Prep Football: Tars Win!
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Barry Faulkner
COSTA MESA - Newport Harbor High football players said they were
playing on their heels. But for much of the opening half of Friday’s CIF
Southern Section Division VI championship game against Irvine at Orange
Coast College, on their backs may have been closer to the truth.
However, despite a swarming Vaquero defense which sacked quarterback
Chris Manderino eight times, the Sailors rallied for a dramatic 19-18
victory to claim their second section crown in 69 seasons.
Newport (13-0-1) was stunned by a 64-yard touchdown pass from Mike Ricci
to James Whitted on Irvine’s first offensive play just 1:54 into the
game.
Then, after Irvine end Brian Porteous popped the ball loose on a sack and
Brandon Mendoza recovered on the Vaqs’ 45-yard line, Ricci capped a
10-play drive with a well-placed fade pass to Eric Patton to make it
12-0.
The 12-point deficit was the Sailors’ biggest of the season. It had been
nearly seven full games since Harbor had trailed at all.
Brian Gaeta’s 38-yard field goal, the first of his two on the evening and
the first three-pointer of the season for the Tars, was about the only
first-half highlight for the Sea View League champions.
“I told our kids at halftime, I didn’t know if we came out nervous or
scared or what,” Newport Harbor Coach Jeff Brinkley said. “But whatever
it was, we were flat-footed.”
The Sailors put their foot down from the outset of the second half,
forcing a fumble on the first snap. Cornerback Kelsey Peterson recovered
at the Irvine 13 and Gaeta eventually cashed in with a 36-yard field goal
to halve the deficit.
The two teams exchanged punts, before Irvine showed it wasn’t through
yet. Ricci, who completed six of his first nine, connected with Chris
Sinner on a 57-yard post pattern to give the Vaqs (10-3-1) an 18-6.
After Irvine’s initial conversion kick sailed wide, the Vaqs elected to
go for two points on both successive TDs. Harbor junior end Garrett
Troncale, who would figure in the key play later in the fourth quarter,
sacked Ricci on the second two-point try and Harbor’s offense went to
work.
Newport senior tailback Andre Stewart, the Sea View Offensive Player of
the Year who came in with 2,245 rushing yards, had 40 yards on 15 carries
to that point.
But, darting behind blue-chip 6-foot-8, 262-pound left tackle Blair
Jones, Stewart finally found a chink in the Irvine defensive armor.
“I told our coaches we were going to run behind Blair on the left side in
key situations, because we didn’t have (6-6 senior 325-pound right tackle
Robert Cole, who watched the game from a wheelchair after breaking his
leg in the semifinals),” Brinkley said.
It finally worked, as Stewart took a third-down handoff and raced 42
yards to the Irvine 19, before Keith Short chased him out of bounds.
Brinkley went back to the same play on the very next snap and Stewart
sprinted untouched to the end zone. He finished with 159 yards on 33
carries. The score, along with Gaeta’s PAT, pulled the Tars to within
18-13 with 4:53 left. It also electrified the Harbor half of the capacity
crowd of 7,600 and triggered jubilation on the Sailor sideline.
“I was excited,” said Manderino, who ran into a pack of awaiting
teammates to celebrate after the TD run. “I think that was the turning
point in the game.”
Short, the Vaqueros versatile senior star, temporarily silenced the crowd
by taking the ensuing kickoff 82 yards to paydirt.
But a clipping call, which Irvine Coach Terry Henigan later pointed out
rather forcefully to officials had cost the Vaqueros the victory, negated
the big play.
Instead, Irvine marched to the Harbor 17, before Jessob Reisbeck missed a
34-yard field-goal attempt with 1:46 left in the third quarter.
After a Harbor punt, the Sailors’ defense, which had allowed an Orange
County-low 99 points coming in, took the pressure off its offense.
On third-and-12 from its own 22, Ricci dropped to pass. Troncale,
however, came clean off the left flank and punched the ball free while
sacking Ricci. Senior nose guard Andy Kalanz, a former running back,
scooped the ball up at the 4 and galloped into the end zone for the
deciding score with 10:15 left in the game.
“I was just playing football,” said Troncale, who had half of the Tars’
four sacks. “I got a piece of the ball and my buddy Kalanz ran it in.
It’s was a scoop and score. We work on that every day in practice.”
Irvine went to the air to try to rally, but Billy Clayton (one) and
Peterson (two) intercepted, the latter with 30 seconds left. “I’m really
proud of our kids,” Brinkley said. “This is an emotional thing. Everyone
wanted this real bad.”
Peterson added a sack, as did Kalanz, while linebackers Alan Saenz, Mike
Tunney and Manderino, along with defensive linemen Nick Langsdorf and
Nick Moghaddam, also played well for the winners.
Irvine managed just 71 yards on the ground, though Ricci finished with
166 passing yards.
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