Defense Lends a Hand in Harbor’s Victory

Harbor College took a step toward erasing the memories of a Sept. 25 postgame brawl against Pierce College and ended a three-game losing streak on Saturday against Santa Monica.

The Seahawks, behind the passing of quarterback Gabe Sadi and strong play from its defense, beat the Corsairs, 30-15, in a Western State Conference game at Wilmington.

“Any win early in the season is a good win and Santa Monica is a good team,” said Harbor Coach Don Weems, whose team improved to 2-3.

Santa Monica (2-3) went into the game with a two-game win streak and one of the top offenses in the conference. But the Corsairs had their problems against the Seahawk defense and finished with only 152 yards.

“We needed to win this one and not only did we get a win, we totally dominated them,” linebacker Jeff Keith said. “We had our heads on straight today and we played with a lot of focus and we want to play that way the rest of the season.”

Santa Monica started the scoring on a seven-yard touchdown run by Herbert Rush, but Harbor tied the score on a 13-yard pass from Sadi to wide receiver Itchy Del Pino midway through the second quarter.

But it was a big play by Keith that put the Seahawks ahead to stay late in the half. He intercepted a deflected pass from Santa Monica quarterback Jorge Blanco and returned it 16 yards for a touchdown and 14-7 Harbor lead.

The Seahawks took a 17-7 lead in the third quarter on a 27-yard field goal by Jon Williams and made it 23-7 on an 18-yard pass from Sadi to running back Damin Hurst with 9 minutes 22 seconds left in the game.

Harbor scored its last touchdown when Larry Rayford blocked a punt by Santa Monica’s Steve Marshall and Jamie Washington caught the ball and returned it six yards for a touchdown.

Santa Monica added a touchdown on a 15-yard pass from reserve quarterback Todd Davenport to wide receiver Koby Jones with 15 seconds remaining.

Santa Monica used three quarterbacks and they combined to complete only four of 27 passes for 72 yards. Blanco, the starter, was two of 16 for 30 yards and had four passes intercepted.

Sadi was 15 of 29 for 185 yards and two TDs. Del Pino had four catches for 63 yards.

“The passing game is what we’ve been working on since the summer and we went back to it and that’s what worked for us today,” Sadi said.

Two Harbor players were injured. Linebacker Tyrone Coleman twisted his knee and is expected to be out four weeks and Keith suffered a hamstring injury, although he may play Saturday against Compton.