Richardson’s late field goal caps Newport Harbor rally to beat Tesoro, 17-14
Newport Harbor was missing something for most of a tight defensive nonleague football clash Thursday night with Tesoro — precision, energy, perhaps confidence, certainly points.
Then, after a scoreless first half, Newport Harbor found itself down two touchdowns just like that.
The Sailors’ response: They grew up.
If this team lives up to its predecessors, who won a CIF Southern Section title and reached two semifinals in the past three full seasons, its explosive fourth-quarter comeback, featuring three quick, stirring drives leading to Jon Richardson’s decisive 36-yard field goal with nine seconds to play, will surely be cited.
Richardson, hardly fazed by the visiting Titans’ timeout, went right through the uprights, and the student section stormed the field to celebrate as Newport Harbor pulled out a stunning 17-14 victory.
Los Alamitos transfer Jaden O’Neal sandwiched a bomb to Oregon-bound Millikan transfer Jordan Anderson between two long touchdown passes to Josiah Lamarque for Newport Harbor (1-1).
“I think that them scoring was something that we needed,” said Lamarque, who took an O’Neal throw at the Tesoro 44 and raced to a 54-yard score to start the comeback, then hauled in a 27-yard pass in the end zone to tie it up with a tad more than five minutes to go. “I feel like we were lackadaisical [earlier in the game], and our energy was done, and we went into halftime kind of bummed out.
“But we kept our heads, we kept composed, and we just came out here and exploded [at the finish].”
For three quarters the Sailors hadn’t progressed past Tesoro’s 37-yard line, with mistakes — including two Jagger Blauwkamp fumbles, some harmful penalties and the inability of Neal and Anderson to hook up in any meaningful way — ending promising drives.
Then Tesoro (1-1), riding Air Force-bound, All-CIF star Travis Wood, put together two 12-play, six-plus-minute scoring drives to take command. The punishing running back, who ran for 171 yards on 34 carries, provided a mid-third-quarter lead with a 1-yard push (after the Sailors stopped him twice inside the 2) and a 14-0 edge four plays into the fourth quarter.
Then the Sailors came alive. O’Neal, finding his footing as the offense went vertical, completed nine of 13 passes for 184 yards from that point while connecting four times with Anderson, all key gains. Lamarque’s first touchdown was massive.
“Guys like Josiah, that big play, that started the whole swing of momentum,” Newport Harbor coach Peter Lofthouse said. “I think our kids were waiting for something to happen, as opposed to making it happen, and we’ve got some great playmakers on the outside who can make plays.
“Josiah, huge play, and Jordan catching the [46-yard pass one play before Lamarque’s second TD] sparked confidence in the [offensive] line, sparked confidence in the receivers. We saw Jaden getting more protection in the pocket — he was more confident in his reads and his throws — and all of a sudden, it started clicking.”
Tesoro drove past midfield before Newport Harbor’s defense stiffened — the Titans would do so again after Richardson’s kick, on a Hail-Mary play — and the Sailors got the ball back at their 35 with 2:15 to play. O’Neal hit Anderson for 9 yards, Ryan Williams for gains of 16 and 8 yards, and then Blauwkamp battled for another 9 yards to the Tesoro 19. The spike and a near touchdown left 13 seconds to go, and Richardson, among the state’s top kickers, trotted out.
He never had a doubt, especially after Tesoro tried to ice him with its timeout.
“It just gave me more confidence,” he said. “I got to get a dry swing on air, got to look at what I wanted to do, how I wanted to kick. When it left my foot, I knew it was in.”
Nonleague
Newport Harbor 17, Tesoro 14
SCORE BY QUARTERS
Tesoro 0 - 0 - 7 - 7 — 14
Newport Harbor 0 - 0 - 0 - 17 — 17
FIRST QUARTER
None.
SECOND QUARTER
None.
THIRD QUARTER
T — Wood 1 run (Guerrero kick), 5:16.
FOURTH QUARTER
T — Wood 3 run (Guerrero kick), 10:24.
NH — Lamarque 54 pass from O’Neal (Richardson kick), 7:54.
NH — Lamarque 27 pass from O’Neal (Richardson kick), 5:04.
NH — Richardson 36 FG, 0:09.
INDIVIDUAL RUSHING
T — Wood, 34-171, 2 TDs; Staker, 7-53.
NH — Blauwkamp, 5-33; Lamarque, 5-31.
INDIVIDUAL PASSING
T — O’Byrne, 11-26-0, 129.
NH — O’Neal, 16-26-0, 272, 2 TDs; Fegel, 1-1-0, 31.
INDIVIDUAL RECEIVING
T — Nelson, 5-47; Schamel, 3-43.
NH — Lamarque, 6-138, 2 TDs; Anderson, 7-92.
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