PREP FOOTBALL : Foley and Newport Harbor Forced to Rally in 2nd Half to Defeat University, 33-24

Call Mike Giddings, Newport Harbor High School football coach, what you like, but he is first of all, a practical man.

He wasn’t exactly enthused after watching his team struggle to a 33-24 win over University, Thursday, on Davidson Field, but, as Giddings noted, things could be worse.

“The fact is that we made the playoffs today,” Giddings said. “That’s a goal any season. This is our fourth straight season in the playoffs.”

But even Giddings can see a dark cloud over every silver lining.

“But if we play like this in the playoffs, we won’t be around very long.”

The win did clinch a playoff berth for the Sailors (5-0 in the Sea View League and 7-1 overall). But that was a foregone conclusion to most. The Sailors routed Laguna Beach last week, 68-27, and had won their last five games. University had lost its last four games, including a 14-10 loss to Costa Mesa last week.

It was such a foregone conclusion, that when kicker Sterling Coberly missed the extra point kick after Bryan Wildman scored the game’s first touchdown on a four-yard run midway through the first quarter, no one--coaches or spectators--seemed too concerned.

Wildman’s score was set up when University punter Craig Allton had trouble handling a high snap and fell on the ball on the Trojans’ 25-yard line.

However, a curious thing happened. The Trojans, outsized and outmanned, began to move the ball on offense. They utilized six running backs and the accurate passing of quarterback Bart Silberman to do so. On the first play of the second quarter, University running back Craig Belle scored on a 19-yard run to tie the score at 6. When Will Ferrell kicked the extra point, the Trojans had something they could tell their grandchildren about--a lead over Newport Harbor.

But wait, there’s more.

Ferrell kicked a 37-yard field goal to increase the lead to 10-6. Newport Harbor went back ahead when receiver Andy Sheppard caught a short pass from quarterback Shane Foley, bounced off one defender and ran in for a 37-yard score. A conversion pass was dropped, and this time coaches and Sailor rooters didn’t look so happy.

They looked even worse when Belle scored on an eight-yard touchdown run to put University ahead at halftime, 18-12.

“It wasn’t exactly that we played that bad,” Giddings said. “University just outplayed us today. Plain and simple.”

Plain and simple is how Foley and the Sailor offense made it look at the beginning of the second half. Foley, who completed 18 of 21 passes for 247 yards, completed his first seven passes of the second half, setting up two Newport Harbor scores. Wildman went in from one yard out, and Kevin McClelland caught an eight-yard pass that, after the conversion kick, put the Sailor’s ahead, 26-18.

But Belle scored his third touchdown on a two-yard run early in the fourth quarter. University Coach Rick Curtis decided to go for the two-point conversion that would tie the game, but Silberman’s attempted pass was incomplete. Silberman completed 13 of 17 passes for 104 yards.

NH--Wildman 4 run (kick failed)

U--Belle 19 run (Ferrell kick)

U--FG Ferrell 37

NH--Sheppard 37 pass from Foley (pass failed)

U--Belle 8 run (Belle pass from Silberman)

NH--Wildman 1 run (Coberly kick)

NH--McClelland 8 pass from Foley (Coberly kick)

U--Belle 2 run (pass failed)

NH--Wildman 4 run Coberly

Attendance--900