Newport Harbor started fast and held off a competitive challenge from Huntington Beach as the Sailors celebrated Homecoming with a crowd-pleasing 45-27 victory Friday night in Newport Beach. With its second straight win, the Sailors improve to 2-1 in Sunset League action, 3-5 overall. The Oilers drop to 1-2 in the league standings, 4-4 on the season after the Oilers second straight loss at Davidson Field.
Defense and special teams ignited the Sailors out of the gate as junior Johnny Chaix blocked two HB punts in the first quarter, both leading to quick touchdowns. Set up with a first & goal on its first possession, Harbor scored on a 6-yard pass from AJ Guitron-Moore to runningback Payton Irving to give the Sailors a 7-0 lead with barely two minutes elapsed on the clock. After two more three & out stops, Chaix struck again on the Oilers third possession, breaking through to block his second punt in the red zone, chased down the loose ball, and lunged into the end zone for a 14-0 NHHS advantage.
The Oilers responded with immediate resolve, zipping downfield on a 5-play, 80-yard drive. Quarterback AJ Perez scrambled for 23 yards then hit Tyler Moses for a 48-yard gain on successive plays before the pair connected on a 7-yard touchdown pass to make it 14-7 with just over two minutes to play in the opening quarter.
Sophomore place kicker Jon Richardson extended the Harbor second quarter lead with a career-best 41-yard field goal before HB closed the gap again. On the first play after a Jordan Castro interception, Perez found Hideo Ray in the end zone for a spectacular one-handed catch on a 39-yard touchdown pass.
NHHS pushed its lead back to ten when Guitron-Moore hit junior Kashton Henjum with a 7-yard touchdown pass to finish off an 11-play, 71-yard drive. Irving shouldered the load, covering 63 yards on two carries and four pass receptions out of the backfield. The unyielding Oilers responded with another scoring drive as Ray hauled in a 42-yard touchdown pass from Perez to make it 24-20 after a failed two-point conversion try. The Sailors grabbed back the momentum before half on an Irving 7-yard touchdown run to make it 31-20 at the break.
With newly crowned Harbor homecoming queen McKayla Cotton reigning over the evening, the Sailors stretched the lead to 18 points on Irving’s 20-yard third quarter burst for his third touchdown of the night. When Perez found Moses for a 19-yard touchdown early in the fourth to make it 38-27, it’s as close as the Oilers would get the rest of the way. Junior Garrett Emerson’s interception off a Brandon Medina deflection gave the Sailors a short-field opportunity that paid off when sophomore Josiah Lamarque hauled in an over-the-shoulder 25-yard touchdown pass from Moore to finish the scoring at 45-27.
Irving paced the Sailors’ offense with 199 yards of total offense, 132 rushing on 24 carries with another 67 yards on seven pass receptions and the three total touchdowns. Guitron-Moore finished 15-of-27 passing for 101 yards with three touchdowns and one interception. Perez finished 19 of 35 passing for 251 yards with four touchdowns and an interception for Huntington Beach.
The Oilers take on league-leading Los Alamitos next Friday night at Cap Sheue Field while Newport Harbor, with playoff implications on the line, squares off against Corona del Mar in the annual Battle of the Bay at Davidson Field.
-Matt Morrison
###