Heart-stopper

Bryce Alderton

Newport Harbor High boys water polo team has a knack of providing

suspenseful, thrilling matches this season and they provided one

again Saturday, though unfortunately for the 19-10 Sailors, it wasn’t

meant to be.

El Toro’s Brent Danna grabbed a loose ball after an El Toro

attacker sliced through two Newport defenders, raised his arm and

lobbed the ball over Sailor goalie Michael Robinson for his second

and most crucial goal of the match to help stave off a tenacious

Newport team, 9-8, evening the season series between the two teams at

two games apiece, but more importantly, vaulting the Chargers (23-7)

into the semifinals of the CIF Southern Section Division I Playoffs,

the fourth year in a row El Toro has advanced to the semifinals.

“As soon as I let it go I knew it was going in,” Danna said

following his game-winning goal. “But hats off to Newport.”

The Sailors “never-say-die” play picked up steam in an

action-packed fourth period that saw El Toro lead, 8-5, after Allen

Lester scored the second of his two goals on a 6-on-5 with 4:30

remaining, but the dramatics were only surfacing.

Junior center Michael Bury, who scored a match-high six goals

despite being double and triple-teamed, started the Newport comeback

on his fifth goal with 4:03 remaining and just 30 seconds later,

Nathan Weiner slashed his way through two El Toro defenders to score

his one goal for the match, sending the Newport faithful into a

frenzy in the stands.

Then with just 1:42 left, Bury managed to get a shot off in a sea

of El Toro arms attempting to bat the ball away and the ball hit the

top post, fell on top of the goalie’s head and trickled in the net to

tie the match, 8-8, before Danna’s game-winner.

“The kids showed heart and we played hard,” said Newport Coach

Jason Lynch.

“We didn’t shoot the ball very well and we were impatient against

their zone.”

Newport missed hitting the cage 13 times on 30 attempts, often

taking shots with plenty of time left on the 35-second shot clock,

Lynch said.

The Chargers took 17 shots with Robinson making four saves.

“We had some defensive breakdowns early in the game that hurt us

like the first four goals,” Lynch said. “We were leaving guys open

but to (El Toro’s) credit, their guys stepped up and hit some big

shots like (Lester).”

Newport twice trailed by three, at 6-3 in the third period and

again at 8-5 in the final quarter before the Sailors increased their

defensive pressure, making steals to key counterattacks.

Senior center Jay Thompson made one of his three steals with just

over one minute remaining in the third quarter and heaved an outlet

to a driving Ross Sinclair, who fired the ball into the cage to get

Newport within one at, 6-5, heading into the fourth. Sinclair’s goal

followed Bury’s fourth goal that came on a 6-on-5. Newport was two of

three on 6-on-5 scenarios.

Sinclair also made three steals and freshman Clay Jorth added two

steals for the Sailors.

Brent Armstrong had one assist and one steal, and Weiner also

applied pressure to notch one steal. Bryan Auer blocked two Charger

entry passes and Charlie Hockenberry played aggressively in the

offensive set.

Lynch wished his team could get the ball to Bury more at the

2-meter mark.

“(Bury) played great and he was open a few more times and we

didn’t get the ball to him,” Lynch said.

Both coaches extolled the efforts of their goalies.

“Richard Shore came up big for us,” said El Toro Coach Don Stoll.

Shore made 11 saves.

Lynch was equally impressed with Robinson.

“He’s come a long way and he’s only a sophomore,” Lynch said.

Newport loses seven seniors including Sinclair, Weiner, Nathan

McLain, Hockenberry, Armstrong, Gavin Schmidt and Thompson.

CIF DIVISION I PLAYOFFS

Quarterfinal

El Toro 9, Newport Harbor 8

El Toro 1 3 2 3

-- 9

Newport Harbor 1 2 2

3 -- 8

El Toro - Allen 3, Danna 2, Lester 2, Wright 1, Zaccaro

1. Saves -- Shore 11.

Newport Harbor -- Bury 6, Weiner 1, Sinclair 1. Saves --

Robinson 4.