ORANGE COUNTY HIGH SCHOOL FOOTBALL PREP EXTRA : Orange Settles Old Score With Newport Harbor : Football: Panthers’ new quarterback has a solid game in 20-7 victory.

Orange ended five years of frustration against Newport Harbor with a convincing 20-7 victory Friday night, and might have found itself a quarterback in the process.

Shawn McCraw, a defensive back last season, made his varsity debut at quarterback a successful one. He passed for one touchdown, a nine-yard toss to Anthony Adame with 2 minutes 43 seconds left in the third quarter to give Orange the lead for good, and ran for another as the Panthers beat the Sailors for the first time since 1989.

McCraw had to share the night with the Panther defense, which held Newport Harbor to 177 yards in total offense, and on three occasions stopped the Sailors on fourth down plays--twice deep in Orange territory.

The defense was rewarded with a touchdown, as Robby Peterson recovered a fumble in the end zone with 1:22 to play in front of an estimated 3,000 at El Modena High.

“We made mistakes ourselves and kept them in the game,” Orange Coach Dick Hill said, perhaps mindful of four Orange fumbles. “But our defense matured tonight. And McCraw is going to be an outstanding quarterback; you can see he’s just blooming.”

The Sailors came into the game with a 14-game winning streak and a batch of questions.

While not a completely new team, Newport Harbor was still 15 starters shy of last year’s Southern Section Division V titlist. “We have one group of guys who are moving up [from being backups] and another group who had never played varsity before,” Brinkley said. Starting linebacker West Kruger was playing his first year of football, period.

The Panthers had only one question for themselves--were they going to let the Sailors manhandle them like they did in last year’s 28-10 loss to Newport Harbor.

Hill quickly downplayed revenge as a motive, stating only that a rash of mistakes hurt his team as much as the Sailors’ blocking and tackling. But those close to Hill knew how much the game had bothered him.

Orange’s Mario Quintanar fumbled the opening kickoff and the Sailors’ Cory Glass recovered at the Panther 20. Newport Harbor got down to the one-yard line, but on a Quintanar redeemed himself by tackling Giordani for an eight-yard loss on a fourth-down play.

The Panthers built on that by driving 91 yards in 13 plays for the game’s first score. McCraw got the final 29 yards on a quarterback draw. Orange’s Aldo Zuniga missed the point after kick.

Instead of moping, the Sailors came right back with a touchdown.

On a third and six from the 24, Giordani passed to wide receiver Danny Pulido at the Orange 38. Pulido outfought one defender for the ball, shed another tackler at the 35, and ran for a 67-yard touchdown. Justin Kerr’s kick was good, and Newport Harbor got its only lead, 7-6.