Newport Harbor begins season with win

Every home football game for Newport Harbor High will be on the road for the first time in Coach Jeff Brinkley’s 31 years at the school.

He and the Sailors looked right at home in their season opener at Orange Coast College on Thursday.

With Davidson Field undergoing renovations, the Sailors traveled 4 1/2 miles to play Pacifica. They jumped out in front early, and blew the game open in the second half, earning a 47-26 rout.

The result moved Brinkley into the No. 20 spot for all-time wins in California. Brinkley, who coached eight years in Norwalk before coming to the Sailors in 1986, earned his 267th overall win.

“A win is a win,” Brinkley said. “It’s hard to win one football game.”

Coach Vinnie Lopez’s Pacifica team has had two chances already, each time coming up short.

Even though the Mariners played a game last week, they played sloppy in the first nine minutes. The Sailors came away with three turnovers, the first two resulting in touchdowns. Midway through the opening quarter, Newport Harbor led, 14-0.

Late in the first quarter, Pacifica rallied to get even with Newport Harbor, but running back Cole Kinder and the Sailors ran away with the game in the second half.

Kinder rushed 21 times for 152 yards and three touchdowns, and he finished with four touchdowns. Three of those scores came in a second half in which Newport Harbor outscored Pacifica, 33-12. The senior’s second-half scores were of the long variety, 45- and 40-yard runs and an 85-yard kickoff return.

Newport Harbor took advantage of six turnovers (four fumbles and two interceptions). The Sailors slowed down Ben Jefferson, Pacifica’s dual-threat quarterback. He fumbled twice and threw two interceptions.

“Our defense played well all night,” Brinkley said.

Pacifica’s first turnover had nothing to do with Jefferson, who completed 17 of 30 passes for 215 yards and a touchdown and rushed 19 times for 91 yards and one touchdown.

Levi Hooper scored the first touchdown, coming after a punt bounced off the helmet of the returner near the 10-yard line and rolled into the end zone. Hooper pounced on the ball to put Newport Harbor up at the 8:08 mark in the first quarter.

Forty-seven seconds later, Pacifica running back Raul Balderas lost the ball on a toss and defensive back Roger Sanborn fell on top of it. The Sailors took over near the red zone, and they got into the end zone. Kinder rushed in for a five-yard touchdown, helping Newport Harbor take a 14-0 lead.

Jefferson couldn’t do much, with defensive lineman Seth Wright and linebacker Cole O’Neil sacking him on two of the Mariners’ first three drives. Then middle linebacker Gage Roberson picked off Jefferson, returning it 34 yards to set up Newport Harbor’s offense on Pacifica’s 49 with three minutes remaining in the first quarter.

The Sailors gave back the ball 90 seconds later, and this one allowed Pacifica to cut the deficit in half. Sam Barela, making his varsity debut at quarterback, threw a pass to the left, toward the sideline, where cornerback Hagen Foreman intercepted it. The sophomore returned the pick 11 yards, leaving Pacifica on the opponent’s 20-yard line.

On Jefferson’s first shot since turning the ball over, the junior redeemed himself. He took off to the right, before cutting back left to complete a 20-yard touchdown run. The first quarter wasn’t over yet, and with 66 seconds left, the Mariners scored again.

Foreman jumped another pass to the left by Barela, intercepting it. This one he returned 23 yards for a pick-six. The Mariners evened things up at 14-14.

In the first 12 minutes, the teams combined for five turnovers. They added two more in a scoreless second quarter.

Kinder broke the tie 14 seconds into the second half. The senior took the kickoff off the turf at the 15-yard line and blew past the Mariners, racing in for a touchdown.

Barela threw two second-half touchdowns, a 15-yarder to tight end Will Harvey and a 24-yarder to Hooper, a wide receiver. The offense played turnover-free football in the second half.

Barela was 12 of 18 for 142 yards, and five of those completions went to sophomore receiver Dayne Chalmers for 86 yards. Chalmers said he exited the game with a knee injury after intercepting a pass early in the fourth quarter. By then, the Sailors were on their way to improving to 24-6-1 in season openers with Brinkley in charge.

“The whole environment was nice,” Brinkley said. “The kids felt comfortable [at OCC]. A lot of our guys have played here a few times before. It wasn’t that strange to them. The only difference was we had to jump on a bus for a few minutes. Overall, it was all good.”

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Newport Harbor 47, Pacifica 26

SCORE BY QUARTERS

Pacifica 14 – 0 – 6 – 6 — 26

Newport 14 – 0 – 20 – 13 — 47

FIRST QUARTER

NH – Hooper recovers fumble in end zone (Schroeder kick), 8:08.

NH – Kinder 5 run (Schroeder kick), 5:44.

P – Jefferson 20 run (Bell kick), 1:19.

P – Foreman 23 INT return (Bell kick), 1:06.

THIRD QUARTER

NH – Kinder 85 kickoff return (Schroeder kick), 11:46.

P – Keaton 10 pass from Jefferson (kick failed), 9:22.

NH – Harvey 15 pass from Barela (Schroeder kick), 3:13.

NH – Kinder 40 run (kick failed), :28.

FOURTH QUARTER

NH – Hooper 15 pass from Barela (kick failed), 10:03.

NH – Kinder 45 run (Siemonsma kick), 6:05.

P – May 2 run (pass failed), :05.

INDIVIDUAL RUSHING

P – Jefferson, 19-91, 1 TD.

NH – Kinder, 21-152, 3 TDs.

INDIVIDUAL PASSING

P – Jefferson, 17-30-2, 215, 1 TD.

NH – Barela, 12-18-2, 142, 2 TDs.

INDIVIDUAL RECEIVING

P – Moslenko, 8-131.

NH – Chalmers, 5-86.