Justin McCoy, Newport Harbor football run past Fountain Valley

The Fountain Valley High School football team had its senior night Friday when it battled Newport Harbor, with both teams looking for their first Sunset League win.

A senior did steal the show, but it was Newport Harbor running back Justin McCoy, who ran for 175 yards and three touchdowns on the way to a 49-14 Sailors victory at Huntington Beach High School.

“That was the whole goal to spoil their senior night,” McCoy said. “You pick a team as your senior night team, and that means you‘re confident you can beat them, and that’s what we did.”

Sailors quarterback Nick Kim joined McCoy with a big performance, completing 17 of 23 passes for 196 yards and two touchdowns. He threw two interceptions.

Sophomore running back Payton Irving also added a rushing touchdown.

For the Barons, senior running back Gavin Atkins led the way rushing with 73 yards and a touchdown on eight carries, while quarterback Jimmy Russell went 10 for 31 for 80 yards and a touchdown pass. He threw one interception.

Fountain Valley (0-3, 0-2 in the Sunset League) struggled to a slow start for a second consecutive game, allowing Newport Harbor (2-1, 1-1) to score on its first two possessions. The Sailors opened the scoring when Kim completed a 25-yard touchdown pass deep to James Crowell. Newport Harbor followed that with McCoy’s first score, a 59-yard run, making it 14-0.

Fountain Valley head coach Chris Anderson chalked it up to a young team who couldn’t prepare like it would in a typical season.

“We graduated a senior class that played a lot, and we are very inexperienced,” Anderson said. “Not having a spring and summer to prepare wasn’t conducive to success for us, but our guys are learning on the fly, and we’ll be better in the fall because of this.”

After Kim converted a one-yard quarterback keeper for Newport Harbor’s third touchdown and a 21-0 lead, Fountain Valley found its legs.

The Barons made their first trip to the red zone and completed the drive when Russell found Andrew Olivares in the front of the end zone to cut the Newport Harbor lead to 14.

The momentum continued to swing in Fountain Valley’s direction at the end of the first half when Justin Curti picked off Kim at the Barons’ two-yard line, keeping Newport Harbor from pulling away.

Even though the final result was not what Curti wanted, the senior defensive back was thankful the team could have its senior night when it seemed uncertain a couple of months ago.

“It’s amazing being together as a group,” he said. “The score doesn’t indicate how good of a team we are. We go to work every single day and we do the best we can. I’m proud of our teammates and we’re ready to ball out.”

Newport Harbor shook off the interception and started the third quarter strong. First, the Sailors blocked a punt, setting up a short field. Then McCoy ran in his second touchdown of the game to bring the score to 28-7.

Almost four minutes later, Jacob Carlon intercepted Russell, which eventually set up McCoy for a three-yard touchdown run.

Head coach Peter Lofthouse will be sad to see his senior running back go after the season.

“He can do everything,” Lofthouse said. “He does a great job in pass protection, he runs the ball well, he’s effective out of the backfield in the pass game. He’s just an all-around, all-purpose running back. He’s a special one. We will miss him when he graduates.”

Fountain Valley struck back when Atkins broke two tackles on the way to a 57-yard touchdown run to make the score 35-14.

Newport Harbor tacked on two more touchdowns before time expired, including Irving’s 36-yard touchdown effort, which was his first varsity touchdown.

“It felt like a dream, to be honest,” Irving said. “That was a new thing to me. I thought I was going to get it, and this guy missed a tackle on me, and I just broke free. It was something else man.”

Newport Harbor 49, Fountain Valley 14

SCORE BY QUARTERS

Newport Harbor 14 – 7 – 14 – 14 — 49

Fountain Valley 0 – 7 – 7 – 0 — 14

FIRST QUARTER

NH – Crowell 25 pass from Kim (Tankersley kick), 9:13.

NH – McCoy 59 run (Tankersley kick), 4:26.

SECOND QUARTER

NH – Kim 1 run (Tankersley kick), 6:22.

FV – Olivares 6 pass from Russell (Olivares kick), 1:49.

THIRD QUARTER

NH – McCoy 4 run (Tankersley kick), 7:20.

NH – McCoy 3 run (Tankersley kick), 3:39.

FV – Atkins 57 run (Olivares kick), 1:55.

FOURTH QUARTER

NH – Henjum 65 pass from Kim (Tankersley kick), 11:26.

NH – Irving 36 run (Tankersley kick), 8:19.

INDIVIDUAL RUSHING

NH – McCoy, 23-175, 3 TDs.

FV – Atkins, 8-73, TD.

INDIVIDUAL PASSING

NH – Kim, 7-23-2, 196, 2 TDs.

FV – Russell, 10-31-1, 80, TD.

INDIVIDUAL RECEIVING

NH – Henjum, 7-76, TD.

FV – Rintoul, 3-25.

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