Sea View League : Foley’s Hot Half Is Newport Harbor’s Key in 42-27 Win

It’s easy to say that Newport Harbor High School’s offense is one-dimensional, but when that one dimension is Shane Foley, it usually still is more than enough for the Sailors.

Foley led the Sailors to a dream-like first half Friday, throwing five touchdown passes, and then Estancia rally in the second half before the Sailors finally won, 42-27.

Foley stunned both Estancia’s defense and a LeBard Stadium crowd of 3,000 by throwing touchdown passes of 27, 9, 36, 16 and 31 yards to give the Sailors a 35-7 halftime lead in the Sea View League opener for both.

Despite that lopsided margin, Estancia played as well as it might have hoped and at one point appeared to pull even at 14-14, except that the referees nullified a trick touchdown pass to Eric Dorn in the second quarter, leaving the score at 14-7.

Foley then took over by throwing three more touchdown passes before halftime, thanks in large part to excellent field position, turnovers and an Estancia defense that was simply caught unaware by Newport Harbor’s quick snap count.

Despite the impressive statistics, Foley was largely unimpressed afterwards.

Said Foley: “We got lucky (on the touchdowns). We caught them in a blitz a couple of times there. We let down in the second half. They were more fired up than we were. They came back strong.

“We were ahead, 35-7, there at halftime and Coach (Mike Giddings) yelled at us because we were getting beat at the line of scrimmage. He was really upset.”

Estancia came back behind the passing of a pretty decent quarterback of its own, senior Mike Rosellini, who’d sat out the first three games of the season with mononucleosis.

Rosellini helped the Eagles come back to within 8 points at 35-27 late in the game, but the Eagles simply ran out of gas when a fourth-down pass at Newport’s 37 yard line with 2 minutes to play fell incomplete and Newport took over.

With a score, Estancia might have tied the game, but instead the Eagles watched the Sailors march back down the field the other way, where running back Bryan Wildman ran 21 yards for the score to give the Sailors’ the final 42-27 victory margin.

Despite Estancia’s spirited second-half play, the story of the game was still Foley, the Sailors’ senior quarterback who until this game had good but not great statistics to show for his early season efforts.

After the game, Foley received congratulations from virtually everybody in the Newport Harbor camp, starting with his own mother, followed by teammates, coaches and the like. Foley was safely escorted back to the Newport Harbor team bus by no less than five girls--one for each touchdown pass, it seemed.

In other Sea View League action:

Saddleback 28, University 0--Quarterback Myron Butler ran for one touchdown and threw for another to lead the Roadrunners to a 28-0 victory over the Trojans in Irvine Stadium.

Butler scored on a 8-yard touchdown run in the third quarter and connected with Joe Deal on a 14-yard pass play in the fourth quarter to gave the Roadrunners a commanding 28-0 lead.

Butler completed 15 of 18 passes for 247 yards and rushed for 36 yards on 9 carries. His favorite target was Danny Ontiveros, who caught 9 passes for 95 yards.

Saddleback (1-0, 4-0) had only a 7-0 lead at halftime after losing two scoring opportunities because of fumbles.

The Roadrunners’ only touchdown in the first half came when Glenn Cambell scampered 36 yards for a score with 3:34 left in the first quarter.

Butler, who completed his first six passes of the second half, worked the ball to the Trojan 8 before going scoring on an option play with 3:57 left in the third quarter to give the Roadrunners’ a 14-0 advantage.

Saddleback extended its lead to 21-0 on a one-yard run by Onassis Haddix with 10:52 left in the fourth quarter.

University (0-1, 1-3) was held to 43 yards rushing. Shawn Noble was the Trojans’ leading rusher with 39 yards on 6 carries.

Saddleback meets Newport Harbor in a next week in a game that could determine the league title. The Roadrunners and Sailors tied for the championship last season.

Laguna Beach 24, Costa Mesa 7--The surprising Artists improved their overall record to 3-1 and 1-0 in league by downing the Mustangs at Davidson Field. The Artists took a 17-0 halftime lead on two short touchdown runs and a field goal.

The Mustangs’ lone touchdown came on a 15-yard pass from Paul Rodriguez to Eric Vogel. Costa Mesa fell to 0-1 and 1-3.

Laguna Beach could improve its overall record to 4-1 with a win over University next week. Costa Mesa will face Corona del Mar.

Foley’s Five

1. First Quarter: At 7:08, Foley threw a 27-yard touchdown pass to Jeff Normington.

2. First Quarter: At 5:10, Foley threw a 9-yard touchdown pass to Mark Craig.

3. Second Quarter: At 7:54, Foley threw a 16-yard touchdown pass to Steve Reed.

4. Second Quarter: At 7:37, Foley threw a 31-yard touchdown pass to Reed.

5. Second Quarter: At 2:48, Foley threw a 14-yard touchdown pass to Kevin McClelland.

First-Half Totals: 7 of 13, 157 yards, 5 touchdowns, 0 interceptions.

Game Totals: 9 of 18, 214 yards, 5 touchdowns, 1 interception.