Stowell has knack for making big plays
Cory Stowell wears No. 5 for a reason.
“I like to think that I’m a handful,” Stowell says.
In his senior year, Stowell has been a handful to deal with on the football field. He starts at wide receiver and cornerback for Newport Harbor High, making plays on both sides of the ball.
Fans might best remember Stowell from last year’s Battle of the Bay rivalry game against Corona del Mar. He’s the kid who came down with the game-winning touchdown catch on a fourth-and-goal call on the 22 with 24 seconds left.
Back then, the offense’s third option at receiver won the game. Stowell has moved up in the pecking order this year, giving him more chances to be a difference maker.
When the game is on the line, quarterback Cole Norris trusts Stowell. He’s the one who found Stowell in the end zone against CdM last year.
Norris went to Stowell late in last week’s Sunset League opener. Stowell turned out to be his top target on the game’s final play at Davidson Field.
Norris hit Stowell in stride on a 25-yard touchdown pass that clinched the Sailors’ 27-24 overtime win against Los Alamitos. The Sailors edged the Griffins for the second straight year in overtime.
Defenses had better take note of Stowell. No longer can defenses leave him in single coverage. He will burn them.
And it doesn’t even matter that Stowell beat Los Alamitos’ defense on the same exact play for a touchdown right before halftime, because he will come through again. The Griffins learned the hard way after they zeroed in on receiver Quest Truxton on the Sailors’ first chance on offense in overtime.
The Griffins took the lead after they converted a field goal. They lost it right away.
Newport Harbor lined up exactly how it did late in the first half, Truxton to the right, Stowell in the slot on the left. Both receivers ran post patterns the first time, almost at each other. The mix up nearly prevented the Sailors from taking their first lead, but Stowell grabbed Norris’ 28-yard pass in traffic and scored.
The second time around, Truxton ran the correct route, to the corner. One safety followed in hopes to help the cornerback on Truxton, yet the play never went to Truxton. All along, Norris noticed the other safety playing 12 yards off Stowell.
Stowell made a double move on the safety, freezing him. With a couple of steps on the safety, all Norris needed was protection and the offensive line obliged. He connected with Stowell to win another game together.
“Norris just threw a perfect pass to me,” says Stowell, who hauled it in, giving him seven catches for 121 yards and two touchdowns.
The catch wasn’t even Stowell’s best of the evening. That belonged to one he made on defense early in the second quarter.
The pass Stowell picked off showed off his athleticism, hands and short memory. The intended receiver, Cameron Austin, had beaten Stowell a couple of times on the Griffins’ first drive, once on a 39-yard pass and then on a nine-yard touchdown pass.
Forty-five seconds into the second quarter, Los Alamitos tried to pick on Stowell when it took over on its 25-yard line. On first down, the Griffins sent Austin deep, toward the Newport Harbor sideline. Stowell kept up with Austin stride for stride, and when quarterback Nick Wendell let the ball fly, all Stowell heard from his sideline was “Ball!”
“I knew the ball was coming to him, because his eyes kept opening up,” Stowell says. “I knew I just had to stretch my hips and get my arms up. I read the ball perfectly and just made a good catch [while falling backward on the Sailors’ 38].”
The Griffins challenged Stowell a second time in the second quarter. Once again, Austin ran a deep route. Once again, Stowell intercepted the pass.
On the second one, coming with 1:51 left in the first half, Stowell stayed on his feet. He returned the interception 16 yards to near midfield, setting up Newport Harbor for one more score before halftime.
Norris completed only two of five passes on the ensuing drive, each to Stowell. The second one helped erase a 13-0 deficit, putting the Sailors ahead, 14-13.
“He’s a playmaker,” Norris says of Stowell, who has 32 receptions for 393 yards and four touchdowns this year. “I think [last year’s Battle of the Bay game] was kind of like his [coming out party]. Ever since then, he’s just gotten better and better. He works hard in the weight room. He doesn’t look like he’d be the strongest guy, along with Quest, but they’re strong. It shows on the field.”
Coach Jeff Brinkley says Stowell is one of the Sailors’ most-improved players. He can rely on Stowell, a 6-foot-1, 185-pounder, to go get the ball in the air.
Stowell is a physical presence and Brinkley says he can see him playing defensive back in college. Brinkley says UC Davis and Cal Poly San Luis Obispo have shown interest in Stowell, who leads the Sailors with six interceptions.
The Sailors (3-3, 1-0 in league) will need Stowell to get past Edison (4-2, 1-0) on Friday at Davidson Field at 7 p.m. It has been 34 years since Newport Harbor last defeated Edison.
“We haven’t beaten them in the last seven years that we’ve played them,” Stowell says of the Chargers, the defending Sunset League and CIF Southern Section Southwest Division champions. “We are confident of shutting them down. They have [a] great run offense. They just want to pound the ball against us, and they’ve always done that. They think their big guys can control ours.
“I’m not afraid to hit anybody in our league. Even if they are big, I know how to tackle.”
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Cory Stowell
Born: Aug. 8, 1996
Hometown: Newport Beach
Height: 6-foot-1
Weight: 185 pounds
Sport: Football
Year: Senior
Coach: Jeff Brinkley
Favorite food: Steak
Favorite movie: “Friday Night Lights”
Favorite athletic moment: Catching the game-winning touchdown pass in the Battle of the Bay game against Corona del Mar last year.
Week in review: Stowell caught seven passes for 121 yards and two touchdowns, including the game-winning score, lifting Newport Harbor past Los Alamitos, 27-24, in overtime of a Sunset League opener. Stowell also intercepted two passes.