Newport Harbor pulls out thriller

Rick Devereux

Every championship team needs talent in order to succeed. It also

needs a little luck from time to time.

The Newport Harbor High football team has plenty of talent, but

Friday night’s 24-17 CIF Southern Section Division VI semifinal win

over Mayfair at Cerritos College was caused by a few lucky bounces

with seconds remaining.

Following a Travis Duffield 28-yard field goal to tie the game for

Newport with 25.5 seconds left in the fourth quarter, senior

linebacker Taylor Young recovered a Mayfair fumble on the Monsoons’

30 on the subsequent offensive play.

“I saw the ball hit one of their offensive linemen and I just

jumped on it,” Young said.

On the next play, quarterback Kasey Peters lofted a pass into the

end zone and Alex Orth jumped over a crowd of defenders to come down

with the game-winning touchdown with 4.2 left on the clock.

“I’m speechless right now,” Orth said. “I just went up and grabbed

it.”

Newport (12-0-1) advances to the divisional final Dec. 12 at 2

p.m. at Angel Stadium and will face the winner of the Orange

Lutheran-Villa Park semifinal today.

The Sailors put together a 15-play drive that consumed 2:55 to set

up Duffield’s field goal.

Mayfair (11-2) took a 17-14 lead with 3:20 left on Sean Leistner’s

29-yard field goal.

“We knew (Leistner) could kick the heck out of the ball,” Coach

Jeff Brinkley said. “But we battled back. Orth has played great the

entire playoffs for us and he came through again.”

Orth, who finished with a game-high nine receptions for 148 yards,

leads Newport with five playoff touchdown grabs.

Senior Spencer Link set the school career receptions mark in the

game. He entered the contest trailing Danny Pulido’s mark of 143

catches by two. Link’s second reception of the night, a 21-yard fade,

gave Newport a 7-0 advantage in the first quarter.

“I knew I was close [to the career record], but I didn’t know how

close,” Link said. “It wasn’t until I got to the sideline after the

touchdown when coach asked me how it felt to break the school record

like that did I know how close I was.”

Peters, who finished with a game-high 321 passing yards with two

touchdowns, increased the Tars’ lead when he plunged in from 1-yard

out at the start of the second quarter.

Mayfair, the No. 3 seed team, battled back.

Sophomore running back Curtis Bedgood ran off the left tackle for

a 1-yard touchdown on the Monsoons ensuing possession following

Peters’ quarterback sneak for a score.

Senior running back Deshawndrie Creighton bounced to the outside

for a 3-yard TD on Mayfair’s first possession of the second half to

tie the score at 14.

“I got tears in my eyes when Alex caught that pass,” senior

running back Trevor Theriot said.

The game winning play had an appropriate name.

“The play is called ‘score,’ ” Brinkley said. “We line up three

receivers to one side and tell Alex to go for the ball and have the

other two look for a deflection.”

Brinkley said the victory was one of the most exciting in his

career, but it would not have been possible without the fumble

recovery by Young.

“It’s unbelievable,” Young said. “Alex’s touchdown was remarkable.

That’s who I think the real hero of the game is.”