PREP EXTRA / FRIDAY FOOTBALL PULLOUT : Newport Harbor Sinks El Toro, 35-14

By MARTIN HENDERSON

Nov. 11, 1994 12 AM PT

TIMES STAFF WRITER

NEWPORT BEACH — John Giordani responded quickly, getting halfway through his answer, when he paused for a long while to consider its conclusion.

“Until we’re beat,” he said, “you can’t say anyone’s better than us.”

So it is.

Newport Harbor won its 10th game without a loss Thursday night in front of about 1,600, overwhelming El Toro, 35-14.

The Sailors already had clinched the Sea View League title, but with their victory, they broke a 52-year-old school record for consecutive victories.

The 1942 Sailors began the season 9-0, then lost their first playoff game against Bonita.

If the 1994 Sailors (10-0, 5-0) win their first playoff game--and they should be seeded No. 1 in the Division V playoffs--they will match the best victory total in school history when the ’92 team won 11.

That should be a piece of cake, especially if Newport Harbor gets the kind of performance it did against El Toro, including a pair of bookend touchdown runs by Brian Johnson that gave him some amazing numbers: six rushes, 194 yards, two touchdowns.

Johnson scored on the game’s first play when he took a simple handoff to the right side--and went 84 yards for a touchdown.

In the fourth quarter, Newport Harbor no doubt trying to run out the clock to protect a 14-point lead with 9 minutes 33 seconds to play, Johnson took a simple handoff to the left--and went 73 yards.

Between, the Sailors did what they do best--play error-free ball.

“We’re 10-0 because there’s no one guy (who is a star),” Giordani said. “No one is more important than anyone else.”

That was evident as the game progressed. The second touchdown drive consisted of Edon Kagasoff rushing six times for 51 yards, and then Giordani throwing a little pass to Matt Riggle, who ran in for the 11-yard scoring play.

And when El Toro (5-4-1, 2-2-1) cut the lead to 14-7 with 2:04 left in the half on Jamie Hanaway’s one-yard run, Newport Harbor responded by scoring with 25 seconds to go. On that drive--it covered 64 yards--Kagasoff carried twice for 17 yards, Giordani threw seven yards to Jon Benzinger, Johnson carried for 17 and then Giordani hit Danny Pulido for a 23-yard score.

“That one was the key one,” Newport Harbor Coach Jeff Brinkley said. “We responded to them; we came right back. Any time you can do that, it gets you back in the hunt.”

Or it helps to finish the kill.

Newport Harbor added another touchdown in the third when, on an El Toro punt from the 34, the ball was snapped over Wilson’s head; he tried to fall on it, but it squirted away from him. Scott Sandstrom finally fell on it--in the end zone. Jeff Pardy’s fourth extra point made it 28-7.

“They’re a better team than we are,” El Toro Coach Mike Milner said, “and they proved it tonight.”