High School Football: Los Altos wins battle of RBs
It was billed as a clash of two standout running backs, and Tyler Nevens and Cole Kinder were certainly worth the price of admission Friday night at Jim Scott Stadium.
Hacienda Heights Los Altos senior Nevens and Newport Harbor senior Kinder combined for nearly 600 rushing yards and eight touchdowns.
But it was Nevens and the Conquerors who finished late, taking their first lead late in the third quarter and holding on for a 35-23 nonleague win to push their season record to a perfect 5-0.
Newport Harbor (2-2), which is unranked in CIF Southern Section Division 6, missed a chance to upset the No. 3 ranked team in the division. The reason why was that Nevens came alive in the second half after a relatively quiet first half.
The three-year starter, who now has an impressive 19 touchdowns already on the season, scored all five of them for Los Altos on Friday night on his way to 242 yards rushing. The vast majority of those yards, 179, came after the intermission.
Newport Coach Jeff Brinkley said he thought, for the most part, his defensive line did a pretty good job against Nevens. But all it took was a small crease and the quick yet powerful tailback would be gone.
“I was just being patient, waiting for what I could see,” said Nevens, who now has 1,051 total yards rushing in his team’s five wins. “In the second half, I just went all I had. That patience really worked out for me, and it worked out for my team.”
His fourth touchdown, a 60-yarder on the third play of the fourth quarter, gave Los Altos a 28-23 advantage. It stayed that way after a conversion keeper run up the middle by quarterback Kody Olmos was stuffed.
The Sailors had three possessions to try to take the lead back. The first and second ones ended in a punt, but the Newport Harbor defense held. The Sailors got the ball back at their own 12-yard line with 2:46 left in the fourth quarter, still down by five points.
An eight-yard run by Kinder, who finished with a season-best 327 yards rushing and three scores, set up a seemingly manageable second and two situation. But then, the Sailors were called for a false start penalty — their first and only penalty of the night.
Quarterback Spencer Hook tried to find Dayne Chalmers over the middle but the pass was incomplete, bringing up third down. Hook was then sacked by Los Altos’ Jayson Jones, setting up a fourth and 14.
Hook again tried to find Chalmers, but he was well covered and the ball fell to the ground around the 30, giving Los Altos possession back with 1:27 left. Nevens then scored his fifth touchdown of the night, from 10 yards out, to seal the game with 39 seconds remaining.
“You’ve got to give them credit,” Brinkley said. “They battled back, and we didn’t answer late. We ran the ball real well tonight, but we’re going to have to throw it equivalent to our running game at some point. We’ll work on that, and we’ll get better.”
Brinkley alternated his quarterbacks, sophomore Sam Barela and Hook, a junior, throughout the game. Hook played more down the stretch in the second half.
“I wanted to see the other kid in some meaningful action,” Brinkley said. “He’s got a strong arm. Both of them are pretty equivalent to each other, honestly. They both bring something different to the table. I wanted to see what he could do, so we ended up going that direction in the second half.”
Newport Harbor had jumped out to a 16-8 halftime advantage. The Sailors used a pair of big plays by junior Jake Bashore. He blocked a Los Altos punt to give the Sailors a short field, setting up Newport Harbor’s first touchdown. Then, Bashore intercepted Olmos’ pass near the goal line just before halftime.
Senior middle linebacker Gage Roberson and senior tackle Mike Jarboe had quarterback sacks for Newport Harbor.
Los Altos took its first lead with 2:23 left in the third quarter, when Nevens scored on an eight-yard run. But two plays later, Kinder answered with his own touchdown run. This one was longer, 81 yards as he burst up the middle.
Los Altos, however, owned the fourth quarter. It doesn’t get any easier for the Sailors, who play at Mira Costa, the No. 9-ranked team in Division 6, next Friday. The Sailors then open Sunset League play against defending champion Edison, the top-ranked team in Division 3, on Oct. 6 at Huntington Beach High.
“Hopefully we can find a way to bounce back,” Brinkley said. “I told the kids, we started the gauntlet a week or so ago. From here on out, it’s going to be a war every week.”
Nonleague
Los Altos 35, Newport Harbor 23
SCORE BY QUARTERS
Los Altos 0 – 8 – 14 –13 — 35
Newport 9 – 7 – 7 – 0 — 23
FIRST QUARTER
NH – Siemonsma 32 FG, 7:27.
NH – Kinder 5 run (run failed), 3:09.
SECOND QUARTER
LA – Nevens 8 run (Manuele run), 9:26.
NH – Kinder 26 run (Schroeder kick), 6:18.
THIRD QUARTER
LA – Nevens 75 run (White kick), 11:36.
LA – Nevens 8 run (White kick), 2:23.
NH – Kinder 81 run (Schroeder kick), 1:28.
FOURTH QUARTER
LA – Nevens 60 run (run failed), 11:19.
LA – Nevens 10 run (White kick), 0:39.
INDIVIDUAL RUSHING
LA – Nevens, 26-242, 5 TDs.
NH – Kinder, 35-327, 3 TDs.
INDIVIDUAL PASSING
LA – Olmos, 11-18-1, 136.
NH – Hook, 3-10-0, 24.
INDIVIDUAL RECEIVING
LA – Lopez, 4-50.
NH – Hooper, 4-22.
