Defense is name of game for Tars

Rick Devereux

The unmovable object and the unstoppable force collided Thursday at

Newport Harbor High and the unmovable object prevailed.

The Newport Harbor defense withstood the Dana Hills offense to

prevail, 35-20, in a battle of unbeaten teams in a nonleague game.

The Dolphins (3-1), No. 10 in CIF Southern Section Division II,

were averaging 31 points this season powered by wide receiver Nate

Barnett and quarterback Grant Schwartz. Barnett, who had more than

100 receiving yards in the first three gams, was held to three

catches for 62 yards against the Sailor defense.

“Our defense played well,” defensive coordinator Tony Ciarelli

said. “[Dana Hills] showed a lot of short stuff, but our [defensive

backs] did a great job in containing them.”

Newport Harbor (4-0), ranked No. 1 in CIF Division VI, raced out

to a 21-0 lead in the second quarter, too much for the Dolphins to

overcome.

Greg Miner blocked a Dana Hills punt and Alex Orth returned the

loose ball 16 yards for a touchdown for a quick 7-0 lead before the

Newport Harbor offense ran a play.

When the offense did have the ball, Newport Harbor took its time

and protected the ball.

“We ran the ball well,” head coach Jeff Brinkley said. “Our O-line

did a great job of firing off the ball.”

On its first series of the game, the Sailor offense strung

together an 11-play, 80-yard drive that ate up 5:24. Thomas Martin,

filling in for the injured Trevor Theriot, capped off the drive with

a 3-yard sweep to the left. Martin finished with 119 rushing yards on

23 carries.

Newport added to the lead late in the second quarter when

quarterback Kasey Peters lofted a pass over a defender’s outstretched

hands and to Miner at the 5. The tight end slipped into the endzone

for a 23-yard touchdown to make it 21-0 with 3:31 left in the first

half.

Dana Hills cut into the lead on Brandon Giesen’s 5-yard touchdown

run with 1:25 left in the half.

Newport Harbor’s first drive of the second half resembled its

first drive of the first half. The Sailors marched 83 yards on 12

plays with Peters scoring on a 1-yard quarterback sneak. Peters was

six-of-seven on the drive for 63 yards.

“Peters was very efficient,” Brinkley said. “We didn’t need him to

throw 30 times, but he was definitely efficient.”

Dana Hills would not give up without a fight, however. A

double-reverse-pass that resulted in a 38-yard completion to Barnett

set up Geisen’s 6-yard TD run with 0:23 left in the third and kept

the Dolphins in the game at 28-14.

“[Dana Hills is] a team that scores a lot of points,” Ciarelli

said. “We told the DBs not to creep up on any play-action, especially

if [Barnett] is running downfield. It was a discipline-thing for our

DBs.”

The Dolphins put together a 10-play drive in the fourth quarter

that took 3:41, but only managed to gain 29 yards. When the Sailors

received possession following a punt, 6:07 remained in the game and

the coaching staff was trying to run as much time off the clock as

possible. However, the Dolphin defense stuffed three consecutive

running plays for 4 total yards to force a punt.

On the first Dolphin offensive play, linebacker Billy Brown, who

came in to give Martin a breather from his middle linebacker duties,

intercepted the ball.

“We know our backups are ready to step up,” Ciarelli said.

The possession allowed Newport to milk more time off the clock,

but the Dana Hills’ defense again stuffed three consecutive runs and

forced a punt. Sailor punter Travis Duffield was roughed on the kick,

which would have resulted in an automatic first down, but Grant

Casserly recovered a muffed return at the 20.

This time the Tars capitalized on the mistake and put the game

away with a 5-yard touchdown pass to fullback Jack Tracey with 1:23

left.

Schwartz scored on a 6-yard quarterback draw as time expired for

the 35-20 final.