Newport Harbor football rallies for win over Murrieta Mesa, improves to 2-0
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The game went down to the closing seconds, which should have been no surprise to anyone who watched the Newport Harbor and Murrieta Mesa high school football teams battle last year.
In 2025, the Sailors went on the road and suffered a 33-27 defeat on a touchdown on the last play of the game.
This time, Murrieta Mesa came up a yard short.
The visitors got the ball to the one-yard-line but couldn’t get a final play off before the clock hit zeroes on Friday night at Davidson Field, with Newport Harbor earning a 29-24 nonleague victory to improve to 2-0.
Newport Harbor senior quarterback Jordan Spigarelli hit senior receiver Ryan Palmer on a 25-yard touchdown pass with 1:08 left in the fourth quarter, which ended up being the deciding touchdown.
It was the second touchdown catch of the fourth quarter for Palmer, who helped the Tars erase a 10-point deficit.
“Unbelievable,” Palmer said after the game. “I couldn’t be more proud of our team. Coach [Matt] Burns harps on us about finishing the game and playing four quarters of football, not just playing one or two. Not just starting strong, but also finishing strong. Playing strong, fast, physical football and not giving up for four quarters, that’s why we got the win today.”
The Rams drove the ball down the field, getting to the Sailors 16-yard-line on a 29-yard pass from Coleman Jones to Ashton Burke. The visitors used their last timeout with 11 seconds remaining.
A subsequent pass into the middle of the field was caught at the one-yard-line, but the clock ran out before another play and the Sailors escaped with the win. Murrieta Mesa felt cheated, that the clock should have stopped on the first down but didn’t.
Last year, it was the Sailors who felt cheated when Burns said there were two clips in the back on Murrieta Mesa’s last touchdown that went uncalled.
“I get it,” Burns said. “I know what they’re feeling … Anybody can be mad, but it is what it is. They can be upset, but we were on the same exact side last year.”
The Sailors took an early 7-0 lead in the first quarter when a high punt snap caused the Murrieta Mesa kicker to kick the ball backward, perhaps trying to kick it out of the back of the end zone. But it didn’t get there, and Newport Harbor’s Luke Garrido recovered the ball for a touchdown.
The Sailors tied the score at 14 late in the first half on Jackson Stremick’s one-yard touchdown run, but Murrieta Mesa kicker Julian Nunez booted a 40-yard field goal in the final play of the half to give the visitors the lead.
“Defensively, we were on the field a lot in the first half,” Burns said. “We had the pick, we had the fumble. Right out of the gates in the first quarter, we gave up two turnovers. That put us behind the eight ball real fast. We did a good job through that adversity of playing a lot. The guys were on the field for a long time.”
Behind 24-14 after the third quarter, the Sailors wouldn’t score again until Palmer’s 30-yard touchdown grab with 6:23 remaining in the game. They then got a safety — on another high punt snap — to draw within a single point.
A Sailors pass over the middle was intercepted with four minutes left by Murrieta Mesa (0-1). But Newport allowed just one first down to get the ball back with 2:03 left, setting up the game-winning drive and score.
“It was definitely an up and down game, but we hung in there and had that ‘next play’ mentality,” Spigarelli said. “The offense just kept on fighting, and the defense kept us in it. My O-line fought, they kept me protected. I’m just really grateful for the win.”
On the final touchdown, Palmer said that Stremick ran a post, and he ran a corner route.
“He did a great job of taking the safety away and opening up the back end zone for me, and then my quarterback did a phenomenal job of finding me,” Palmer said.
Carter Clark had an interception on a tipped pass for the winners, while senior linebackers Cameron Hatfield and Jett Blauwkamp were also difference makers on defense.
The Sailors play at Lancaster (0-1) on Friday in continued nonleague action.
Newport Harbor, which earned a 41-0 win at Nanakuli High of Hawaii in its season opener, is now just a win away from matching last year’s win total of three. Last year’s squad finished 3-7, and each of the first four losses were by a touchdown or less, so getting a close win surely felt good.
“It happened a lot last year, and it has 100% stuck with the people that played last year, especially the people who were juniors who are now seniors,” Palmer said. “They know the feeling of losing in the last minute and not finishing games, so it was huge for us to finish a game and get a win in a close, tight matchup.”
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Nonleague
Newport Harbor 29, Murrieta Mesa 24
SCORE BY QUARTERS
Murrieta Mesa 7 - 10 - 7 - 0 — 24
Newport Harbor 7 - 7 - 0 - 15 — 29
FIRST QUARTER
NH — Garrido recovered ball in end zone (Robinson kick), 6:10.
MM — Matthews 4 pass from Jones (Nunez kick), 1:49.
SECOND QUARTER
MM — Page 4 run (Nunez kick), 6:39.
NH — J. Stremick 1 run (Robinson kick), 0:27.
MM — Nunez 40 FG, 0:00.
THIRD QUARTER
MM — Williams 14 pass from Jones (Nunez kick), 9:15.
FOURTH QUARTER
NH — Palmer 30 pass from Spigarelli (Robinson kick), 6:23.
NH — Safety (ball kicked out of back of end zone), 5:23.
NH — Palmer 25 pass from Spigarelli (pass failed), 1:08.
INDIVIDUAL RUSHING
MM — Cruz, 17-96.
NH — J. Stremick, 4-21.
INDIVIDUAL PASSING
MM — Jones, 23-32-1, 269, 2 TDs.
NH — Spigarelli, 17-30-2, 199, 2 TDs.
INDIVIDUAL RECEIVING
MM — Burke, 6-95; Williams, 4-56, 1 TD.
NH — Palmer, 5-76, 2 TDs; J. Stremick, 5-59; Stringham, 4-56.
