Baby Tars rally, 28-18

MISSION VIEJO -- Newport Harbor High’s freshman football team got

off on the right foot last Thursday in the season opener against

Trabuco Hills with a 28-18 nonleague victory over the Mustangs, keyed

by the four-touchdown effort of James Coater.

Coach Joe Urban, starting his eighth year as the Sailors’ coach,

saw his team open with a 73-yard touchdown drive, sparked by runs of

17 and 20 yards by tailback Ryan Rippon and a 20-yard pass from

quarterback Michael Cantwell to fullback Delano MacKenzie.

Coater capped the drive with a 14-yard run to paydirt.

Coater continued his “capping� mode on the first drive following a

Trabuco Hills score, taking a deep pass from Cantwell and completing

a 65-yard scoring play. Cantwell ran in the two-point conversion to

give Harbor a 14-6 lead.

Trabuco struck back again, this time with 1:30 left in the half on

a deep pass play and trailed at halftime, 14-12.

Trabuco scored on a 35-yard drive in the third quarter to assume

an 18-14 lead, but the Sailors bounced back with another

Cantwell-Coater hookup.

After the two combined on a 17-yard gain, Cantwell found Coater

from midfield and it paid off with a 50-yard score, giving Harbor a

20-18 lead.

After a Ricky Sepulveda interception, Coater took a handoff up the

middle and raced 42 yards for a touchdown, then capped the day with a

two-point run behind MacKenzie’s key block to give the Sailors the

28-18 margin of victory.

Sepulveda put the lid on the victory late in the game with his

second interception.