Newport Harbor Keeps Sango Off Field

At halftime, it looked as if El Toro all-purpose back Murle Sango was going to have reporters fumbling through record books and Newport Harbor defensive coordinator Tony Ciarelli searching for another job. Sango had 245 yards running and receiving and he didn’t appear to be slowing down.

Sango never exactly slowed down, but he never got started up again. Newport Harbor’s offense was its best defense for Sango as it controlled the ball and the game in the second half, winning, 27-17, Thursday night at Newport Harbor High before nearly 4,000 fans.

Sango had only 15 yards of offense in the second half and finished with 159 yards rushing in 15 carries and 101 yards receiving on five catches and two touchdowns.

“We felt good about the way we were moving the football in the first half,” Newport Harbor Coach Jeff Brinkley said. “We just put it on the defense to stop them.”

Newport Harbor’s defense only had to stop El Toro three times because its offense refused to give up the ball. The Sailors (6-1, 1-1) trailed, 17-13, at halftime but had the ball for the first seven minutes 30 seconds of the second half. They scored when they converted a fourth and goal from the El Toro seven. Quarterback Josiah Fredriksen found wide receiver Brad La Bass in the corner of the end zone, one play after La Bass had dropped a pass in the same place.

“It’s just a hard play to defend,” Brinkley said. “As a defensive back, you’re out there on an island.”

Said El Toro Coach Mike Milner of Newport’s fourth-down conversion: “That put a stake in our hearts.”

When El Toro finally got the ball, it didn’t do anything with it. On a third and four, quarterback Mike Strand was sacked by defensive lineman Jason Deere, who sacked Strand two more times.

Newport Harbor took advantage of a short El Toro punt and drove 45 yards in 10 plays to take a 27-17 lead with 9:55 left. A wide-open Brad Baker caught a 16-yard touchdown pass from Fredriksen for the score.

El Toro moved to its 46, but couldn’t convert a fake punt and handed the ball and essentially the game over to Newport Harbor.

“We didn’t have anything in the second half,” El Toro Coach Mike Milner said. “We played poorly offensively and we played poorly defensively in the second half.”

Milner, whose team dropped to 4-3 overall and 1-1 in the Sea View League, didn’t sound excited about his team’s prospects in league.

“We’ll probably be slopping it out in the basement,” he said.