Newport Harbor keeps its playoff hopes burning
Newport Harbor High turned in its most explosive game in 11 years on Friday.
The Sailors blew out Marina, 60-35, in a Sunset League game at Westminster High, giving them an outside shot to make the CIF Southern Section West Valley Division playoffs.
The Sailors improved to 2-2 in league, moving into a third-place tie with Los Alamitos. The Griffins hold the head-to-head tiebreaker against Newport Harbor, having won their matchup, 49-0, on Oct. 23.
Los Alamitos closes out league next week against Marina at Huntington Beach High. The Griffins should beat a Marina program that has lost 55 straight in league play and clinch the league’s third-and-final postseason berth.
Newport Harbor has an outside chance to earn one of the West Valley Division’s two at-large playoff entries if it can somehow upset Edison at home next week.
The Chargers, who are 4-0 in league and ranked No. 6 in the West Valley Division, clinched at least a share of first place with a 33-7 win against Fountain Valley on Friday. The Barons dropped to second place at 3-1 and they hold the head-to-head tiebreaker against the Sailors and Griffins, so they’re the league’s No. 2 representative for the playoffs.
A win against Edison puts Newport Harbor at 5-5 overall, increasing its chances of making the playoffs for the 24th time in 30 years under Coach Jeff Brinkley.
“The way it looks right now, [the two] teams that are going to end up as the at-large teams, they’re all going to be .500,” Brinkley said.
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Junior running back Cole Kinder finds his name twice in Newport Harbor’s top-10 list for single-game rushing performances.
Kinder rushed for 284 yards against Marina, putting him at No. 8 all-time.
Earlier this year at Pico Rivera El Rancho, Kinder rushed for 304 yards, which ranks No. 3.
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Newport Harbor produced nine touchdowns, four of them went for 30 or more yards.
Kinder and Roger Sanborn each returned a kickoff 95 yards for touchdown in the second half.
Sanborn rushed for a 70-yard score in the fourth quarter, and Kinder had a 35-yard score on the ground in the fourth.
— David Carrillo Peñaloza
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CORONA DEL MAR
Corona del Mar High junior quarterback Chase Garbers continued carving up Pacific Coast League defenses in the Sea Kings’ 48-7 win over Northwood on Friday night, which clinched at least a share of CdM’s fourth straight league title.
Garbers completed 12 of 23 passes for 206 yards and four touchdowns in the first half for CdM (7-2, 4-0 in league). With CdM already up, 38-0, at halftime, he did not play in the second half.
On the season, Garbers has now passed for 2,010 yards, 23 touchdowns and just two interceptions. In his last three league games, he has 13 touchdown passes and no interceptions.
“He is an absolute freak of nature,” CdM Coach Dan O’Shea said. “I’ve said it before, I’d put him up there as one of top quarterbacks in Orange County, bar none. I know there’s a collection of four or five seniors that get a lot of recognition, but Chase Garbers can play with anybody in this county. He’s a freak, mentally and physically.”
Garbers is four touchdown passes away from Brent Lawson’s single-season CdM record of 27, set in 2011.
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O’Shea was happy that the Sea Kings were able to spread the ball around against Northwood. Of Garbers’ 12 completions in the first half, three each went to Peter Bush (for 86 yards), Taeveon Le (62), Reese Perez (34) and Billy Shaw (24). Bush had a 35-yard touchdown catch, Le had a 27-yard score and Garbers hooked up with Shaw for touchdowns of five and two yards.
CdM had less success running the ball, save for Bush’s 53-yard quarterback scamper in the third quarter and a 21-yard scamper by third-string quarterback Cameron Hook in the fourth quarter. The Sea Kings’ 21 other carries went for a total of 75 yards.
“We want balance, and you can’t run against that front that they’re in,” O’Shea said. “They want you to throw the ball, and I thought we did an OK job. I thought we’d do a little bit better, to be honest with you.”
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CdM senior kicker Jason Neiger made each of his two field goal attempts, from 27 and 32 yards. But it was a heads-up play that Neiger made late in the first quarter that also was crucial.
A snap on a punt attempt was high, and it appeared that Neiger might be tackled to give the Timberwolves excellent field position. But Neiger somehow not only got the punt off, but it went 33 yards before rolling dead on the Northwood 13-yard line.
Neiger received well-earned praise from several teammates as he left the field.
— Matt Szabo
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COSTA MESA
The Costa Mesa High football team (5-4, 1-3 in league) has lost three straight Orange Coast League games after a 5-1 start. The Mustangs can no longer finish top three in league, which would guarantee a CIF Southern Section Southern Division playoff spot.
They still hope to avoid missing CIF for the second straight season, but now will focus on beating first-place Calvary Chapel in the league finale Friday at Jim Scott Stadium. The Mustangs then hope to be selected as one of two at-large teams into the Southern Division playoffs. At one point earlier this season, they were ranked No. 9 in the division.
“You never know,” Costa Mesa Coach Glen Fisher said. “You win your last league [game], you finish 6-4 and maybe you’re the wild card. I’m not going to say ‘never’ until never happens. You have to show up, you have to work and you have to believe. That’s what you do, and that’s what we’re trying to teach them.”
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The Mustangs played hard throughout in their 42-7 loss to Saddleback on Thursday night at Santa Ana Valley High.
But they struggled to find a big play on offense. Costa Mesa’s two biggest plays of the game were on special teams, a 45-yard kickoff return by Cameron Curet and a 33-yard punt return by Josh Snipes.
Curet also had a 25-yard reception from quarterback Christian Villaverde, leaping to secure the grab. Besides that, the Mustangs had no other plays that gained more than 15 yards.
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Six turnovers, including four lost fumbles and two interceptions, also did not help matters for the Mustangs, particularly as they struggle on offense.
Costa Mesa has scored just 42 combined points in its last five games, after scoring 101 total points in its first four games.
— Matt Szabo
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ESTANCIA
Godinez High, not Estancia, can still win a share of the Orange Coast League title with one game left.
The Grizzlies, who went winless last year, have a shot of finishing first in league for the first time in the program’s history.
The Grizzlies dashed Estancia’s hopes of defending the league crown in a 49-21 win at Jim Scott Stadium on Thursday. Godinez improved to 3-1 in league, while Estancia fell to 2-2.
Calvary Chapel clinched at least a share of first place with a 40-0 shutout of Laguna Beach on Friday.
For the Grizzlies to split the championship with Calvary Chapel, Calvary Chapel would have to lose to Costa Mesa next week at Jim Scott Stadium and Godinez would have to beat Laguna Beach at Segerstrom High.
While first is out of the picture for Estancia, it can still qualify for the CIF Southern Section Southern Division playoffs. Estancia and Saddleback share third place in league, and the programs meet next week at Santa Ana Valley High. The winner earns the league’s third-and-final automatic playoff berth.
“Another pretty good team,” Estancia Coach Mike Bargas said of Saddleback, which is 5-4 overall.
“First we’re going to look at the film and try to correct all the mistakes we made.”
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On a pair of Connor Brown touchdown passes, the Eagles jumped out to a 14-0 lead in the first quarter.
Then they gave up 35 straight points to Godinez.
“We just couldn’t hold it, [which is] uncharacteristic of us,” Bargas said of the lead.
Estancia had a hard time slowing down Godinez quarterback Bryan Ibarra, who had a hand in each of his team’s seven touchdowns.
The junior rushed 19 times for 265 yards and five touchdowns, and he completed four of eight passes for 86 yards and two touchdowns. The longest touchdowns by Ibarra were on the ground, two went for 90 yards.
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There was a scary moment for Estancia, which saw Israel Lopez go down late on special teams.
After the game, Lopez left on a stretcher and rode to the hospital in an ambulance. Bargas said Lopez is fine, adding that he didn’t suffer a concussion or a major injury.
— David Carrillo Peñaloza
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SAGE HILL
Sage Hill School Coach Abram Booty completed his first Academy League season with three lopsided losses, including Friday’s 49-7 home setback to Brethren Christian.
The Lightning was thumped by Crean Lutheran, 56-6, then fell, 52-7, to St. Margaret’s and was outscored by league foes, 157-20.
“I really didn’t know what to think,” Booty said of his expectations for Academy League schools coming into the season. “But it’s a good league; a real solid league.
“The league is getting better. I have watched film over the last two, three and four years and I’ve seen what it has been. It hasn’t been this good.”
Booty said the improvement at other league schools should be an inspiration to the Lightning.
“They’re getting better and we have to get better. It’s not about finding weaker opponents, or scheduling easier teams. We must get better. And we have to realize that,” he said.
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Booty’s postgame address to his players included a suggestion that the returning players “remember what [losing a seventh straight league game so decisively] feels like.”
He also told them that La Puente Bassett, the nonleague opponent in Friday’s regular-season finale, is the homecoming game because he believes his team can post a victory.
Bassett, meanwhile, may not be cooperating. The Olympians are 6-3 and are averaging 36.3 points per game.
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Following Booty’s postgame address, senior starting left guard David Lee was given an opportunity to speak to the team. Lee made a passionate plea for his teammates to bring all they had in the last week of the season, which, Lee said would be the last playing experience of his football career.
—Barry Faulkner