SOUTH COAST TOURNAMENT CHAMPIONS:

NEWPORT BEACH — Newport Harbor High boys’ water polo player David Linden won the sprint starting the second overtime period.

The events that followed were lightning-fast.

Teammate Matt Russell scored from two meters 29 seconds into the period. Twenty-eight seconds after that, Linden scored on a counterattack from the left side.

Then Russell got a steal, and Brandon Parole scored a counter on a pass from Clinton Jorth just 38 seconds later.

Jab, uppercut and knockout punch for the Sailors, who used the barrage to beat El Toro, 8-5, in the South Coast Tournament championship game Saturday at Newport Harbor High.

“It was great,” Parole said of the three-goal surge in overtime. “It was our last chance, basically, to fire up and bring it to them. It’s our pool, and we wanted it more.”

For Newport, it was a memorable victory for at least a couple of reasons. It’s the first time the Tars have won the tournament since 1999. Plus, they beat El Toro, the team they’ve tangled with numerous times in the last several seasons, including a loss in the CIF Southern Section Division I semifinals last season.

It likely also means the Sailors (7-1), who beat Villa Park, 8-7, in the tournament semifinals earlier Saturday, will leapfrog the Chargers (6-1) for the top spot in the CIF Southern Section Division I coaches’ poll.

The tournament title happened largely because the Sailors were in a better position to win at the end. Newport Harbor Coach Jason Lynch, who always stresses conditioning, said his team was a little less tired than El Toro after regulation ended in a 5-5 tie.

“We were wearing them down all game,” Lynch said. “In the fifth game of a tournament, you get tired, but I thought our conditioning was solid. I didn’t even think we looked tired.”

And defense, another Sailors stronghold, also came up big. Goalie Myles Christian had what he said was probably his best game of the season, recording 14 saves and making three steals.

One of Christian’s saves was in a one-on-one situation against El Toro standout Spencer White midway though the first quarter.

“I threw a bad pass, so I needed to save myself on that one,” Christian said. “Luckily, I came up with the block.”

Then, in another one-on-one in the fourth quarter, Christian influenced White’s shot enough to make him shoot it off the bar.

Parole also played solid two-meter defense on White, while Jorth guarded White’s younger brother, Griffin.

“Very solid defense,” Lynch said. “That’s [Parole’s] job. He was just tiring [Spencer White] out. Our defense down the stretch, especially the two overtimes, was very good. They had nothing going on.”

Russell, who had two steals in the second overtime, said winning the South Coast Tournament was definitely big. Since Newport Harbor and El Toro are not in any other tournaments together and have no nonleague games scheduled, they won’t see each other again this year until the Division I playoffs at the earliest.

“It feels great,” Russell said. “It’s like an enlightening feeling. It makes us feel even better that we beat the team that we’ll have to beat in CIF.”

Meanwhile, El Toro Coach Don Stoll was left to contemplate his team’s first loss of the season.

“We didn’t stay relaxed, and we didn’t deal with adversity well,” Stoll said. “One goal [in the second overtime period] shouldn’t end the game, but we go down and try too hard and then all of a sudden it’s two goals, then three goals. Then you’re done.”

Linden had three goals to lead the team against El Toro, and Zach Osadche had two. Jorth and Colin McKibbin each had two steals and Collin Sherman added a goal against the familiar nemesis of the Chargers.

“We hate each other, bottom line,” Lynch said. “It’s always been a battle. We always play them in CIF; two years ago we played them four times. There’s a lot of history there, and it’s nice to beat them, obviously.

“One of our team goals is to win a tournament, so, ‘check,’ ” Lynch added with a laugh, drawing an imaginary check mark in the air.

In earlier action Saturday afternoon, McKibbin scored five goals to lift Newport Harbor against Villa Park, ranked No. 1 in the CIF Southern Section Division II coaches’ poll.

After being disappointed in Friday’s close quarterfinal win over Riverside Poly, Lynch was happy to see his team finally start to play up to its potential.

“Guys just brought some energy and did what they were supposed to do, what they’re capable of doing,” Lynch said. “[McKibbin’s] expected to do that. It’s not like this is a magical game or something, where he pulled something out of his butt. This is what he’s expected to do every single game.”

Harbor was behind for the whole first half of the semifinal, but rallied for three consecutive goals — two by McKibbin and one by Osdache — to take a 6-4 lead with under three minutes left in the third quarter.

But Villa Park answered with a pair of goals to end the quarter, then standout Josh Samuels scored from five meters with 4:47 left in the game to give the Spartans a 7-6 lead.

McKibbin scored his fifth goal of the game with 3:06 left on a nice pass from Jorth, tying the score. Then, Jorth scored a counterattack goal with 1:31 left on a long pass from Christian.

Villa Park had one last chance, but a shot skipped wide in the final minute.

South Coast Tournament

Championship

Newport Harbor 8, El Toro 5 (OT)

SCORE BY PERIODS

ET – Freerks 2, G. White 1, Rascon 1, S. White 1. Saves – O’Connell 11.

NH – Linden 3, Osadche 2, Russell 1, Parole 1, Sherman 1. Saves – Christian 14.

Semifinal

Newport Harbor 8, Villa Park 7

SCORE BY QUARTERS

VP – Fisher 3, Learmouth 2, Samuels 2. Saves – Rapacz 9.

NH – McKibbin 5, Jorth 1, Russell 1, Osadche 1. Saves – Christian 6.

MATT SZABO may be reached at (714) 966-4614 or by e-mail at [email protected].