Football: Sailors can’t stop Tritons

It was the kind of play where a red challenge flag would have been nice, except for the fact that those don’t exist at the high school level.

San Clemente senior quarterback Sam Darnold, scrambling to his left, appeared to throw the ball backward by a couple of yards to receiver Brandon Reaves late in the first quarter of Friday night’s nonleague game at Newport Harbor. The ball hit the ground for an apparent fumble, but the referees called it an incomplete pass.

“It’s an option play that people run, and they use their wide receiver as the pitch guy,” Newport Harbor Coach Jeff Brinkley said. “I thought he threw the ball backward, but that’s not the way they saw it.”

The Tritons went on to score a touchdown on that drive. By the end of the night, that became a theme and the controversial play in the first quarter was seemingly just a footnote.

Darnold passed for 291 yards and three touchdowns as San Clemente blitzed Newport Harbor, 47-24, at Davidson Field, sending the Sailors to their third straight loss.

Newport Harbor is 1-3 for the first time since 2011. The Sailors also have to adjust to a different kind of loss. Brinkley said that senior running back/safety Chance Siemonsma is out for the year with a torn ACL and MCL, which he suffered in last week’s Battle of the Bay loss.

Replacing Siemonsma, who ran for 1,073 yards and eight touchdowns last year, may not be easy. Senior Riley Gaddis started at tailback in Siemonsma’s place. The Sailors (1-3) did not get a chance to run the ball much after their opening drive, as they seemed to be constantly chasing the Tritons (5-0).

Darnold, a USC commit, also ran for 65 yards and a touchdown. His numbers through the first five games are like a video game, with 1,138 yards passing, 17 touchdowns and one interception, as well as seven rushing touchdowns.

Darnold did throw his first interception of the season against the Sailors, though it wasn’t his fault, with Gaddis grabbing the deflected pass just before halftime. But in the end, Newport Harbor was unable to keep up with San Clemente, ranked No. 2 in the CIF Southern Section Southwest Division. The Tritons are averaging 47.4 points per game.

“We just couldn’t get a stop early on,” Brinkley said. “We had a great first drive, and we ran, I think, 48 plays in the first half, which is a large number of plays. We just didn’t put points on the board. We ended up with 10 points, but I felt good about the way we were moving the football.”

The Sailors appeared ready on their first drive. It was started by a 40-yard opening kickoff return by Riley Gaddis, to midfield.

Gaddis ran the ball five times on the drive. Senior quarterback Cole Norris finished it off, finding Jack Rapillo on a five-yard touchdown pass.

But that was the only touchdown Newport Harbor could muster in the first half. Trailing, 20-10, they got close on their fourth drive. But after a 26-yard pass play to Reed Rutter moved the ball to the San Clemente nine-yard line, a subsequent run resulted in a fumble recovered by the Tritons.

Late in the first half, the Sailors again got inside the 10-yard line. But this time, an untimely unsportsmanlike conduct penalty pushed them back. The Sailors ultimately attempted a 46-yard field goal, but it was blocked by San Clemente’s Tanner Wright.

These were opportunities that the Sailors couldn’t afford to lose against San Clemente, which also had junior running back Vlad Dzhabiyev rush for 87 yards and a pair of scores. Newport Harbor never could cut the deficit to less than 10 points in the second half.

Darnold’s favorite targets in the passing game were Reaves (seven catches for 110 yards and a touchdown) and Jacob Russell (four catches for 112 yards and a score).

“These guys, the only way anybody’s going to beat them is if they’re going to match them scoring,” Brinkley said. “They’re always going to score their points, and the only chance you have is if you can put points on the board.”

For the third straight week, it didn’t add up to enough points for the Sailors. They also lost sophomore starting middle linebacker Cole Smith to an injury in the first half of Friday night’s game.

Newport Harbor plays at Mira Costa on Oct. 3 before opening Sunset League play against Huntington Beach on Oct. 10.

“We’ve got league in two weeks, and the league’s always tough,” Brinkley said. “We’ve got to see if we can improve a little bit next week and hopefully take a step forward.”

—

San Clemente 47, Newport Harbor 24

SCORE BY QUARTERS

San Clemente 13 – 14 – 6 – 14 — 47

Newport Harbor 7 – 3 – 7 – 7 — 24

FIRST QUARTER

NH – Rapillo 5 pass from Norris (Schultz kick), 7:22.

SC – Reaves 1 run (Berman kick), 2:49.

SC – Reaves 56 pass from Darnold (kick failed), 0:00.

SECOND QUARTER

NH – Schultz 47 FG, 11:14.

SC – Russell 59 pass from Darnold (Berman kick), 10:55.

SC – Dzhabiyev 2 run (Berman kick), 2:22.

THIRD QUARTER

NH – Gaddis 2 run (Schultz kick), 9:38.

SC – Darnold 3 run (kick blocked), 4:37.

FOURTH QUARTER

SC – Harlow 4 pass from Darnold (Berman kick), 10:20.

NH – Hoey 99 kickoff return (Schultz kick), 10:05.

SC – Dzhabiyev 1 run (Berman kick), 5:57.

INDIVIDUAL RUSHING

SC – Dzhabiyev, 15-87, 2 TDs; Darnold, 9-65, 1 TD.

NH – Kinder, 10-88; Gaddis, 11-27, 1 TD.

INDIVIDUAL PASSING

SC – Darnold, 19-27-1, 291, 3 TDs.

NH – Norris, 21-35-1, 221, 1 TD.

INDIVIDUAL RECEIVING

SC – Russell, 4-112, 1 TD; Reaves, 7-110, 1 TD.

NH – Cablay, 6-75; Gaddis, 6-69.