Sailors forged picture of a team united

Newport Harbor players’ close bond with one another helped them overcome early struggles and eventually capture CIF Southern Section Division VI championship.Together they assembled Saturday night, coated with sweat, blanketed by one another and drenched in victory.

It was the official postgame championship photo that compressed the Newport Harbor High football players and coaches into a smiling mob at Orange Coast College, a visual metaphor for the magic behind this triumphant team.

The pose, moments after the Sailors’ 28-21 win over Valencia in the CIF Southern Section Division VI title game, was not one many believed would ever be processed for posterity.

But there they were, melded by their accomplishment, linked forever as champions, yet perhaps no more closely bonded than they had been before kickoff.

“There are a lot of different personalities, but it’s a very close group,” Newport Harbor Coach Jeff Brinkley said. “Some teams have better chemistry than others.”

It was this feeling for one another that some suggested may have been this team’s biggest strength.

“We’re a family and we’ve grown as a team,” said safety Brett Green, one of 22 seniors who stood in front of their lockers late Saturday night to field congratulatory farewells from coaches and players who will return next season.

“It was an emotional time for them,” Brinkley said of the traditional farewell to the seniors. It is a ceremony that, for all but three of Brinkley’s 20 Sailors squads -- CIF championship teams of 1994 and 1999, as well as this year’s group -- was laced with tears of disappointment following a loss.

“It sure beats being on the [losing] end of the thing,” Brinkley said. “I always tell the kids that only one team gets to end its season with a win and everyone else ends with a loss. Fortunately, they were on the correct end this year.

“But I think it’s a time when the finality of their high school career starts to set in. These seniors were close, not only with each other, but with the juniors and sophomores, as well. It was emotional for everyone.”

Junior middle linebacker Nick Frazier said that emotion was still fresh as the players reflected Sunday.

“We’re still all really pumped,” said Frazier, who joined many of his teammates Sunday night for all-you-can-eat dinner at a local eatery. “The tears have gone away and it’s pretty much all smiles now. We just keep saying, ‘Dude, we won.’ ”

Frazier, who spontaneously burst into tears as he hugged a teammate while the final seconds elapsed Saturday, said the aftermath of the title win brought mixed emotions.

“It was pure happiness that we won, but there was a little sadness, because the seniors are leaving,” Frazier said. “We’re like brothers. Going through all the adversity that we went through this year, we always stuck together. Winning that game was one of the happiest moments of my life. I imagined it would be an incredible thing, but, once it happened, it meant so much more to me than I thought it would.”

Brinkley said he wasn’t always sure it would happen.

“Coming into the season, we knew we had a lot of new people,” Brinkley said. “The year before [when the Sailors reached the Division VI title game and finished 12-1-1], we came back with a lot of experienced people and we anticipated having a good year. This year, we had guys we thought could play, but they were inexperienced. Then, when we started out struggling, it became a matter of having to get the thing squared away or we were not going to be in the playoffs.”

The Sailors opened with underwhelming wins over Fountain Valley (14-7), Marina (21-17) and Corona del Mar (14-0), before consecutive nonleague losses to Dana Hills (39-13) and Mira Costa (23-20 in overtime). It was the first time since 1995 the Sailors had lost back-to-back nonleague games.

“We played so poorly against Dana Hills, it was disappointing to everyone,” Brinkley said. “But we came back and played a good game against a Mira Costa team that had beaten Esperanza [this year’s CIF Division I runner-up]. That gave us some confidence.”

The Mira Costa game also marked the season debut of senior tailback Ryan Rippon, who had been sidelined by surgery on a torn knee ligament.

Rippon’s return gave the Sailors not only a productive running back -- he went on to amass 1,713 yards on 229 carries (a 7.5-yard average) -- but their most inspirational leader.

Several Sailors said they fed off Rippon’s emotion, as well as his performance.

“Without question, the turning point for this season was Ryan Rippon,” senior quarterback Tom Jackson said. “We came into the Mira Costa game as big-time underdogs and Ryan was there to get us going. We did lose, but with Rippon back, I think we all realized we could compete with the best of them.”

The Tars went 4-1 in league, sharing the championship with Aliso Niguel and Laguna Hills.

They opened the playoffs with a dramatic road win over El Dorado as Rippon’s 1-yard run on a two-point conversion capped the 32-31 triumph.

They then handled No. 3-seeded Charter Oak, 28-7, in the quarterfinals and shut down Tustin for a 28-0 semifinal win.

The Sailors scored first against Valencia, but faced a 14-7 deficit heading into the third quarter.

Jackson’s strong second half -- 146 passing yards, two touchdown passes and one touchdown run -- helped the Sailors’ rally to their third win in seven title games, spanning the last 14 seasons.

Yet the CIF crown caught even some Sailors by surprise.

“To be honest, I never expected to be in this position,” Green said. “Last year was supposed to be the powerhouse team and when that didn’t happen, everyone was shocked. This year was supposed to be a rebounding year, but things just kind of happened. Last year, we kind of knew we’d be in the finals. This year, we were just playing for one more game, my last game as a senior, and it all just kind of worked out.”