| 1Q | 2Q | 3Q | 4Q | Total | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Edison | 16 | 28 | 7 | 6 | 57 |
| Newport Harbor | 0 | 0 | 0 | 7 | 7 |
Thursday evening, Halloween, proved to be a true-to-life fright night for the Newport Harbor football team. It was horrifying. The Sailors’ regular season finale went up in flames at Davidson Field as the Edison Chargers scorched the home team, 57-7. No chainsaws, butcher knives, or meat hooks needed.
Fortunately for NHHS, other than on the scoreboard, there wasn’t really any blood-letting and Tarball is still alive. Harbor is looking forward to a CIF playoff bid after finishing the regular season 7-3 overall, 2-3 in the Sunset League following three straight losses to powerful Los Alamitos, Corona del Mar and Edison.
“Those are three really good teams in the county and you can’t play them shorthanded. We’re missing, right now, about nine starters and we expect to get them back next week all healthy,” said Harbor Head Coach Peter Lofthouse.
“Our whole goal was to get out of this game healthy,” he added. “I think we accomplished that. We wanted obviously to play a more competitive game but it is what is. I’ll take being healthy for the playoffs.”
The bewitching hour struck shortly after the 7:00 pm kickoff as Edison scored early, often, and repeatedly while Harbor could only absorb the onslaught. After finishing off the first possession with a field goal, the Chargers scored touchdowns on their next eight straight, six in the first half to make it 44-0 at the break.
Harbor had no answers, either punting away or failing on fourth-down conversions on six of seven first-half possessions. The second quarter clock extinguished the eighth. With the score 57-nothing late in the game, the Sailors avoided the shutout when sophomore quarterback Nick Kim hit junior receiver Joe Knipp with a short pass near the sideline before Knipp slipped a few tackles and sprinted in to the end zone for the 16-yard NHHS touchdown.
Junior running back Justin McCoy was limited to 38 yards on 11 carries while the Sailors as a team totaled only 26 yards rushing with losses factored in. Kim completed 15 of 27 pass attempts for 122 yards and a touchdown. Knipp led the team with eight receptions for 92 yards and a score.
Sophomore linebacker Andrew Cheiner led the defense with six tackles and three assists while Erik Hehl, Kaden Stowell and Jackson Swain were credited with five solos apiece. Senior Aidan Goltz returned five kickoffs for a total of 81 yards.
Now Harbor awaits the weekend with the CIF playoffs at-large bids announced Sunday morning and first-round pairings released later in the day. Key for the Sailors will be the return of several starters that have been out due to injuries. The team expects to have senior linebacker Johnny Brigandi (shoulder), junior cornerback Mason DePoy (shoulder), junior receiver Mason Walker (knee) and possibly senior linebacker Brendan Duffy (sternum) and junior starting quarterback Cole Lavin (knee) back for the post season.
“We’ll spend the weekend with an extra day off to get our legs back underneath us. We’ll have guys that will get cleared probably this weekend or early next week who can now get playing again. As we add those bodies back to our team we become stronger,” said Lofthouse, adding that injury treatment, weight training and film study remain critical to the process.
-Matt Morrison