Football: Sailors earn much-needed win

MANHATTAN BEACH — On a night where one Sailor set an impressive career mark, it was the improved effort on both sides of the ball that the Newport Harbor High football team really needed.

Going into the always tough Sunset League, Newport Harbor first needed to stop a three-game losing streak. The Sailors did that, posting a 41-22 win over host Mira Costa that wasn’t really as close as the final score would suggest.

Senior quarterback Cole Norris picked the Mira Costa defense apart, especially in the first half, on the way to setting the Newport Harbor career passing yardage record. Norris, a three-year starter, did it with a 12-yard completion to senior receiver Keaton Cablay in the second quarter.

Norris finished the game with 265 passing yards and now has 5,549 career yards, surpassing the former Newport Harbor mark of 5,364 set by Shane Foley.

“The win is what means everything,” Newport Harbor Coach Jeff Brinkley said. “It’s always nice for guys to get individual honors, but it’s only good if you have team success. You hope those things fall within the framework of your team success. Tonight we had some success, and he was able to reach it.

“We needed some momentum going into league. We needed to have something good happen. We haven’t played great the last couple of weeks, so hopefully this will jumpstart us and get us ready for the league.”

Newport Harbor (2-3) definitely had success through the air. Norris spread the ball around, with Cablay his favorite target with seven catches for 107 yards and a pair of scores. Booker Hoey (five catches for 64 yards) and Riley Gaddis (four for 51) also caught touchdown passes.

On the ground, the Sailors also were able to move the ball against the Mustangs (1-4). Sophomore Cole Kinder, making his first varsity start at running back, had 20 carries for 146 yards.

“Our offensive line did great,” said Norris, who had 221 yards passing and three scores by halftime. “They really stepped up tonight.”

The defense was led by senior end Brett Beaudette, who had a career-high five sacks to give him nine for the season. One of them caused Mira Costa quarterback Jacob Silvera to fumble, and Sailors lineman Joey Stukonis recovered the ball.

Jack Rapillo and Gaddis also recovered fumbles for Newport Harbor, which committed just one turnover itself. The Sailors led, 41-7, late in the fourth quarter before Mira Costa added two meaningless touchdowns and a safety, when a punt was blocked out of the back of the end zone.

“The past couple of games, we haven’t been playing defense very well as a unit,” Beaudette said. “I think tonight we started playing together and trusting each other, and that was a big factor … We had to pull together.”

Newport Harbor has an anticipated game in its league opener Friday at Davidson Field. The Sailors play host to Huntington Beach, in a rematch of last year’s CIF Southern Section Southwest Division title game that was won by the Oilers, 42-28.

“It should be a fun one,” Norris said. “We’ve got Homecoming, and it’s a rematch of last year’s championship. The team is feeling good right now. We’re getting hot at the right time. We can do a lot of damage in league this year.”

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Newport Harbor 41, Mira Costa 22

SCORE BY QUARTERS

Mira Costa 0 – 7 – 0 – 15 — 22

Newport Harbor 7 – 14 – 6 – 14 — 41

FIRST QUARTER

NH – Hoey 33 pass from Norris (Schultz kick), 10:58.

SECOND QUARTER

NH – Cablay 12 pass from Norris (Schultz kick), 3:32.

NH – Cablay 22 pass from Norris (Schultz kick), 1:05.

MC – Fideler 30 pass from Silvera (Arredondo kick), 0:21.

THIRD QUARTER

NH – Gaddis 13 pass from Norris (kick failed), 6:00.

FOURTH QUARTER

NH – Gaddis 25 run (Schultz kick), 11:52.

NH – Gaddis 2 run (Schultz kick), 7:38.

MC – Hunter 4 pass from Silvera (kick blocked), 4:20.

MC – Safety (punt blocked out of end zone), 1:54.

MC – Sione 14 pass from Arredondo (Arredondo kick), 0:07.

INDIVIDUAL RUSHING

NH – Kinder, 20-146; Gaddis, 5-44, 2 TDs.

MC – Morrison, 4-26.

INDIVIDUAL PASSING

NH – Norris, 21-28-1, 265, 4 TDs.

MC – Silvera, 10-18-0, 140, 2 TDs.

INDIVIDUAL RECEIVING

NH – Cablay, 7-107, 2 TDs; Hoey, 5-64, 1 TD.

MC – Sione, 5-69, 1 TD.