another power play with 35 seconds to go. But a quick shot from up top was handled by Ferraro, and Newport was able to run the rest of the clock out.

Ferraro also had a one-on-nobody stop in the second quarter, and blocked a five-meter penalty shot in the fourth quarter that would have tied the score.

“I love five meters,” said Ferraro, who is the team’s only senior starter at the moment. “It’s probably one of my favorite parts of the game, besides being with the team and getting a big win like that.

“It feels great to play, finally,” added Ferraro, who was the varsity backup goalie as a sophomore and junior. “I got to play a lot freshman year, and it kind of threw me off and I expected to play sophomore and junior year. It feels good to finally be in the spot.”

Maxwell Vandevert added three goals and two steals for Wilson, which reached the Division 1 quarterfinals last season but lost big pieces like Zach D’Sa (now at USC) and Grant LaBounty (UC Santa Barbara).

Still, the Sailors will take the victory.

“Any time you can beat Long Beach Wilson it’s fun,” Sinclair said. “There’s a history there.”

Newport Harbor travels to the Santa Barbara Invitational tournament this weekend. The Sailors have a play-in game against Servite on Thursday at 5 p.m. at Santa Barbara High.

“It’s always nice to get a win before going into a tournament,” Westerman said. “It was obviously a really big win. Everyone on our team realized that we had to step up and get the win.”