Sailors hang tough with Chargers

COSTA MESA — The navy blue shirt under Brandon Kula’s Newport Harbor High football jersey said it all.

It read “WAR” in white letters.

It was a bold statement coming from the Sailors.

This time, they approached their game against Edison with a different mentality than the previous two seasons.

Those late-season games ended up ugly for Newport Harbor.

Coach Jeff Brinkley reminded his Sailors this was a different time of the season. The two programs opened Sunset League play Friday night.

It turned out to be a battle at Orange Coast College.

The Sailors fought for four quarters with the Chargers. The defense gave Newport Harbor two shots by coming up with turnovers late, but it wasn’t enough as Edison held on to win, 14-7.

You read that right.

Edison (5-1, 1-0 in league), ranked No. 6 in the CIF Southern Section Pac-5 Division I coaches’ poll, wasn’t going to run away with this one.

The Sailors (4-2, 0-1) weren’t going to lie down.

In Newport Harbor’s first two seasons since joining the Sunset League in 2006, Edison handed the Sailors a 37-6 loss and a 47-0 loss. The last one was Newport Harbor’s worst margin of defeat since 1967.

This one almost went down as one of the biggest upsets in school history.

When it appeared the Chargers were about to put the game away late, Newport Harbor’s defense took the ball away.

The Sailors ripped the ball out the hands of running back Wade Houston, a player they knocked out late in the third quarter before he returned to finish with 96 yards on 16 carries.

With 1 minute, 19 seconds left, Newport Harbor was 54 yards away from possibly tying the game.

But the offense never got close.

Cornerback Brandon Visnoski ended the threat by intercepting a pass heading toward the Newport Harbor sideline.

It was Visnoski’s first pick of the year. And it couldn’t have come at a better time for Edison, which took over on its own 40 with 1:03 left and Newport Harbor without any timeouts.

“We were very flat,” Visnoski said. “We probably [thought] we had this game in the bag. They’re better than we thought.”

Coach Dave White let his Chargers know about how they might have underestimated Newport Harbor.

Outside the locker room, White could be heard saying, “This was the one game you guys didn’t improve.”

The Chargers played a troublesome nonleague schedule. They beat No. 10-ranked Mater Dei, 24-14, and lost to No. 9-ranked Servite, 29-17.

Newport Harbor’s other loss was to No. 1-ranked Long Beach Poly.

Nothing has been easy for both programs. Now, all the games are tough in the Sunset League.

“We’ve got a short week,” said Brinkley, whose Sailors play Fountain Valley (4-2, 0-1) Thursday night at Davidson Field, where Newport Harbor will be the visiting team because of the renovation going on at Huntington Beach High, home to Fountain Valley.

“There’s no time to lick our wounds.”

Brinkley tried to move on after the game. It was hard.

He remained outside the locker room for some time before entering it. His decisions late worked out for the Sailors.

The defense came up with a big interception when it seemed quarterback Matt Viles had a wide-open Houston near the end zone for a 10-yard score.

Outside linebacker Cecil Whiteside jumped on the ball and intercepted it near the five-yard line, ending the threat with four minutes left.

“I just under threw him,” said Viles, who finished 18 for 30 passing with 221 yards and one touchdown. “He made a nice play.

“We made a mistake and our defense saved our butt.”

The Chargers forced the Sailors to go three-and-out and punt. Newport Harbor was on its own 15 with three minutes left.

“That was a tough decision,” said Brinkley, whose team struggled running the ball, gaining only 51 yards and allowing the Chargers to easily defend the pass. “We weren’t shutting them down by any means. There was enough time. I knew if we punted the ball, we could improve the field position, which we did.

“Unfortunately, we couldn’t get it in [the end zone when we got the ball back].”

EDISON 14, NEWPORT HARBOR 7

SCORE BY QUARTERS

Newport - 0 7 0 0 - 7

Edison - 7 7 0 0 - 14

FIRST QUARTER

E – Trojan 10 pass from Viles (Vanderman kick), 5:32.

SECOND QUARTER

NH – Miller 26 run (Freiberg kick), 7:59.

E – Trojan 10 pass from Viles (Vanderman kick), 4:54.

INDIVIDUAL RUSHING

NH – Miller, 9-51, 1 TD; Helfrich, 5-6; McDonald, 3-minus 6.

E – Houston, 16-96, 1 TD; Orphey, 6-28; Viles, 5-10.

INDIVIDUAL PASSING

NH – McDonald, 19-33-1, 141.

E – Viles, 18-30-1, 221, 1 TD.

INDIVIDUAL RECEIVING

NH – Green, 11-102; Whiteside, 5-30; Miller, 1-12; Helfrich, 2-minus 3.

E – Crissman, 5-76; Trojan, 5-63, 1 TD; Sherman, 3-36; Reza, 1-29; Houston, 2-9; Orphey, 2-8.

DAVID CARRILLO PEÑALOZA may be reached at (714) 966-4612 or at [email protected].