NEWPORT CONQUERED

Patrick Laverty

With the No. 1 seed going against an at-large team, it was expected

to be one-sided. But Newport Harbor High didn’t enter the CIF

Southern Section Division VI playoffs expecting to be one-sided

themselves.

The Sailors received an outstanding performance from their

defense, but the offense didn’t support the effort as visiting

Newport Harbor’s bid to upset top-ranked Los Altos went down, 28-0,

in the first round.

The Conquerors (11-0) took an early lead with two touchdowns in

the first three minutes and won their 17th straight game by

preventing any hope of a comeback on the part of Harbor, which

finishes the season 7-4.

The Sailors were trying to upstage the defending Division VI

champions, who had appeared in CIF title games in each of the last

four seasons, winning three times. But Randall Brown returned the

opening kickoff 89 yards for a touchdown and then added a second

score, on a 24-yard pass from Daniel Sandello, giving the Conquerors

a 14-0 lead with 9:11 remaining in the first quarter.

Brown’s kickoff return came after the initial kick went out of

bounds. Los Altos, which could have taken the ball at the 35-yard

line forced the Sailors to kick again and the reason was evident a

few seconds later.

“We were supposed to kick it to the left and we kicked it down the

middle,” Newport Harbor Coach Jeff Brinkley said. “We had everyone

going down the left and then returned it left. We missed some tackles

and then he showed great speed and he was gone.” After the Sailors

failed to pick up a first down on their initial possession, Tau Alo

returned a punt 24 yards, giving Los Altos prime field position,

which Brown cashed in on a screen pass.

Los Altos upped its lead early in the second quarter after an Alo

interception, which he returned 55 yards to the Sailors’ 4-yard line.

Brown scored on the ensuing play, running off tackle.

“We game them the touchdown on the kick off return and then they

basically got a touchdown on the interception. We basically gave them

14 points. We should have gone into halftime 0-0 or 7-0,” Brinkley

said.

The Sailors’ strong defensive effort was led by senior tackle

Austin Nieto and junior end Saami Khalifian. Nieto was in on a number

of plays, including blocking a pair of coversion kicks. Khalifian was

a part of four Sailors sacks, which resulted in a loss of 36 yards,

and consistently pressured the quarterback throughout the night.

In fact, Khalifian was a better defensive end on the night than

Los Altos’ Brigham Harwell, who has committed to UCLA and is

approaching Los Altos’ school sack record, held by USC’s Shaun Cody.

Harwell was held sackless by the Newport Harbor offensive line.

Khalifian and the defense limited the Conquerors to four first

downs in the first half and minus-11 yards rushing. Los Altos had

just 78 yards of offense at halftime, but a 20-0 lead.

Newport Harbor was able to move the ball throughout the night,

gaining 15 first downs, but couldn’t string together a long scoring

drive.

After falling behind 14-0, the Sailors drove to the Conquerors’

31-yard line, but successive penalties pushed them back and

eventually forced them to punt.

“We’re not the type of offense that is capable of handling

first-and-25,” Brinkley said.

And the Sailors’ big gainers, junior receiver Spencer Link and

senior tailback Matt Encinias, were shut down by the Conquerors.

Encinias was held to 21 yards before leaving the game with an injury

late in the third quarter and Link was held without a catch for the

first time this season. Alo played man-to-man coverage on Link

throughout the night.

“[Alo] is a good athlete that can run,” Brinkley said. “Then they

played a guy over the top a lot of times. They knew who they wanted

to take away. That was evident.”

Without big nights from their go-to players, other Sailors picked

up the slack, but it wasn’t enough. Junior Trevor Theriot led the

Sailors with 58 yards rushing on 10 carries, while junior receiver

Taylor Young caught four passes for 46 yards.

Brown began to wear down the Sailors’ defense in the second half,

collecting four double-digit gains, including a 20-yard touchdown run

with 4:08 remaining in the third quarter.