Harbor still rules

NEWPORT BEACH — The first presidential debate aired Friday night.

Whether anyone was moved was a moot point to close to more than 5,000 fans at Davidson Field.

In the 47th Battle of the Bay contest, this was no contest.

No arguing this one in front of an overflowing crowd.

Newport Harbor crushed visiting Corona del Mar, 42-13, making it nine out of the last 10 times the Sailors have beaten their Back Bay rival.

On one play, CdM’s faithful had reason to cheer. It came on the opening kickoff, a 93-yard touchdown return by Dillon Norton.

He capped the return by going airborne into the end zone.

The rest of the night, the Sailors grounded the Sea Kings. They made the Sea Kings look like they were running with parachutes.

Newport Harbor smothered the Sea Kings, handing them their first loss of the season.

How ferocious was Newport Harbor (2-1)? It took 22 minutes, 48 seconds for the Sea Kings to record a first down in the game.

Newport Harbor didn’t surrender another one until the 5:29 mark in the fourth quarter. After that, with the reserves in, CdM’s offense managed to cross midfield for the first time.

“It’s good,” said Newport Harbor linebacker Brandon Kula after blowing out CdM for the second straight year. “They were doing a little trash talking over the Internet early in the week.”

This weekend, the Sea Kings probably won’t surf the net. They’ll be busy recuperating as the Sailors knocked out lineman Dan DiChiro and free safety Tyler Haly.

CdM (3-1), ranked No. 5 in the CIF Southern Section Southern Division coaches’ poll, tried everything, even the option.

Nothing worked offensively. Five-yard dink passes were batted down and ball carriers were lucky to get back to the line of scrimmage.

Not helping the Sea Kings was having their leading rusher, J.D. Abbott, out with a mild concussion suffered last week.

Running backs Alex Swigert and Norton, and quarterback Mitch Sands felt the brunt of the hits from linebackers Kula, Ned Lyon, Nick Svendsen and Cecil Whiteside.

While Norton kept the fans on their feet on the first play of the game for 15 seconds, Newport Harbor’s starting linebackers knocked the Sea Kings off their feet.

Sands was sacked six times. The Sailors dug out more than Sands in their 3-4 defensive scheme, they stuffed the ground game, allowing 45 yards on 28 carries.

After giving up a special teams touchdown for the first time, Coach Jeff Brinkley was disappointed. But he didn’t need to point at the clock to tell his players that this was far from over.

“It’s a long night,” Brinkley told his players.

In return, they responded. Newport Harbor owned the rest of the night and it now leads the Battle of the Bay series, 34-13.

Playing on a short field because of the defense forcing CdM three-and-out faster than a couple of cars at a drive-through window at 10 a.m. and a couple of bad punts, Newport Harbor’s offense took advantage.

Michael Helfrich started at running back and collected 149 yards and two touchdowns on 26 carries.

Andrew McDonald hit Whiteside on a quick pass. The wide receiver did the rest, fleeing down the CdM sideline for a 40-yard touchdown in the first quarter.

The quarterback’s best throw came on a 48-yard score to receiver JB Green, giving the Sailors a 26-6 lead before halftime.

“As the game progressed, it was obvious that they were probably bigger and stronger,” CdM Coach Jason Hitchens said. “They started to wear us down.”

This was the second straight game for the Sailors against a top-10 ranked opponent in the CIF Southern Section. Harbor rebounded nicely after losing 26-2 against Long Beach Poly, No. 1 in the Pac-5 Division.

“Getting in a rut, where you lose two [straight] games, it’s not good,” said Lyon, who finished with two sacks. “This was definitely huge to win this game, beside the fact that it was also the Battle of the Bay.”

It started off perfectly for the Sea Kings with Norton’s return.

Last week, Norton capped one of his two returns for touchdowns by flashing a trident sign for fans.

This time his dive into the end zone cost the Sea Kings 15 yards on an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty.

Soon the Sea Kings’ special teams troubles began. Pushed back, they missed the 35-yard extra point. They tried an onside kick, and missed recovering it.

Twice they gave up safeties after bad long snaps to the punter. The punter kicked one ball into the back of the end zone and pushed another one out.

“We came out and punched them in the mouth and we didn’t keep it up,” said Norton, who also intercepted a pass. “Bottom line, we didn’t keep it up.”

DAVID CARRILLO PEÑALOZA may be reached at (714) 966-4612 or at [email protected].