Sailors of ’73 were rock solid

ROGER CARLSON

There was an air of confidence as Newport Harbor High’s 1973 football

team, under third-year coach Don Lent, prepared for its opener with

Corona del Mar, and good reason considering the pasting the Sailors

had applied to Mater Dei in the preseason scrimmage.

And, there was the added asset of vengeance, the 1972 team’s 21-0 loss to Dave Holland’s Corona del Mar Sea Kings a burr throughout the

ensuing basketball season.

The starting lineup consisted of Vinnie Mulroy and Burdick Ray at

wide receiver and tight end, Ken Newberry and Tom Formica at tackles,

Marc Wilsey and Jeff Kravitz at guards and center John Gust. The

backfield consisted of Steve Bukich at quarterback, Tom Bazacas

(5-foot-5, 135 pounds) at flanker, Tom Saftig at fullback and a 9.9

sprinter named Brian Theriot at tailback.

The defense consisted of Millican, Newberry, George Norris and Don

Valdez up front, Bill Mockett and John Phipps at linebackers and in

the secondary, corners Gavin Hedrick and Tim Brown, and Robert

Unvert, Erik Escher and Mark Duffy.

Ranked No. 4 in Orange County preseason rankings, the Sailors

proved themselves in short order, dismantling Corona del Mar in the

opener, 31-3.

Bukich, the son of former USC and Chicago Bears quarterback Rudy

Bukich, directed the attack and ran for four touchdowns as Harbor

finally broke loose with a 17-0 fourth-quarter burst.

The biggest back in the backfield, Bukich rumbled for touchdown

runs of 29 and 14 yards, and punched over from a yard out twice.

Bukich was responsible for four touchdowns again as Costa Mesa

fell victim, 28-0. Escher had three interceptions.

Twice Bukich found wide receiver Mulroy for touchdown plays of 66

and 41 yards, and he had two touchdown runs of 27 and 2 yards.

The Mustangs were no match as Harbor’s defense sacked the

quarterback 11 times.

The Mike Molina-led Saints of Santa Ana were the first hurdle in

the race for the Sunset League championship and it was a classic

match of quarterbacks as Bukich connected for two touchdown passes of

66 yards to Mulroy and 20 yards to Bazacas.

It was Duffy who provided the ultimate difference with three

interceptions, all in Newport Harbor territory, which stopped the Tom

Baldwin-coached Saints in their tracks, 14-7.

Bukich was the key figure again in the Sailors’ 34-22 Sunset

League victory over Westminster.

He threw for four touchdowns and ran for another as Harbor

improved to 4-0, 2-0 in league.

Bukich went to Mulroy for 18 yards and Ray for 16 yards, as well

as scoring tosses of 3 yards to Bazacas and 9 yards to Bucko Shaw on

a tackle-eligible play.

The Sailors rallied from a 19-17 third-quarter deficit as underdog

Marina threatened the Tars’ unbeaten record. But a 17-0

fourth-quarter rally gave Harbor a 34-19 victory.

The back-breaker was a 39-yard payoff from Bukich to Mulroy withy

9:26 left. A couple of short-yardage TD runs by fullback Pete Brown,

a 7-yard capper by Theriot and two field goals of 38 and 25 yards by

Art Sorce rounded out the Sailors’ scoring.

If you lose seven fumbles in a high school game chances are you

won’t win.

That was dilemma for the Sailors in Game 6 as Anaheim took

advantage and posted a 16-7 upset victory over Newport at La Palma

Park in Anaheim.

It began as expected with a 7-0 Newport Harbor lead in the first

quarter off a Bukich-to-Ray aerial, but in the end the Colonists of

Anaheim took advantage with scoring “drives” of 25 and 30 yards.

Clearly, a night to forget.

Highs and lows were never more evident as the Sailors tried to get

off the floor from their upset loss to Anaheim.

Coach Herb Hill’s Saxons were unbeaten in four league starts and

dominated the statistics (20-10 in first downs) before a rocking,

full-house at Davidson Field.

Trailing, 17-7, in the fourth quarter with visions of a complete

collapse in the race for the Sunset League championship, Bukich and

Mulroy teamed up for a series of remarkable gains.

Bukich, who was but 4-for-14 with an interception for the game,

connected with Mulroy on gains of 36, 48 and 39 yards, each

highlighted by the specatacular receiving exploits of Mulroy in heavy

traffic.

The 36-yarder set up Theriot’s short plunge to pare the deficit to

17-14, setting up that final, frenetic drive.

Starting from their own 13 the Sailors’ passing combination first

connected for 48 yards, then for 39 yards, each with eye-popping

execution.

The 39-yarder put the ball at the Loara 1-yard line with 2:21

left.

Two shoves into the line by Bukich netted nothing and then, on

third down, the Sailors fumbled the ball away, only to be saved by an

offsides call on Loara.

Third-and-goal and Bukich tried again, to no avail. Finally, on

fourth down with 29 seconds to go, the Sailors went to their

fullback, Saftig, and he pounded in.

It was, clearly, one of the most exciting victories in Newport

Harbor history.

And, it put Mulroy, who had not even donned a helmet until his

sophomore year, in a class by himself.

Theriot, 158 yards on 20 carries and two touchdowns, led the

parade in Harbor’s 42-13 rout of Western, and he followed that up

with a four-touchdown performance in a 34-9 pasting of Huntington

Beach as the Sailors improved to 8-1 in clinching a share of the

league championship with Anaheim.

The Sailors barged into the CIF Division 4-A quarterfinals with a

35-20 victory over South Hills in their playoffs opener, with Bukich,

Theriot and Mulroy providing a three-pronged attack in Harbor’s

first-ever playoffs victory.

Bukich completed 6 of 8 for 122 yards, five of them to Mulroy for

105 yards, including a 35-yard payoff. And, he ran for two touchdown

runs of 35 and 33 yards. Theriot ran for 123 yards on 22 carries and

scored twice.

Marijon Ancich’s St. Paul Swordsmen, 10-0 and the No. 1 seed,

invaded Orange Coast College for the quarterfinal.

The Sailors were ready; Shaw was the only “new” face in Harbor’s

starting lineups at offensive tackle since Opening Night, and he had

been around for a while.

The defending CIF champions proved too much, however, jumping to a

10-0 first-quarter lead en route to a 17-0 edge entering the fourth

quarter.

First-team All-Sunset League honors for the 9-2 Sailors went to

Bukich, Mulroy, Kravitz, Hedrick, Norris and Duffy, and second-team

recognition went to Theriot, Formica, Valdez, Mockett and Unvert.

Two of them were juniors -- Mulroy and Theriot, setting the stage

for the first-ever back-to-back Sunset League championships in 1974.

However, just a week after their banquet in December, the Sailors

were to learn of the loss of their Most Improved Player, John Gust, a

17-year-old senior lineman who lost his life in an auto accident on

an icy 395 pavement near Lone Pine.

Suddenly, the 1973 season was forgotten.

* ROGER CARLSON is the former sports editor for the Daily Pilot.

He can be reached by e-mail at [email protected].